QUENTIN Tarantinos World War II saga Inglourious Basterds is one of several major titles that will compete for the Cannes Film Festivals top prize. Others include Ken Loachs Looking for Eric, starring French footballer Eric Cantona, and the latest films from Ang Lee, Pedro Almodovar and Jane Campion. Twenty films will compete for the coveted Palme dOr at this years event, which runs from 13 to 24 May. Tarantino won the Palme dOr in 1994 with his second film Pulp Fiction. The 46-year-old is the only American director in contention for the prize, won last year by French school drama The Class. His latest work, in which Brad Pitt appears, tells of a group of Jewish-American soldiers sent to Germany to kill Nazis. Loachs inclusion in this years line-up marks the ninth time the veteran British director has been shortlisted for the Golden Palm. The 73-year-old won the prize in 2006 with his historical Irish drama The Wind That Shook the Barley. Looking for Eric tells of an obsessive football fan who receives spiritual advice from the former Manchester United star, who plays himself. Loach is joined by another British filmmaker, Andrea Arnold, whose second feature Fish Tank will also compete for Cannes top honour. Lee, previously shortlisted in 1997 for The Ice Storm, will return in May with Taking Woodstock, a comedy about the iconic 1969 rock festival. Spanish director Almodovar, meanwhile, will present Broken Embraces, a thriller starring recent Oscar-winner Penelope Cruz. New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion has been shortlisted for her latest work Bright Star, about the 19th Century Romantic poet John Keats. British actor Ben Whishaw plays the leading role, with Australian actress Abbie Cornish as Fanny Brawne, the object of Keats affections. Other leading filmmakers up for the Palme dOr include Denmarks Lars von Trier, Hong Kongs Johnnie To, Austrias Michael Haneke and Argentinian-born Gaspar Noe. French actress Isabelle Huppert heads the jury for the 62nd festival, which will launch with a screening of Pixar animation Up. Terry Gilliams fantasy The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus - the film the late Heath Ledger was working on at the time of his death - will also screen out of competition. BBC