Who’s judging this year’s most prestigious filmfest in the world? Completing the nine-person Cannes jury is a posse of both rising stars and A-listers, namely:
Joel and Ethan Coen
American screenwriters, editors, producers and film directors Joel and Ethan Coen have written, directed and produced several films including titles Fargo (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998), True Grit (2010), and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), among others. Both have been nominated together for twelve Academy Awards, in which they won Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Adapted Screenplay for No Country for Old Men, and Best Original Screenplay for Fargo. The Coen brothers lead as Cannes jury presidents.
Jake Gyllenhaal
The Golden Globe-nominated Nightcrawler (2014) star joins the jury at Cannes this year. A familiar face in the festival, Gyllenhaal has appeared in David Fincher’s Zodiac, which screened in the 2007 Cannes. The American actor also starred in numerous indie films such as Donnie Darko (2001) and The Good Girl (2002), and won the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Brokeback Mountain (2005).
Sienna Miller
English actress, fashion designer and model Sienna Miller has walked the film festival’s red carpet just last year for her performance in Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher (2014), but this year, she gets to enter the Cannes jury. Miller is best known for her roles in Layer Cake (2004), Factory Girl (2006), G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009), and American Sniper (2014), among others. She was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2008, for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress in 2012, and for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in the same year.
Sophie Marceau
The only French member of the jury this year, Sophie Marceau is known in her performances as a princess in Mel Gibson’s Braveheart (1995) and as a Bond girl in The World is Not Enough (1999). She is also a director, screenwriter and author, who has received a Cesar Award for Most Promising Actress for her performance in her debut film La Boum (1980).
Rossy de Palma
Joining the jury this year is Picassoesque Spanish actress Rossy de Palma, best known for her eccentric performances in the works of Pedro Almodovar such as Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), a Cannes favorite. A model and muse for fashion designers such as Jean-Paul Gaultier, Palma is a fashion icon, singer, dancer, theater actress, and charity spokesperson for the Ghanian Charity Orphan Aid Africa.
Xavier Dolan
The Canadian actor and filmmaker is only 26 years old, but has already had four works in Cannes, including his first feature film I Killed My Mother (2009), which garnered an eight-minute standing ovation and received the Art Cinema Award, the SACD Prize, and the Prix Regards Jeunes. In 2010, his second feature film Heartbeats premiered at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival, again receiving a standing ovation and winning the highest prize of the Official Competition at the Sydney Film Festival. His third work, Laurence Anyways, competed in the 2012 filmfest. His latest Cannes film, the heartbreaking Mommy (2014), shared the Jury Prize with Jean-Luc Godard’s Goodbye to Language.
Rokia Traore
Stepping into the jury is award-winning Malian guitarist, film composer and singer-songwriter Rokia Traore, who is best known for writing music for the 2011 Toni Morrison play Desdemona, and for the 2005 omnibus documentary All the Invisible Children.
Guillermo del Toro
Completing the jury is the multi-awarded Mexican filmmaker responsible for bringing us remarkable pieces such as The Devil’s Backbone (2001), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Pacific Rim (2013), and Crimson Peak (2015), Guillermo del Toro. Pan’s Labyrinth/El Laberinto del Fauno premiered in the 2006 Cannes competition, which won a BAFTA Film Award for Best Film not in the English Language and was nominated in the 2007 Oscar Awards for Best Writing and Original Screenplay.
The 68th edition of the filmfest takes place on the 13th until the 24th of May, 2015. Stay tuned for more updates.