When the ace of the entertainment world meets the king of children's books, the result is The BFG, a whimsical fairy-tale shot using live action, a virtual reality technique tailor-made for Steven Spielberg. With a tender and mischievous eye, the director of E.T. takes hold of the novel by Roald Dahl – a global success translated into 41 languages. BFG was the British writer's favourite story, and is presented at the Festival Out of Competition.

He drinks frobscottle, a scrumdiddlyumptious beverage, which he loves to imbibify – to quote his nonsense language. The BFG speaks Gobblefunk, to the delight of little Sophie, whose assertive character tickles him.

With this story of a friendship between a 10 year-old orphan (Ruby Barnhill) and a friendly 7-metre gentle and vegetarian giant with big ears, (Mark Rylance), Steven Spielberg moves back into the world of family films that warm the cockles of your heart.

"It's a story about friendship, loyalty and protecting your friends, which shows a little girl capable of helping a giant solve the most gigantic problems"

True to the spirit of the novelist who wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, this subtle adaptation is shot through with humour – not without its touches of darkness – and brings together two solitary souls who befriend each other through a series of adventures. Having won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Bridge of Spies, also by Spielberg, Mark Rylance plays the BFG, using the digital technique known as “performance capture” or “perfcap”.

Here he plays a simple-minded and charming giant – much more charming than his man-eating brothers – with a gift for capturing pretty dreams to grant to young children.

A lovely work which marks another collaboration with Melissa Mathison, who also wrote the screenplay for E.T.