The complete jury for the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival has been announced. As previously noted, Pedro Almodóvar will preside over the jury. To celebrate, The Film Experience will have "Almodóvar Week" from May 9th through the 15th so catch up with a few of his movies you've always wanted to see. We are currently planning to hit the following pictures in some capacity: Pepi Luci Bom, Dark Habits, What Have I Done to Deserve This?, All About My Mother, Volver, All About My Mother, and The Skin I Live In... though there might be alterations in that schedule or additions.
But, yes, the Cannes jury. They are...
Pedro Almodóvar (Director/Screenwriter/Producer, Spain)
One of the all time great auteurs. He's won two Oscars (All About My Mother, Talk to Her), five BAFTAs (All About My Mother x2, Talk to Her x2, and The Skin I Live In), 3 Goyas (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, All About My Mother, Volver) and both the Director (All About My Mother) and the Screenplay (Volver) prize at previous Cannes festivals. Frustratingly, he's never won the Palme d'Or, though.
Photograph by Vittorio Zunino
Maren Ade (Director/Screenwriter/Producer, Germany)
Hot off of Toni Erdmann, which swept the European Film Awards and which many people thought should have won a prize or two from the jury at last year's Cannes, this invitation makes a ton of sense.
Jessica Chastain (Actress/Producer, US)
Chastain loves a film festival and film festivals love the great actresses
Fan Bingbing (Actress/Producer, China)
Fan Bingbing has been slaying the Cannes red carpet for years, in ways most actresses don't even attempt. We consider this a well earned thank you. Fan Bingbing will follow last year's I Am Not Madame Bovary with the role of the mermaid in 2017's The King's Daughter opposite Pierce Brosnan
Agnes in "The Sweet Escape"
Agnès Jaoui (Actress/Screenwriter/Director/Singer, France)
Her directorial debut The Taste of Others (2000) was nominated for the foreign film Oscar and won 4 César Awards including Best Film. She won the EFA for Best Screenplay for Look at Me (2004) and was recently César nominated for both her screenplay and her performance in The Sweet Escape (2015)
Park Chan-Wook (Director/Screenwriter/Producer, South Korea)
Like Almodóvar he's never won the Palme d'Or despite multiple competition titles, including his best film yet, The Handmaiden (2016). But he has won two prizes at Cannes in the past:Grand Prize of the jury for Oldboy (2003) and the Jury Prize for Thirst (2009)
Will Smith (Actor/Producer/Musician, US)
Despite major nominations (Oscar, Globe, SAG) he has yet to win a major film prize in the US. He does however have an Honorary César from France.
Paolo Sorrentino (Director/Screenwriter, Italy)
He won the Oscar and the BAFTA though not any Cannes prizes for The Great Beauty and he's currently represented on HBO by The Young Pope.
Gabriel Yared (Composer, France)
We love it when the Cannes jury includes a below the line champ. Yared's music is beautiful. Remember his score for Talented Mr Ripley? Swoon. He's currently working with Xavier Dolan a lot (Tom at the Farm, It's Only the End of the World, and the forthcoming The Death and Life of John F Donovan)
With such a great jury with a taste for the heavy stylization and outre storytelling (Pedro AND Chan-Wook AND Sorrentino) we'll be very disappointed if the Palme d'Or goes to something traditional-ish!