The Great Gatsby is gaining a great reception today as it debuts in one of the world’s most prestigious film festivals. Baz Luhrmann’s much-awaited 3-D adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous novel will open the Cannes Films Festival in May, according to organizers of the event.

In a statement, Luhrmann said, “It is a great honor for all of those who have worked on The Great Gatsby to open the Cannes Film Festival.” “We are thrilled to return to a country, place and festival that has always been so close to our hearts.”

Luhrmann’s film, Strictly Ballroom, was filmed in Cannes 21 years ago. However, Fitzgerald, and Gatsby as an extension, has a much stronger link to the region than any other subject from Lurhmann's previous works. 

“F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote some of the most poignant and beautiful passages of his extraordinary novel just a short distance away at a villa outside Saint-Raphaël," Luhrmann shared, which makes this film debut more poignant and meaningful for the accomplished filmmaker.

The opening night for the film will be on May 15 and the festival will last until May 26. Academy-Award winning director Steven Spielberg has already been announced as the jury president.

The stars of the 2013 adaptation of the Great Gatbsy feature Leonardo DiCaprio as 1920s millionaire Jay Gatsby and Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby’s obsession and ultimate object of desire. Daisy’s husband is played by Joel Edgerton. Tobey Maguire plays Nick Caraway, the Great Gatsby’s narrator, for the 2013 film.

Edgerton told USA TODAY in 2012 that the book’s lavish party scenes filmed in Australia were some of the most amazing scenes he’d ever seen created.

"Watching the party scene being made, my jaw kind of hit the floor," Edgerton shares. "This big crane shots of hundreds of people with everyone dressed in so much detail. It was breathtaking to watch."

This year’s festival starts May 15, five days after “The Great Gatsby” is to be released in the United States.

The novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald is hailed as a literary classic and was also adapted into screen by Jack Clayton in 1974 with Robert Redford starring as Jay Gatsby.

The story takes place in 1922, during the Roaring Twenties, a time of prosperity in the United States after World War I. It was originally published in April 1925 and is considered a “Great American Novel”, as it captures the essence of an era. It is generally considered Fitzgerald’s best work.