Calendar film has a date in Cannes

But the film will be unveiled to the world at the International Cannes Film Festival later this month with a special screening on May 15 - and it has already been hailed by some industry insiders as the film of the year.

Its stars Helen Mirren and Julie Walters and the real Calendar Girls from the Rylstone and District Women's Institute, who stripped off for a nude calendar raising more than half a million pounds for Leukae-mia Research, will be among the guests at the festival.

The film is quintessentially British and showcases some of the country's finest talent - award-winning actresses such as Julie Walters and Helen Mirren, and familiar faces to the screen Celia Imrie, Penelope Wilton, Annette Crosbie, John Alderton, Geraldine James, and Philip Glenister working with director Nigel Cole (Saving Grace, Cold Feet), award-winning composer Patrick Doyle (Gosford Park, Bridget Jones) and screenwriter Tim Firth (All Quiet on the Preston Front).

The film was shot in Kettlewell, Settle, and around the district and encompasses breathtaking views of the Yorkshire Dales at its finest, with cameo appearances of local residents, including the Calendar Girls themselves.

Eleven members of Rylstone WI stripped off to create the nude calendar to raise money for Leukaemia Research after Angela Baker's husband John, a former Yorkshire Dales Nation-al Park officer, died of the disease died of the disease, aged 53, in 1998.

The film is a fictional account of the real events which catapulted the women to international stardom but charts the price they had to pay when subjected to the glare of the world's media.

Although some of the details have been changed - the film is set in the fictional village of Knapely, the names and the family circumstances of the main characters have been changed, and there are deviations from the true story - the film aims to capture the spirit of these inspiring women and their incredible achievement.