Cannes Film Festival names ‘Barbie’ director Greta Gerwig as 2024 jury president
Greta Gerwig was announced today as president jury of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
The American director, screenwriter, and actress Greta Gerwig has many things going for her this season. Her latest movie “Barbie” grossed $1.4 billion at the global box office this year and picked up nine Golden Globe nominations.
“I love films – I love making them, I love going to them, I love talking about them. As a cinephile, Cannes has always been the pinnacle of what the universal language of movies can be. Being in the place of vulnerability, in a dark theatre filled with strangers, watching a brand-new film is my favorite place to be. I am stunned and thrilled and humbled to be serving as the president of the Cannes Film Festival Jury. I cannot wait to see what journeys are in store for all of us!”
Gerwig will be the first American female director to take on the role of jury president at the Cannes Film Festival. At the age of 40, she’s also the youngest person to take on the role since Sophia Loren, who was 31 when she presided over Cannes’ jury in 1966. Other notable female jury presidents include Jane Campion in 2014 and Olivia de Havilland, Cannes’ first female jury president, in 1965.
“This is an obvious choice, since Greta Gerwig so audaciously embodies the renewal of world cinema, for which Cannes is each year both the forerunner and the sounding board”, said Iris Knobloch, Festival President, and Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate.
“Beyond the 7th Art, she is also the representative of an era that is breaking down barriers and mixing genres, and thereby elevating the values of intelligence and humanism.”
“Gerwig’s film portfolios show great depths & perspectives when it comes to depicting women,” said Monica Tong, editor-in-chief of Music Press Asia.
Starting out as an actress, Greta Gerwig transformed into a screenwriter working on a variety of projects. She co-wrote Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007) and Nights and Weekends (2008) which she also co-directed, then Frances Ha (2012), Mistress America (2015) and of course Barbie with Noah Baumbach, her accomplice in art.
Her very first solo work, Lady Bird (2017) – a striking, tender and melancholic portrait of the torments of adolescence – was nominated for 5 Academy Awards, including Best Director.
For her second film, Greta Gerwig ambitiously took hold of the American literature classic from 1868 by Louisa May Alcott, Little Women.
The 77th Festival de Cannes will take place from Tuesday May 14 to Saturday May 25, 2024.
The Official Selection will be unveiled mid-April.
