by Nathaniel R
We've known for well over a year that Spike Lee would be presiding over the competition jury. And last week he became the first Jury President (that we know of) to ever be the poster star of the festival in the year he was jurying. How about that? People will also be excited to hear that the competition jury is majority women but that's not a first. It's actually the third time. Isabelle Huppert led a majority female jury in 2009 (White Ribbon won the Palme that year) and Jane Campion led a majority female jury in 2014 (Winter Sleep won).
LET'S MEET THE JURY...
MATI DIOP 🇫🇷
The French writer/director behind Senegalese Oscar finalist and Cannes Grand Prix winner Atlantics (2019), who was the first Black female director to ever compete at Cannes, returns as a jury member this time. Before her breakout directorial debut she was an actress, debuting in Claire Denis' 35 Shots of Run (2008)
MYLÈNE FARMER 🇫🇷 🇨🇦
Cannes occassionally invites luminaries from outside the film industry proper for the jury. Farmer is one of the most successful singer/songwriters of all time in France.
MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL 🇺🇸
You know her. You love her. The Oscar nominated and Golden Globe winning actress has a rich filmography (Sherrybaby, The Kindergarten Teacher, Secretary, Happy Endings, Crazy Heart, The Dark Knight, The Honourable Woman, The Deuce) and lately she's set her sights on directing as well. Her feature directorial debut The Lost Daughter is due this year and stars Olivia Colman and Dakota Johnson.
JESSICA HAUSNER 🇦🇹
This writer/director has had multiple films at Cannes including her breakthrough Lovely Rita (2001), Hotel (2004), Amour Fou (2014), and most recently Little Joe (2019) which took the Best Actress prize at Cannes for Emily Beecham.
MÉLANIE LAURENT 🇫🇷
The internationally successful César winning actress has co-starred in films from multiple countries (Beginners, Inglourious Basterds, Now You See Me, Don't Worry I'm Fine, La Chambre des Morts, Night Train to Lisbon and more). For the past twelve years or so she's been directing, too, starting with a short at Cannes in 2008 and multiple features since then including a César winning documentary Tomorrow (2015). Her next feature is The Nightingale (2021) which stars Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning.
KLEBER MENDONÇA FILHO 🇧🇷
He's one of Brazil's most exciting writer/directors. All three of his features -- Neighboring Sounds (2012), Aquarius (2016), and Bacurau (2019) -- have been internationally acclaimed, with the latter two competing for the Palme at Cannes in their years and Bacurau winning the Jury Prize.
TAHAR RAHIM 🇫🇷
He won two Césars (Best Actor, Most Promising Actor) for his international breakthrough performance in the Oscar-nominated aned Cannes Grand Prize winning prison drama Un Prophète (2009). He's been working ever since in films like The Eagle, Our Children, Grand Central, The Past, Mary Magdalene, and The Mauritanian with the latter bringing him BAFTA and Globe nominations.
SONG KANG-HO 🇰🇷
He's long been one of South Korean's biggest movie stars and international audiences finally put a name to the familiar face with the international success of Parasite (2019) which earned a quarter of a billion worldwide. Other major entries in his filmography include The Host, Memories of Murder, Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, Thirst, and Snowpiercer, as well as South Korean Oscar submissions like Secret Sunshine, The Throne, The Age of Shadow, and A Taxi Driver.
AND JURY PRESIDENT... SPIKE LEE 🇺🇸
The Oscar winning writer/director/actor/national treasure has competed at Cannes twice, first with Jungle Fever (1991) and thenwith BlacKkKlansman (2018) which picked up the Grand Prix prize. He was supposed to preside over the jury in 2020 but after the festival was cancelled due to COVID-19, Cannes and the director agreed to just push his duties back one year. His filmography includes many wonderful joints like Do the Right Thing, 4 Little Girls, Malcolm X, and 25th Hour.
previously in Cannes 2021 coverage
(updated with new photos here and there)
• UN CERTAIN REGARD Jury: Writer Director Andrea Arnold (UK), Writer/Director Mounia Meddour (Algeria), Actress Elsa Zylberstein (France), Writer/Director Daniel Burman (Argentina), Director/Actor Michael Covino (US)
• CRITICS WEEK Jury: Writer/Director Cristian Mungiu (Romania) and ???