Short Film News (SFN) - Up, the new animation from the Disney Pixar studios and produced under John Lasseter's supervision will open the 62nd Cannes Film Festival on May 13.

This is the first time that an animation film, in 3-D, will be the opening ceremony film at Cannes Festival, although feature animations have attended in the Cannes official selection from 1947 with Walt Disney's Dumbo.

Up is about 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen who ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America, only to discover that he has brought with him his biggest nightmare, a 9-year-old stowaway.

The animation is directed by Pete Docter, director of Monsters, Inc. who also developed the story and characters for Toy Story, Pixar's first full length animated feature film, for which he also served as supervising animator.

UP will be released in the United States on May 29 and in France on July 29.

62nd Cannes Film Festival runs from May 13 - 24, and French actress Isabelle Huppert is the president of the jury.