Cannes Film Festival rolls out the red carpets on Tuesday for its annual showcase in France, grappling with the dizzying speed of AI-powered disruption and the absence of major Hollywood studios.

In its main competition, a total of 22 films are vying for the prestigious Palme d'Or prize for best film, which was won last year by the highly political Iranian movie "It Was Just an Accident" by Jafar Panahi.

But as usual in the build up to the world's biggest festival, off-screen talking points have dominated the conversation, most notably how to cope with changes wrought by artificial intelligence -- and Hollywood's decision to ghost the event.