Greta Gerwig, whose latest film “Barbie” made $1.4 billion at the global box office this year and who has just been nominated for nine Golden Globes, will preside over the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024.
Gerwig has attended Cannes alongside her partner Noah Baumbach before, most notably in 2017 when his “The Meyerowitz Stories” premiered, but she’s never presented a film there. There were early talks of bringing “Barbie” to Cannes earlier this year, but the timing didn’t work out. The Warner Bros. film was released on July 19 and became an instant classic and the highest grossing film of the year worldwide. In addition to leading the Golden Globe nominations, “Barbie” is also expected to receive numerous Oscar nominations, with Variety’s Clayton Davis saying the film is a rare blockbuster with a shot at Best Picture.
“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 film can be,” Gerwig said in a statement. “Being in the place of vulnerability, in a dark theatre filled with strangers, watching a brand new film is my favourite place to be. I am stunned, thrilled and humbled to serve as President of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival. I can’t wait to see what journeys we all have in store!
Two-time Palme d’Or winner Ruben Ostlund (Triangle of Sadness, The Square) will preside over the Cannes jury in 2023. Gerwig will be the first American director to serve as president of the Cannes jury. At 40, she’s also the youngest person to take on the role since Sophia Loren, who was 31 when she presided over the 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 boldly embodies the renewal of world cinema, for which Cannes is both the forerunner and the sounding board each year,” said Cannes President Iris Knobloch and General Delegate Thierry Frémaux. “Beyond the seventh art, she is also the representative of an era that breaks down barriers and mixes genres, thereby elevating the values of intelligence and humanism,” they added.
Greta Gerwig, who started out as an actor, broke through as a solo director in 2017 with Lady Bird. She became the fifth woman to be nominated for best director, and the film received a total of five Oscar nominations. Her next film, “Little Women,” was also a critical hit and was nominated for five Oscars, winning for best costume design. With Barbie, Gerwig became the most bankable female director in history.
The 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival takes place from 14 to 25 May.
