As the Cannes Film Festival approaches, set to host its 77th competition for the Palme d’Or, the festival’s organizers revealed on Monday the makeup of its jury. Among the members is Lebanese director, actress and screenwriter Nadine Labaki.
The Cannes Film Festival will take place from May 14 to 25 and will be chaired by American director Greta Gerwig, renowned for her auteur cinema and recent commercial success with the film Barbie. At 40 years old, Gerwig is the youngest jury president since Sophia Loren in 1966.
The jury consists of four men and four women. They will judge 22 films competing to succeed Justine Triet’s Anatomie d’une chute, the 2023 Palme d’Or winner. More than a hundred other films will also be presented, including in the parallel selections.
The festival will kick off on the evening of May 14 with an opening ceremony hosted by Camille Cottin, followed by the premiere of Quentin Dupieux’s comedy Le deuxième acte featuring Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon and Louis Garrel. Nadine Labaki is no stranger to the Cannes Film Festival; on the contrary, she has often participated in this global celebration of cinema.
Nadine Labaki’s film Caramel was presented at the Directors’ Fortnight in 2007. In 2011, she showcased Et maintenant on va où ? at Un Certain Regard, a parallel section of the Cannes Festival. Her film Capharnaüm, which dealt with childhood maltreatment, refugees and societal harshness, competed in 2018 and earned her an Oscar nomination. Besides her films’ selections, she was a member of the Un Certain Regard jury in 2015 and chaired the same jury in 2019, during the 72nd edition of the festival.
Photo Credit: Valerie Hache / AFPHaving recently presented her film Retour en Alexandrie with Fanny Ardant at the International Women Film Festival in Beirut, Nadine Labaki returns to the Croisette not as a director but a jury member. For her, “Cinema has the power to speak to people’s souls, to touch them deeply.” This statement resonates particularly with her commitment as a humanitarian and engaged filmmaker, internationally recognized for her sensitive and profound approach to social issues through the prism of cinema.
Greta Gerwig’s jury also includes notable figures such as French actor Omar Sy, who evolved from his early days in comedy with Omar and Fred to a flourishing career in Hollywood, French actress Eva Green, American actress Lily Gladstone, Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-Eda, Spanish filmmaker Juan Antonio Bayona and Turkish screenwriter and photographer Ebru Ceylan. Together, they face the challenging task of selecting the competition’s winning films.
Nadine Labaki, though she has acted in several of her works, does not consider herself primarily an actress but more a director. Her work as a screenwriter and director is strongly marked by a deep humanitarian commitment. Through her scripts, she addresses poignant social themes, allowing her to reach an international audience and provoke reflection on universal issues like social justice, children’s rights and the plight of refugees. Her films, which often depict harsh realities, are praised worldwide for their ability to humanize statistics and give a voice to the voiceless.
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