Chinese films and their stars are expected to shine at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, which opened on Wednesday, after a three-year absence from the competition.

Among the hotly tipped contenders is Chinese director Jia Zhangke's new film A Touch of Sin (Tian Zhu Ding), which has been nominated to compete against, among others, Steven Soderbergh's Behind the Candelabra and Roman Polanski's Venus in Fur.

A Touch of Sin revolves around the lives of four people living in vastly different parts of modern-day China. Their stories intertwine with one another throughout the film.