REUTERS

U2 lead singer Bono

BONO's daughter Eve Hewson will join Hollywood veterans Sean Penn and Frances McDormand in the French Riviera next month after the Irish-made film 'This Must Be The Place' was chosen to compete at the 64th Cannes Film Festival.

The film will compete for the coveted Palme d'Or with 19 other films in the Official Competition - regarded as the most prestigious category.

Shot in Dublin and Wicklow last summer on a budget of €30m, it will be up against some of the world's most highly acclaimed directors, including Gus Van Sant.

The so-called “indie” film co-stars Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, who sings the title song in a cameo appearance as well as Hollywood actor Judd Hirsch and Irish actor Simon Delaney.

Directed by the Italian Paolo Sorrentino whose film “Il Divo” won the festival's 2008 Jury Prize, it stars Penn as a fading 50-year-old Goth rock star living off his royalties in Dublin.

The sudden death of his estranged father brings him to New York where he embarks on a cross-country journey to track down the Nazi war criminal who persecuted his father.

Eve Hewson (19) co-stars as a young Goth punk fan who befriends Penn.

And despite her famous father's Hollywood connections it was her talents alone that landed her the role, said Dublin-based Element Pictures producer Ed Guiney.

MERITS

“She auditioned along with a lot of other people but it was utterly on her own merits that she got the role,” he told the Irish Independent last night.

“It's a real accolade. It's like being selected for the World Cup,” he added.

“It's a real achievement, and in these awful times it's a real testament to the Irish Film Board and the Section 481 tax scheme.

“There is no greater vote of confidence in the film and in Ireland's ability to produce world class films for the international audience.”

Scenes for the film were also shot in the US as part of an international production team spearheaded by Element Pictures.

Irish funding for the project came from the Irish Film Board (IFB).

IFB chairman James Morris said the film's Cannes screening “will now go on to promote Ireland in a positive light internationally to millions of audiences around the world”. - Irish Independent