Cate Blanchett heads 71st Cannes Festival jury

Oscar-winning actor Cate Blanchett will lead the jury of the 71st Cannes Film Festival, which will be held from May 8 to 19. The actor, who played Hela in Thor: Ragnarok (2017), will be joined by filmmakers Ava DuVernay and Denis Villeneuve as well as actors Kristen Stewart and Lea Seydoux on the panel.

According to variety.com, the jury will include five men and four women from seven nationalities and five continents.

Also serving on the jury are Chinese actor Chang Chen, who starred in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and French director Robert Guediguian, who was nominated for Palme d’OrMarie in the 2002 Cannes Film Festival for Jo and Her Two Lovers. Burundian singer Khadja Nin and Leviathan (2014) director Andrey Zvyagintsev will also be part of the jury.

While some have criticised the relatively low number of women directors in official competition, Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux said that he has been conscious of gender balance in the jury.

“For the last four years, I’ve become much more concerned about the presence of women at the festival. I’ve been having discussions with intelligent women like (actor) Jessica Chastain and have listened to their advice about ways to improve certain things,” he said, adding, “We’ve started paying more attention to the gender ratio on our selection committees, for instance. Right now, two out of the three committees have as many women as men.”

Chastain, who starred in The Help (2011) and Molly’s Game (2017), was on last year’s festival jury, which was headed by Pedro Almodovar.