Swedish director Ruben Östlund, twice winner of the Palme d’Or, will be the president of the jury of the 76th Cannes Film Festival, which will be held from May 16 to 27 on the Croisette, fifty years after his compatriot Ingrid Bergman, announced Tuesday the organizers in a press release.
He will take over from the French actor Vincent Lindon, who, with his jury, had awarded the Palme d’Or to the Swede’s latest film, “Without Filter”. He had also won the prestigious award five years earlier with ‘The Square’.
“I am happy, proud and humbled to be entrusted with the honor of presiding over the Cannes Film Festival jury this year. No other place in the world arouses such a desire for cinema when the curtain rises on a film in competition, ”said the 48-year-old filmmaker, quoted in the press release.
He becomes, after the American Francis Ford Coppola and the Franco-Serbian Emir Kusturica, the third doubly palmed filmmaker to become president of the jury, and the very first to take on this role the year following his coronation, specifies the press release.
Mr. Östlund will have to choose the Palme d’or from among the twenty films in competition, which are to be unveiled soon. He will be supported by several jurors, whose names will also be revealed soon.
The director rose to fame with “Snow Therapy” (2014), a film that debunks the modern family with a father fleeing an avalanche, his mobile phone in his hand, but leaving his children in danger.
The film won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard category at Cannes.
In 2017, he made the public at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes scream with joy by winning the Palme d’Or for “The Square”. For this film, he had surrounded himself with the American Elisabeth Moss (“Mad Men”), the Briton Dominic West (“The Wire”) and the Dane Claes Bang, who holds the leading role.
Five years later, he won a new Palme d’Or with “Without filter”, a satire of the super-rich and luxury.
The Cannes Film Festival is considered one of the biggest film festivals in the world, alongside the Berlinale in Berlin and the Venice Film Festival. During their last edition, these two festivals had appointed at the head of their jury two women, respectively Kristen Stewart and Julianne Moore.
The last president of the Cannes jury dates back to 2018, with Australian Cate Blanchett.