Paris - The Disney Pixar animated 3-D film Up has been selected to open the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, organizers of the event announced on Thursday.

Up was directed by Pete Docter, who also made the film Monsters Inc. and developed the story and characters for Toy Story, Pixar's first full-length animated feature film.

Up concerns an old man who ties balloons to his house and fulfills a boyhood dream by flying to South America, but with a 9-year-old Boy Scout as a stowaway. It features the voices of Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer and John Ratzenberger.

The showing of Up will mark the first time that an animated 3-D film has opened the Cannes festival, which this year runs from May 13 to 24. (dpa)