The President and Jury for the 75th Festival de Cannes running from May 17-28 have been announced.
French actor Vincent Lindon will serve as the President of the jury. He will be joined by eight other jury members comprising UK actress and director Rebecca Hall, Indian actress Deepika Padukone, Swedish actress Noomi Rapace, Italian actress and director Jasmine Trinca, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, French director Ladj Ly, US director Jeff Nichols, and Norwegian director Joachim Trier.
The actor who won Best Actor in 2015 will present the Palme d’Or to one of the 21 films in the competition on Saturday, May 28, during the closing ceremony, to be broadcast live by France Télévisions and Brut.
”It is a great honor and source of pride to be entrusted, in the midst of the tumult of all the events we are going through in the world, with the splendid, weighty task of chairing the Jury of the 75th International Cannes Film Festival,” the actor said in a statement.
“With my Jury, we will strive to take the best possible care of the films of the future, all of which carry the same secret hope of courage, loyalty, and freedom, with a mission to move the greatest number of women and men by speaking to them of their common wounds and joys. Culture helps the human soul to rise and hope for tomorrow.”
The Cannes Film Festival is late in announcing the jury president this year. It is usually unveiled in January or February.
Speculation has been rife over who was in the running for the position, with other names thrown into the hat being Farhadi and Penelope Cruz.
The last French acting star to be appointed head of the Cannes jury was Isabelle Huppert in 2009.
The festival noted it has a tradition of appointing “French celebrities” in anniversary years, pointing to Yves Montand in 1987 for the 40th edition, Gérard Depardieu in 1993 for the 45th edition, and Isabelle Adjani in 1997 for the 50th edition.
