Actor Nicolas Cage is to screen a world premi�re of his directing debut, Sonny, at the Deauville Festival of American Film in France later this month.

The film, starring James Franco, Brenda Blethyn and Mena Suvari, will compete for both the grand prize and jury prize at the 28th annual event, which kicks off on 30 August.

It is the same date that Cage's latest acting project, the World War II drama Windtalkers, is released in the UK.

But many film-goers in Deauville will be more eager to see whether or not the directing skills of Cage's uncle, Francis Ford Coppola, have rubbed off.

Dark profession

Deauville, in northern France, is a festival known as the place to launch US productions in Europe.

It is often a chance for many of the films to be shown for the first time outside the US.

Brenda Blethyn will play Sonny's mother

Cage's Sonny is reported to be the story of a young man, played by Franco, who is trained to follow the family tradition as a paid male prostitute and stud, pleasuring the whims of wealthy women.

Sonny dislikes the business he is in and looks to the army as an escape.

Blethyn plays his mother, who is determined to get Sonny to stay in the family business alongside Suvari, one of his prostitute co-workers.

Cage's own roles have sometime touched the darker side of humanity - he received a best actor Oscar in 1998 for his work in Leaving Las Vegas, an independent picture in which he played a suicidal alcoholic alongside Elizabeth Shue.

He is also known for his roles in the films Raising Arizona, Face/Off and Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

Dillon tribute

Other films at the Deauville festival include:

• Blue Car by Karen Moncrieff
• Emmett's Mark by Keith Snyder
• The Good Girl by Miguel Arteta
• Kissing Jessica Stein by Charles Herman-Wurmfeld
• Long Island Expressway by Michael Cuesta
• Long Way Home by Peter Sollett
• One Hour Photo by Mark Romanek
• The Safety of Objects by Rose Troche
• Secretary by Steven Shainberg

Last year the musical comedy Hedwig and the Angry Inch won the international critics' prize.

The 2002 festival's literary prize will go to Danielle Steel for The Kiss.

Steel's books have sold 500 million copies worldwide.

Deauville organisers will also pay tribute to Harrison Ford, Matt Dillon, Ellen Burstyn, Robert Evans and the late John Frankenheimer.

The event, which closes with The Banger Sisters on 8 September is expected to attract stars such as Matt Damon, Sylvester Stallone, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tom Hanks and Roman Coppola.