A slew of past Palme d'Or winners and arthouse favourites are set to return to the Cannes Film Festival in July as organisers announced a bumper selection for its competition on Thursday. Among the 24 directors whose films are heading to the Cote d'Azur for July 6-17 are Sean Penn for his new film "Flag Day", Italy's Nanni Moretti with "Tri Piani" and France's Jacques Audiard with "Les Oympiades". They join three big auteurs that had already been announced: Wes Anderson ("The French Dispatch"), Paul Verhoeven ("Benedetta") and Leos Carax ("Annette"). bur-er/wdb