Jury of 71st Cannes Film Festival announced
Facing a renewed competition which presents filmmakers who will compete for the first time and others who are veterans in the industry, the jury of the official competition of the next edition of the Cannes Film Festival includes five women and four men of seven different nationalities spanning five continents, under the presidency of Australian actress and producer Cate Blanchett.
The list includes Chinese actor Chang Chen; American writer, director, and producer Ava DuVernay; French director, writer, and producer Robert Guédiguian; Burundian songwriter, composer, and singer Khadja Nin; French actress Léa Seydoux; American actress Kristen Stewart; Canadian director Denis Villeneuve; Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev; and Chinese actor Chang Chen.
Chang Chen
Chang Chen made his film debut in the late Edward Yang’s A Brighter Summer Day. He rose to fame in Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger,H idden Dragon in 2000. His film credits include Wong Kar Wai’s Happy Together (1997), 2046 (2004), The Grandmaster (2013), Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Three Times (2005) and The Assassin (2015),Tian Zhuangzhuang’s The Go Master (2006) John Woo’s Red Cliff (2008-2009), and The Last Supper directed by Lu Chuan (2012). In 2017, he returned for Yang Lu’s film Brotherhood of Blades II and recently acted in Forever Young by Fangfang Li.
Ava DuVernay
Nominated for the Academy Award and Golden Globe and winner of the BAFTA and Emmy, Ava DuVernay is a writer, director, producer,and film distributor known for the historical drama Selma (2014), the criminal justice documentary 13th (2016), and the recent Disney cinematic adaptation of the classic children’s novel A Wrinkle in Time. Winner of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival’s Best Director prize for her film Middle of Nowhere, DuVernay amplifies the work of people of colour and women directors through her film collective ARRAY.
Robert Guédiguian
The work of Robert Guédiguian, an activist filmmaker, celebrates the city of Marseille where he grew up. Acclaimed by critics when he first started directing in the 1980s, he met public success with Marius and Jeannette,which won the Prix LouisDelluc in 1997. His film credits include Marie-Jo et Ses Deux Amours (2002), Le Promeneur du Champ de Mars (2004), Le Voyage en Arménie (2007), Lady Jane (2008), L’armée du Crime (2009), and The Snows of Kilimanjaro (2011). His latest film to date,The House by the Sea (2017), received an enthusiastic response from critics and audiences.
Khadja Nin
The youngest in a family of eight, Khadja Nin studied music at an early age before leaving Africa to head to Europe. Her albums are a mix of occidental pop,African, and Afro-Cuban rhythms. She gained wide recognition and success in From Me to You, which is a wonderful tribute to Nelson Mandela and the video of her song Mama was directed by Jeanne Moreau.An international artist, she became a UNICEF and ACP Observatory on Migration Good Will Ambassador. She was awarded the Prix de l’Action Feminine by the African Women’s League in 2016. She has been committed to supporting ordinary heroes.
Léa Seydoux
Rising to fame with Christophe Honoré’s The Beautiful Person in 2008, Léa Seydoux is an award-winning actress, notably of the Palme d’Or for Abdelatif Kechiche’s Blue is the Warmest Colour in 2013. She successfully alternates between author and mainstream films. Her film credits include Rebecca Zlotowski’s Dear Prudence and Grand Central, Benoît Jacquot’s Farewell,My Queen, and Diary of a Chambermaid, Bertrand Bonello’s Saint Laurent, Sam Mendes’ Spectre,Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster, and Xavier Dolan’s It’s Only the End of the World.
Kristen Stewart
Kristen Stewart began acting at an early age and received widespread recognition in 2008 for The Twilight Saga film series (2008–12). Her film credit includes Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), Equals by Drake Doremus (2015), Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ang Lee (2016), Cannes-nominated film On the Road by Walter Salles (2012), Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) and Personal Shopper (2016), both by Olivier Assayas (2014), as well as Café Society by Woody Allen. She directed her first short film, Come Swim, in 2017.
Denis Villeneuve
Internationally renowned and recent two-time Academy Award winner for Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve made his debut at the National Film Board of Canada in the early 1990s. His first feature, Un 32 août sur terre (1998), was invited to Cannes. He returned there with Next Floor (2008), Polytechnique (2009), and the Oscarnominated Sicario (2015). In 2010, Incendies was nominated for best foreign language film at theAcademyAwards.In 2017,Arrival was nominated for eight Oscars and nine BAFTAs,including best movie and best director.
Andreï Zvyagintsev
Multi-award-winning filmmaker Andreï Zvyagintsev has already become one of the most respected directors in Russian and international cinema.He directed his first feature film in 2003, The Return, which won him a Golden Lion at theVenice Film Festival. He has continued to write and direct awardwinning feature films, such as The Banishment (2007), Elena (2011), and Leviathan (2014). His most recent film, Loveless,won the Jury Prize at the Festival de Cannes 2017, and was among the nominees at the Golden Globes and 90th Academy Awards.
The Jury will reveal his prize list on Saturday 19 May during the closing ceremony.