Director Rithy Panh's latest film, "The Burnt Theatre", will be shown out

of competition at the prestigious 2005 Cannes Film Festival in France.

The work centers around struggling artists in Cambodia, who face an entertainment

sector rife with ghost movies, karaoke and television. Those practicing more traditional

crafts are confined either to lives of poverty, or to performing "ethnic entertainments"

for tourists.

Panh described the film as "food for thought," adding that "its purpose

is to induce people, wherever they may be, to think about the artist's role, the

function of imagination and the usefulness of art, when confronted by loss of memory

and the ruthless short-term scheme of economic profitability," according to

the Cannes Web site.

Panh also showed films at Cannes in 1994, 1998 and 2003.