Cannes Sets Ava DuVernay, Kristen Stewart For Competition Jury Under Cate Blanchett

The Cannes Film Festival has set its competition jury under president Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett. The festival chose five women and four men, covering seven nationalities and five continents. They will spend plenty of time in dark rooms on the Croisette before revealing the winners Saturday, May 19 during the Closing Ceremony.

The jury for this year’s fest under Blanchett includes Chang Chen (Chinese actor), Ava DuVernay (American writer, director, producer), Robert Guédiguian (French director, writer, producer), Khadja Nin (Burundian songwriter, composer, singer), Léa Seydoux (French actress), Kristen Stewart (American actress), Denis Villeneuve (Canadian director, writer) and Andrei Zvyagintsev (Russian director, writer).

Director-writer-producer Ava DuVernay recently directed Disney’s adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time and champions women and filmmakers of color with her collective ARRAY. Kristen Stewart is regular at Cannes, having starred in many films that played at the fest including On the Road, Personal Shopper and Clouds of Sils Maria.

Léa Seydoux is an acclaimed actress who has appeared in numerous films including Abdelatif Kechiche’s Blue is the Warmest Colour which won Palme d’Or for in 2013. Internationally renowned and Academy Award-winning director Denis Villeneuve recently directed Blade Runner 2049 as well as numerous films such as Sicario and Arrival.

Chen is known for her role in Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and most recently appeared in Forever Young by Fangfang Li. French activist filmmaker Robert Guédiguian recently directed The House by the Sea and Burundian songwriter Khadja Nin is known for her albums which are a mix of occidental pop music, African and afro-cuban rhythms. Russian director Andreï Zvyagintsev is known for many films including Loveless which won the Jury Prize at the 2017 Festival de Cannes, and was among the nominees at the Golden Globe and 90th Academy Awards.

The official competition lineup for Cannes Film Festival includes Spike Lee’s Blackkklansman, David Robert Mitchell’s Under The Silver Lake, Jean-Luc Godard’s Le Livre D’Image, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War as well as Kore-Eda Hirokazu’s Shoplifters.

Everybody Knows from director Asghar Farhadi will serve as the opening night film while the highly anticipated sci-fi adventure Solo: A Star Wars Story will also make its world premiere at the festival.

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