PARIS: The American indie film star Chloe Sevigny is among a trio of top actresses who will make their directorial debuts at the Cannes film festival, organizers said Monday.

The US arthouse darling who made her name with “Kids” and “American Psycho” was at the center a notorious Cannes scandal in 2003 over an explicit scene in her then partner Vincent Gallo’s “The Brown Bunny.”

But “Kitty” — which will be premiered in the Critics’ Week — appears to be on much more innocent ground, telling of a girl who dreams of becoming a kitten.

The short, adapted from a tale by the American writer Paul Bowles, will close the sidebar event alongside two other short films by French actresses Laetitia Casta and Sandrine Kiberlain.

Kiberlain’s “Smile” stars Franco-Italian actress Chiara Mastroianni while Casta’s “En Moi” (In Me) is about an actress struggling to relate to real life on a film set.

Critics’ Week chief Charles Tesson told AFP he was hugely taken with Casta’s film when he first saw it.

“It is really very impressive, ambitious and strong. After we saw it we asked ourselves how could we show it?”