Cannes 2024: Lily Gladstone joins Greta Gerwig's Jury

by Cláudio Alves

Lily Gladstone is one of the eight jurors who have just been announced for the Cannes Main Competition. After success at last year's festival with Killers of the Flower Moon, the Oscar nominee feels like a logical choice. Indeed, most of the jury comprises artists who have found acclaim at the Croisette. There's a former Palme winner, a Jury Prize victor, the co-writer of a Palme d'Or recipient, stars of various pictures that have screened there, and more. All things considered, Greta Gerwig is probably the least familiar with Cannes red carpets and the screen of the Lumière. But after three solo directorial credits of such cultural prominence, it's easy to see why she's this year's Jury President.

Here's the complete Main Competition Jury for the 74th Cannes Film Festival...

GRETA GERWIG – PRESIDENT (USA)
Director, Screenwriter, Actress, Producer

The four-time Oscar nominee first rose to prominence as a star performer in the Mumblecore movement. By 2007, she was writing her first screenplay, Hannah Takes the Stairs, alongside Joe Swanberg and Kent Osborne, and one year later, she was ready to co-direct her first film, Nights and Weekends, again in collaboration with Swanberg. Gerwig's first forays into the mainstream were in horror and comedy, but she'd find a foothold as a dramatic presence thanks to Noah Baumbach's cinema. Their first work together dates back to 2010, but much has changed since Greenberg. The ensuing decade saw her become Baumbach's primary creative (and personal) partner while her acting filmography still grew beyond the man. In 2017, she directed her first feature as a solo director, and since then, Gerwig has become one of Hollywood's biggest names. Between Lady Bird, Little Women, and Barbie, she's on top of the world. Her next project as a director is an adaptation of C.S. Lewis' second Narnia book. She's also co-writing the Snow White live-action remake with Erin Cressida Wilson.

EBRU CEYLAN (Turkey)
Director, Screenwriter, Actress, Production Designer, Photographer

Before studying film, Ebru Ceylan was already a photographer with various works shown at solo and group exhibits. In 1998, her first short film, Kiyida, competed at Cannes, but her mark on the Croisette comes mostly from collaborations with Nuri Bilge Ceylan, her husband since 2003. Their first joint project to screen at the festival was 2002's Distant, where Ebru Ceylan worked as an actress and production designer. Then came Climates, a marriage story where the real-life couple plays the lead roles. Starting with Three Monkeys, Ebru Ceylan became her husband's main writing partner, sharing credits on Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, the Palme-winning Winter Sleep, The Wild Pear Tree, and last year's About Dry Grasses. 

LILY GLADSTONE (USA)
Actress

Born into the Blackfeet and Nez Perce Tribal Nations, Lily Gladstone graduated from the University of Montana in 2008, securing a BFA in Acting and Directing, as well as a BFA in Native American Studies. Her first credited film acting role came in 2012 when she starred in Universal VIP, a short that found Gladstone playing a frustrated young woman who has imaginary conversations with a hunky embodiment of the Creator, played by an oft-shirtless Tatanka Means. The following year, she played a small role in Jimmy P., an Arnaud Desplechin film screened in the Cannes Main Competition. The actress's breakthrough came with Kelly Reichardt's Certain Women in 2016, though her career prospects waned over the years. Famously, Gladstone was about to register for a data analytics course when she first got word from Martin Scorsese. Killers of the Flower Moon proved to be her "a star is born" moment, resulting in a Best Actress Oscar nomination, among many other plaudits. This year, she can be seen in the Under the Bridge series and Fancy Dance. She's also been signed to star in Andrew Ahn's The Wedding Banquet remake and Morrisa Maltz's The Unknown Country follow-up, Jazzy.

EVA GREEN (France)
Actress

Daughter to a dentist who appeared in Bresson's Au hazard Balthazar and an actress turned writer, Eva Green started her career in theater. Her work in the 2002 stagings of Turcaret and Jalousie en trois faz earned her nominations for the Molière awards before moving to the big screen in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers. The following years saw Green enjoy a meteoric rise, fame growing far beyond European cinema. In 2005, she played Sibylla in Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven – though her best work is only available on the director's cut – and she was the Bond Girl to end all others in Casino Royale. These first parts immediately showcased the actress' propensity for genre work, tapping into pulp and heightened registers with astounding ease. If you don't believe me, consider her delicious chaos in Burton's Dark Shadows, how she single-handedly redeems the 300 and Sin City sequels, and even scrounges up some humanity as Miss Peregrine and Dumbo's sky dancer. This year, you can enjoy Eva Green as Milady in Martin Bourboulon's two-part Three Musketeers adaptation.

