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Cannes Festival 2017 jury announced
The 70th anniversary Film Festival jury unveiled
After the announcement that Spanish Director, Pedro Almodovar, was to be the 2017 Cannes Festival jury president, we have waited with baited breath to see who would join him on the prestigious jury of the 70th Festival de Cannes.
The wait is finally over as the Festival de Cannes announced the lineup for the 2017 jury. Four women and four men will help Pedro Almodovar select from amongst the films in Competition. The jury members are Maren Ade (Director, Screenwriter, Producer - Germany), Jessica Chastain (Actress, Producer - United States), Fan Bingbing (Actress, Producer - China), Agnès Jaoui (Actress, Screenwriter, Director, Singer – France), Park Chan-wook (Director, Screenwriter, Producer - South Korea), Will Smith (Actor, Producer, Musician – United States, Paolo Sorrentino (Director, Screenwriter - Italy), Gabriel Yared (Composer – France).
Two-time Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain has emerged as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after actresses of her generation. Whilst Fan Bingbing rose to fame in 1998 and starred in Cell Phone in 2003, which became the highest-grossing Chinese film of the year. Perhaps the best-known face amongst the jury, two-time Academy Award nominee Will Smith, has a vast filmography including portrayals of true-life icons in Ali, The Pursuit of Happiness and Concussion. His headlining credits include Independence Day, I, Robot, Hitch, I Am Legend, Men in Black I, II, & III, and last summer’s Suicide Squad. The two-time Grammy Award winner began his career as a musician selling millions of records worldwide before crossing over into television with The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
France is well represented in this year's jury with composer Gabriel Yared, and actress, screenwriter, director, singer Agnes Jaoui. Paolo Sorrentino, Italian director and screenwriter, has seen seven of his eight films presented in Competition at the Festival de Cannes, where Il Divo won the Prix du Jury in 2008. South Korean director and producer Park Chan-wook is no stranger to Cannes as he won the Grand Prix in 2004 for Old Boy and the Jury Prize for Thirst in 2009. In 2016, Park Chan-wook returned to Cannes in Competition with The Handmaiden and won the Vulcan Prize, once again establishing him as one of the most significant talents working in cinema today. Finally, German director, Maren Ade's third film, Toni Erdmann, debuted in Competition at the 2016 Festival de Cannes and won numerous awards such as the European Film Award.
The 2017 Festival de Cannes will take place from 17th to 28th May. Read more about the films in Competition and how to make the most of the 70th Cannes Film Festival.
