With director Ruben Östlund taking the lead, promising a “democratic” jury presidency, eight film personalities of men and women, actors and directors, predominantly under 50 years of age, have the picky task of evaluating the 21 films competing in the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.
Photo credit : Loic Venance / AFP
Denis Menochet
As an actor with imposing presence, he demonstrates his ability to master both strength and vulnerability at the age of 46. Perfectly bilingual, he was revealed in 2009 in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, with a memorable opening scene. After the success of Custody in 2018, a film about domestic violence awarded at the Mostra de Venise and the César, he experienced an exceptional year in 2022, crowned by a Goya in Spain for his role in the thriller As Bestas.
Julia Ducournau
Photo credit : Loic Venance / AFP
At 39, she is a significant figure in the revival of genre cinema in France. Her first film, Raw, was presented at Cannes Critics’ Week in 2016, and five years later, she won the 2021 Palme d’Or for Titane. Ducournau thus became the second woman in the festival’s history to receive such an award after Jane Campion.
Damián Szifrón
Argentinian director, he had the Cannes audience in stitches in 2014 with Wild Tales, a biting farce co-produced by Pedro Almodóvar. Since, the 47-year-old director has made a strong comeback with Misanthrope, a film currently in theaters with Shailene Woodley pursuing a mass murderer.
Brie Larson
Photo credit : Loic Venance / AFP
Known to the general public as Captain Marvel, the first superheroine in the Marvel universe, she is also an American actress in independent films. Her performance in Room, a film addressing sexual violence, earned her an Oscar in 2016.
Paul Dano
Photo credit : Loic Venance / AFP
At 38, he is already a well-established actor in the film world for twenty years, despite his ever-youthful appearance. He was spotted in the comedy Little Miss Sunshine in 2006, then truly shone on the big screen the following year in There Will Be Blood opposite the imperial Daniel Day-Lewis. He also starred in Steve McQueen’s Twelve Years a Slave in 2013 and Bong Joon-ho’s Okja, which competed at Cannes in 2017. In 2018, Dano stepped behind the camera for Wildlife, a sensitive film about a couple’s disintegration. In 2022, he shone in the role of the villain in Batman.
Maryam Touzani
Acclaimed last year at Cannes for her film Le bleu du caftan, which addresses homosexuality in Morocco, she is a renowned director, screenwriter, and actress. Born in 1980 in Tangier, she started her career as a film critic, after studying journalism in London, before making short films. In 2019, her first feature film, Adam, about a pregnancy outside marriage, was selected at Cannes and pre-selected for the Oscars.
Atiq Rahimi
Photo credit : Loic Venance / AFP
The oldest member of the Cannes jury at 61, is a recognized Afghan writer who has won numerous awards in France, his adopted country. He adapted his novel The Patience Stone into a film with Golshifteh Farahani, an Iranian actress also exiled in France.
Rungano Nyoni At 41 years old, she was born in Zambia, grew up in Wales, and now lives in Lisbon. Her debut feature film, I’m Not a Witch, made a splash by telling the story of a little girl accused of witchcraft and sent to a camp. The film, screened at Cannes, subsequently won the Bafta for Best First Film in 2018.
Marie-Christine Tayah with AFP.
Instagram : @mariechristine.tayah
