Last Thursday saw the official 2011 Cannes Film Festival selection announced at a press conference in Paris. Refreshingly, following last year's complete absence of female directors in competition, this year there will be four women competing for one of film's top prizes, the Palme d'Or. They are the UK's Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin), Australia's Julia Leigh (Sleeping Beauty), Japan's Naomi Kawase (Hanezu No Tsuki), and France's Maiwenn Le Besco (Polisse).