The Cannes film festival has continued its emphasis on politics with the announcement of the lineup for the Directors Fortnight, the separately organised selection that runs parallel to the official festival.

The Fortnight has chosen some socially combative American films that suit the confused mood of the times: Bushwick, the Sundance hit that posits a civil war and military intervention in Brooklyn; The Florida Project, the new film from Sean Baker (Tangerine) about kids growing up in the shadow of Disney World in Florida; and another Sundance hit, the indie comedy Patti Cake$, about a poor white teen girl trying to make it as a rapper.

US civil war … Brooklyn under fire in Bushwick. Photograph: Lyle Vincent/Sundance Institute

The line-up also includes films with a focus on explicitly political issues: Israeli director Amos Gitai (Rabin, the Last Day) brings his new documentary West of the Jordan River, a follow-up to his 1982 West Bank film Field Diary; Frost, from Lithuanian director Sharunas Bartas, features Vanessa Paradis a war reporter in the Ukraine conflict; and A Ciambra, from Mediterranea director Jonas Carpignano, which focusses on a Roma community living in Italy.

True to its mission, however, the Directors Fortnight has found room for a string of name auteurs: along with Gitai, the lineup includes Claire Denis’s Un Beau Soleil Intérieur, which opens the selection, and features Juliette Binoche and Gérard Depardieu in its ensemble cast; Bruno Dumont with his musical Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc, which contains music from electropop act Igorrr; and Abel Ferrara, who features in Alive in France, the director’s documentary about his own live concert.

The sole British director in the main line-up is Zambian-Welsh film-maker Rungano Nyoni, whose debut I Am Not a Witch – a Zambian-set film about a nine-year-old girl accused of witchcraft – has been backed by the BFI and Film4.

The Directors Fortnight runs from 18-28 May in Cannes.

Cannes debut … I Am Not a Witch by Rungano Nyoni. Photograph: Kinology films/Soda Pictures

Full line-up

A Ciambra (dir: Jonas Carpignano)

Alive in France (dir: Abel Ferrara)

L’Amant d’un Jour (dir: Philippe Garrel)

Bushwick (dirs: Cary Murnion & Jonathan Milott)

Cuori Puri (dir: Roberto de Paolis)

The Florida Project (dir: Sean Baker)

Frost (dir: Sharunas Bartas)

I Am Not a Witch (dir: Rungano Nyoni)

Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc (dir: Bruno Dumont)

L’Intrusa (dir: Leonardo Di Costanzo)

La Defensa Del Dragón (dir: Natalia Santa)

Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (dir: Mouly Surya)

Mobile Homes (dir: Vladimir De Fontenay)

Nothingwood (dir: Sonia Kronlund)

Ôtez-moi d’un Doute (dir: Carine Tardieu)

Patti Cake$ (dir: Geremy Jasper) – closing film

The Rider (dir: Chloé Zhao)

Un Beau Soleil Intérieur (dir: Claire Denis) – opening film

West of the Jordan River (Field Diary Revisited) (dir: Amos Gitai)