The Cannes Festival announced today that Greta Gerwing, director of the film “Barbie” and a leading figure in North American auteur cinema, will preside over the jury for the 77th edition. The 40-year-old director, also an actress and screenwriter, will succeed, between May 14th and 25th, the Swedish Ruben Östlund, whose jury this year awarded the Palme d'Or to “Anatomy of a Fall”. She is “the first North American filmmaker to assume” this role, highlighted the organization of the festival. And her presence will bring a breath of youth to the Croisette: Cannes has not had a president so young since Sophia Loren and her 31 years in 1966. She is also the first director since actress Cate Blanchett, in 2018, to assume this prestigious position, where men continue to be overrepresented, with notable exceptions such as Jane Campion and Isabelle Huppert.”I deeply love films,” said the American director, in a festival statement.”I love making them, I love going to see them, I love talking “Barbie”, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, dominates the Golden Globes race, with nominations in nine categories. Released in the summer, the film grossed more than 1.44 billion dollars (1.3 billion euros) worldwide. In addition to this crazy comedy with a feminist message, whose screenplay she co-wrote, Greta Gerwig established herself as ” the muse of North American independent cinema”, said the same note. She directed “Lady Bird” (2017), a new version of”Little Women” (2020) and is preparing an adaptation of “The World of Narnia” for Netflix . She also acted in more than 20 films. “Greta Gerwig courageously embodies the renaissance of world cinema” and “also appears as a representative of an era that seeks to abolish borders and mix genres to make intelligence and humanism triumph”, said the president of the festival, Iris Knobloch, and the general delegate, Thierry Frémaux.
Greta Gerwig, director of "Lady Bird" It is "Barbie"will preside over the jury at the Cannes Film Festival