NADINE LABAKI (Lebanon)
Director, Screenwriter, Actress

Nadine Labaki's entanglement with the Cannes Film Festival goes back nearly to the beginning of her career. She started in small acting roles and music video gigs for singer Nancy Ajram but soon grew interested in making her feature debut. In 2004, she participated in the Cannes Résidence de la Cinéfondation, developing what would become Caramel, premiered at the Croisette in 2007. Her next feature, Where Do We Go Now?, competed in the Un Certain section, earning Labaki a Special Mention from the Ecumenical Jury and the François Chalais Award. The director's Capernaum finally gave her entry into the festival's Main Competition, where she'd prove herself victorious, winning the Jury Prize, among other honors from parallel juries. That film is Labaki's most well-known work, taking her all the way to the Dolby Theater as a Best International Film nominee. Capernaum is only the second Lebanese film to receive such honor.

JUAN ANTONIO BAYONA (Spain)
Director, Screenwriter, Producer

Like Labaki, Juan Antonio Bayona started his career in the land of music videos and short films. His feature debut arrived in 2007, taking Cannes by storm. Premiered in the Critics' Week, The Orphanage competed for the Cámera d'Or and gained international acclaim. It was the kind of universal praise rarely bestowed upon horror, securing its status as Spain's official Oscar submission later that year. Rather than growing his renown in his native country, Bayona soon started to explore the possibility of international co-productions. His sophomore feature, The Impossible, earned Naomi Watts an Oscar nomination, while A Monster Calls earned outstanding critical notices and a cadre of Goyas. Indeed, Bayona is a favorite of the Spanish Academy. Though Society of the Snow failed to wow the Academy in the same way other Netflix movies have, it swept the Goyas, winning twelve, including Best Film. An interesting piece of trivia is that Bayona has directed a fellow jury member in the past. He worked with Eva Green in Penny Dreadful, where he was on set to guide her through that incredible "Séance" in season one of the horror series.

PIERFRANCESCO FAVINO (Italy)
Actor, Producer

One of Italy's most important leading men, Pierfrancesco Favino is a habitué of the major European festivals. He made his screen debut in the TV movie Una Questione Private, graduating into bigger roles before long. In 1997, Favino was already on the Cannes red carpet, having been cast in the Competition title The Prince of Homburg by Marco Bellocchio. His first David di Donatello nomination came for El Alamein in 2003, and three years later, he won the "Italian Oscar" for Romanzo Criminale. In the meantime, Favino also started to take strides in Hollywood, playing Christopher Columbo in the first Night at the Museum movie and a fantasy general in the second Chronicles of Narnia adaptation. Still, despite his work with Spike Lee and Ron Howard, box office success and the like, it's impossible to compare his stature in American cinema to what he enjoys back home. Two of his most recent award-winning triumphs include The Traitor and Padrenostro, the latter of which resulted in a Volpi Cup from the Venice Film Festival.

HIROKAZU KORE-EDA (Japan)
Director, Screenwriter, Producer, Editor

Hirokazu Kore-eda was born to a Taiwanese father whose experiences under colonial rule left a sympathy for the island nation in his offspring. As for the future director's mother, she was a film lover whose influence soon shaped her child's adoration for the silver screen. After graduating from the Waseada University in the late 80s, Kore-eda's career was born as a TV documentarian. One of his most important works from this period was August Without Him, a portrait of the first openly gay AIDS sufferer in Japan, that descends into a consideration on the ethics of non-fiction filmmaking. Struggling under harsh management, Kore-eda ventured into narrative work with the objective of creating happy work environments for his team. Premiered at Venice, his first fiction feature was 1995's Maborosi, followed by After Life's metaphysical wonder in 1998. Since then, Hirokazu Kore-eda has become one of Japan's most internationally recognized filmmakers and has competed in the Cannes Main Competition seven times. In 2018, Shoplifters took the Palme d'Or, and just last year, Monster was honored with the Best Screenplay prize.

OMAR SY (France)
Actor, Screenwriter, Producer

The son of West African immigrants, Omar Sy started his career in the late 1990s, first finding work in radio. From there, he transitioned to TV, even creating a new show for Canal+ called Le Visiophon. During the early years of the new millennium, Sy also explored his talent on stage and weaponized his radio credentials to become a prolific voice actor whose credits extended beyond borders. In 2008, he lent his voice to Logorama, an animated short film that bowed at Cannes before winning an Oscar the following year. His big breakthrough into major stardom finally manifested in 2011, when Sy played one of the leads in The Intouchables, an international hit for which he won the Best Actor César. Other honors of his include an additional César nomination for the 2017 biopic Chocolat and a Golden Globe nomination for his work in the TV series Lupin. Like J.A. Bayona, Sy has a history with the Jurassic World franchise, starring in two of the franchise's pictures. This year, you can see him in The Book of Clarence and Histoire d'Un Mariage, with Vanessa Paradis and Élodie Bounchez in other major roles.

