Cannes viewers got a powerful 20-minute glimpse of Oliver Stone's new movie
World Trade Centre
, the first US film to focus on the September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers.
The film is "the true story of two New York Port Authority policemen who are trapped in the rubble, their wives and their children and the incredible and almost improbable rescue efforts to save them," Stone said ahead of the screening.
But the film is very sensitive in the United States, still deeply scarred by the 2001 attacks in which nearly 3,000 people died.
In the moving and impressive opening sequence, the audience sees dawn breaking over the city as Sergeant John McLouglin, played by Nicolas Cage, sets off for work for what seems like just another day.
A soft autumn morning glow hangs over the buildings and the World Trade Centre as McLouglin and the rest of his crew travel in to work, including William J Jimeno, played by Michael Pena.
Gradually come the sounds of the city - birdsong, traffic noise and even a plane flying overhead.
{{/usCountry}}Gradually come the sounds of the city - birdsong, traffic noise and even a plane flying overhead.
{{/usCountry}}As the men gather for their morning briefing, the most pressing issue is to find a missing runaway. But shortly afterwards, a huge bang shakes the Port Authority office, and McLoughlin and his men watch in disbelief at television images of smoke pouring through the gaping hole in Tower One.