Polish-British director Paweł Pawlikowski’s "Cold War" is in the running for the main prize of the Cannes Film Festival in France, which opens on Tuesday.

The film is a love story between two people of different backgrounds and temperaments, set against the backdrop of the Cold War in 1950s Stalinist Poland as well as in Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris.

A Polish-French-British co-production, the film was written by Pawlikowski with assistance from prominent Polish writer Janusz Głowacki, who died in August last year.

The cast includes leading Polish actors Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Agata Kulesza and Borys Szyc.

Kulesza starred in Pawlikowski’s previous film, Ida, which won an Oscar for best foreign-language film.

Meanwhile, Polish director Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s new film Fuga will be screened in the Semaine de la Critique (International Critics' Week) section of the Cannes festival.

Smoczyńska’s movie is a Polish-Czech-Swedish co-production. It tells the story of a woman who has lost her memory and does not remember her love for her family.

The Semaine de la Critique section was launched in 1962 and offers a review of new cinema.

(pk)