Though this group is excellent, I'd like to express one critical observation. Years ago, the Cannes juries still included filmmakers whose main activity extended beyond the credits of director, writer and actor. However, those three professions have taken over, with an added emphasis on international name recognition. If memory serves me right, composer Gabriel Yared was the last non-director/actor/writer to find a place in the Cannes Main Competition jury in 2017.

In conversation, Nick Taylor and I came up with imaginary juries whose artistic specialties are much more varied. Consider:

Nick's Dream Jury

• JOHNNIE BURN (UK) Sound Designer, Composer
• KATHLEEN CRAWFORD (UK) Casting Director
• SUZIE DAVIES (UK) Production Designer
• MICA LEVI (UK) Composer, Musician
• CLAIRE MATHON (France) Cinematographer
• SANDY POWELL (UK) Costume Designer, Producer
• LAURENT SÉNÉCHAL (France) Editor
• HOWARD SHORE (Canada) Composer

Cláudio's Dream Jury

• JOHNNIE BURN (UK) Sound Designer, Composer
• WILLIAM CHANG (Hong Kong) Production Designer, Costume Designer
• CLAIRE MATHON (France) Cinematographer
• ROSINE MBAKAM (Cameroon) Director, Screenwriter, Editor, Cinematographer, Producer
• SEONG-HEE RYU (South Korea) Production Designer
• EDUARDO SERRANO (Brazil) Editor
• TOSHIE TABATA (Japan) Casting Director
• PHIL TIPPETT (USA) Director, Visual Effects Artist, Animator, Producer

 Wouldn't any of those two dream lineups make great additions to Greta Gerwig's jury? Still, one can't complain too much when the selected artists are as remarkable as they are this and every year.

Beyond the Main Competition, there are other star-studded juries. Xavier Dolan presides over the Un Certain section, joined by Maïmouna Doucouré, Asmae El Moudir, Vicky Krieps, and Todd McCarthy. Baloji and Emmanuelle Béart will co-preside the Cámera d'Or jury and will be joined by Pascal Buron, Nathalie Chifflet, Gilles Porte, and Zoé Wittock. For the Short Film Competition, Lunba Azabal will preside, with Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, Paolo Moretti, Claudine Nougaret, and Vladimir Perisic as her fellow jurors.

What do you think of the Cannes official juries? Who would you love to see in the festival's future?

Comments

[Gallavich]

Now is officially an anti Lanthimos jury. Lol

[jules]

Excited for Greta! She's only the second American woman to head a Cannes jury... the last was Olivia de Havilland in 1965.

[TomG]

If I had to pick a jury:

Ryu Seong-hie- South Korea- production design
Rachel Morrison- USA- cinematographer
Hildur Guðnadóttir- Iceland- music
Catherine Martin- Australia- costume/production design
Takashi Yamazaki- Japan- VFX/director
Kevin O'Connell- USA- sound
Alex Rodriguez- Mexico- editing
Tami Lane- USA- makeup

[Frank Zappa]

Jury Duty:
Trent Reznor
Ruth E. Carter
Thelma Schoonmaker
Ari Wegner
Hoyte Van Hoytema
Sandra Hüller
Nicholas Britell
Colin Farrell

[Arnaud Trouvé]

Great work, Cláudio.
A quick note : "Society of the Snow" is not the most awarded film in Goya history. This honor still belongs to "Mar adentro" and its 14 awards ;)

[DK]

I would definitely mix it up. I’d have a stand-up comedian (Chris Rock?), a journalist (Mrs. Mike Nichols?), a fashion designer (Miuccia Prada?), a writer (Salman Rushdie?) people from outside the world of elite cinema because you don’t need to make movies to have good taste. I'd be curious if Barack or Michelle Obama would like to serve! These juries have become clubbier and clique-ier over the years and I would absolutely not stack the deck with auteurs and (current) auteur muses like they tend to do. But for good measure I’d include a few real movie people like Nicole Holofcenter, Pam Grier, Whit Stillman…again, not the usual suspects! (This would make a very American jury but I'd apply the same logic to a more global group of jurors.)

Patricia Highsmith chaired Berlin in 1978—the “juror” title was much freer and less predictable back in the day.

[Antônio]

I want Madonna as jury president next year! With Elizabeth Berkley and Uwe Boll. It would be fun!

[thevoid99]

Seriously, that's a fucking jury. I don't want to come up with a dream list. Mainly because I want to be in a Cannes jury. I'll be the guy not wearing a tuxedo but rather jean-shorts and a t-shirt representing a classic film. I want to be comfortable.