Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s ‘Jagten’ (The Hunt) is among 20 competing for the Palme D’Or prize at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, which will take place from May 16-27. It’s the first time in 14 years that a Danish-language film has been nominated for the festival’s main prize.

‘Jagten’ is a Danish film starring Mads Mikkelsen, Susse Wold, Thomas Bo Larsen, Lars Ranthe, Anne Louise Hassing and Bjarne Henriksen. In the drama, Mikkelsen plays a man falsely accused by his local community of being somebody he isn’t, who has to fight to get his old life back.

Vinterberg said it was a “huge surprise” to receive a nomination for a film that is still in post-production and is scheduled to be released next year. “It’s quite incomprehensible to have been able to make it through to one of the world's toughest competitions,” he said.

Vinterberg has received several awards at international festivals. His international breakthrough in 1998, ‘Festen’ (‘The Celebration’), won the Jury Award at Cannes, and his two English-language films that followed, ‘It's All About Love’ (2003) and ‘Dear Wendy’ (2005), were selected for Sundance. In 2010, ‘Submarino’ won the Nordic Council Film Prize. ‘Jagten’ is Vinterberg's seventh feature film and is set for national release on 10 January 2013.

Meanwhile, another Danish director presenting his film at Cannes is Morten Helgeland. His short film ‘Slug Invasion’ will be showcased in Cinéfondation, the competition programme for film-school films.

Last year, Danish directors Nicolas Winding Refn and Lars von Trier were nominated for the Palme D’Or – both for English-language films. Von Trier caused a stir at Cannes by admitting his sympathy for Adolf Hitler and joking that he was a Nazi.