The organisers of the Cannes Film Festival have chosen the star-studded latest feature from the idiosyncratic Wes Anderson to open this year’s event.

Moonrise Kingdom boasts a cast including Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Harvey Keitel and Anderson favourites Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman.

It tells the story of how a 1960s New England community is thrown upside down when a pair of young lovers run away together.

Anderson’s films include Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Darjeeling Limited and Fantastic Mr Fox.

The Festival’s spokesman, Thierry Frémaux, described Anderson as “a brilliant and inventive filmmaker” and “one of the rising powers of American cinema” and said Moonrise Kingdom was a “testimony to the creative freedom in which he continues to evolve.”

The President of the Festival, Gilles Jacob, said young American cinema would be celebrated on the Croisette.

The full programme of the first night’s events at the Grand théâtre Lumière, on 16 May, will be screened live at cinemas that request it.