For 12 days from 12 May, the Cannes film festival will turn the city once again into the world capital of cinema.

This year, the jury of the 57th festival will be led by American director Quentin Tarantino in the thorny task of deciding the winner of the Palme d\'Or following the many screenings.

The festival opens on 12 May with the latest film by Pedro Almodovar, La Mala Education, and closes on Saturday 22 May with Irwin Winkler\'s film retracing the life of American stage musical composer Cole Porter, followed the next day by the public screening of the winner of the Palme d\'Or 2004.

But away from the big names, the festival of Cannes also attracts 35,000 film professionals, 4,000 journalists and more than 200,000 tourists to the town - all of whom need to be fed, accommodated and informed.

A few figures to put the enormous scale of the event into perspective: the Hotel Majestic, operated by the Groupe Lucien Barrière, makes 15% of its annual turnover during the 12 days of the festival.

During this period, the hotel\'s staff rises from 300 to 600 people, 10,000 evening dresses and dinner suits are sent for cleaning, and 500 shirts and pairs of trousers are washed every day...

In the kitchen, activity reaches fever pitch. The figures for kitchen and bar supplies during these twelve frenzied days are scarcely believable: 50 kg of caviar, 800 kg of crayfish, 2 tonnes of lobster, 350 kg of foie gras and 10,000 bottles of champagne...

Finally, to celebrate the 57th International Film Festival, the Majestic beach at the foot of the Palais des Festivals steps will be spectacularly transformed.

Antoine Dray, a former fashion show designer, is working with young architects to produce a setting which, while stylish and chic, will contrast with the classical elegance of the hotel.

Once again, for 12 days Cannes will become the meeting point for the artists, stars and personalities of the world of cinema.