French actor Juliette Binoche will succeed Greta Gerwig as jury president of the Cannes Film Festival at the upcoming 78th edition.
It will mark a second time in Cannes history that the jury will headed by a woman for two consecutive years.
Binoche is one of France’s most revered performers and has led an international career, having worked with auteurs around the world including Michael Haneke, David Cronenberg, Anthony Minghella, Abel Ferrara, Abbas Kiarostami, Olivier Assayas, Leos Carax, Claire Denis, Amos Gitaï, Naomi Kawase, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Louis Malle and Hou Hsiao- hsien.
Her work has been celebrated with dozens of awards, including a best supporting actress statue at the Oscars for her role in “The English Patient” in 1997, and best actress at the Cannes Film Festival for her performance in Kiarostami’s “Certified Copy” in 2010.
Binoche said of her role as Cannes jury president that she’s “looking forward to sharing these life experiences with the members of the jury and the public.”
“In 1985, I walked up the steps for the first time with the enthusiasm and uncertainty of a young actress; I never imagined I’d return 40 years later in the honorary role of President of the Jury,” she continued, adding that she “appreciates the privilege, the responsibility and the absolute need for humility.”
Binoche’s career, which spans more than 40 years and 70 films, kicked off with when she landed her first major role in André Téchiné’s “Rendez-vous.” That movie premiered at Cannes in 1985, which is why Binoche has often said she “was born at the Cannes Film Festival.”
She was most recently at Cannes in 2023 with Trần Anh Hùng’s “The Taste of Things” which won best director.
The daring actor has also occasionally dived into prestige TV, notably with “The Staircase,” and “The New Look,” the AppleTV+ series in which she plays Coco Chanel. She also starred as herself in an hilarious episode of “Call My Agent!” that sees her presiding over the opening ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival and turning down advances from a sleazy yet powerful movie producer.
A progressive figure who was recently elected president of the European Film Academy, Binoche has also voiced her concerns over education, undocumented immigration and human rights in Iran. She’s also championed the #MeToo movement in France.
The 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival will take place May 13-24. Accreditations for the festival opened Monday and will close on April 18. Curated by Cannes Film Festival’s director and artistic director Thierry Fremaux and his selection committee, the festival’s Official Selection will be unveiled in mid-April.
As recently announced, Cannes’s president Iris Knobloch was just re-elected for a second three-year term at the helm of the festival.
