Julia Ducournau, Brie Larson, Paul Dano and Denis Ménochet… All about the Cannes Film Festival jury chaired by Ruben Östlund

They will have the difficult task of awarding the Palme d’or to one of the 21 films already announced in competition. The Cannes Film Festival today revealed the composition of the Jury for the 2023 edition. Five men and four women, actors, directors, writers or screenwriters. For two weeks, they will mingle in the dark rooms of the Croisette and make their choice. A brief overview.

Ruben Östlund, president of the jury

Winner last year at Cannes, the Swede Ruben Östlund sees himself propelled president of the jury of the most famous film festival in the world. Director of six feature films, the native of Gothenburg in Sweden is one of the darlings of the Croisette, having won the Palme d’Or twice, the first in 2017 for The Square and the second last year for Without Filter. His cinema, often imbued with humour, is a succession of sociological examinations and questions about humanity. He becomes the third doubly palmed filmmaker to become president of the Jury after Francis Ford Coppola and Emir Kusturica.

Julia Ducournau

The Frenchwoman Julia Doucournau is one of the four women to sit on the Festival jury. with his movie Titaniumworn by Vincent Lindon and Agathe Rousselle, she won the Palme d’Or in 2021. This graduate of the Fémis, a famous Parisian film school, experienced a meteoric rise from 2016, the year she made her first film, Severe. Critically acclaimed, Julia Ducournau quickly established herself as one of the key figures of French cinema. Committed to gender equality in the 7^e art, she is a member of the 50/50 collective.

Brie Larson

She is a multi-faceted artist who joins the Festival jury. Actress, director, singer… Brie Larson can do it all. After several years of playing supporting roles in television series, the American revealed herself in 2013 in the film States of Grace by Destin Daniel Cretton. She is also known for her performances in the Marvel universe, since she has played the superheroine Carol Danvers since 2019. Very committed to the fight against harassment and sexism in the cinema, she is one of the 300 Hollywood personalities to having created the Time’s Up movement in 2019.

Maryam Touzani

Maryam Touzani’s cinema is intimately political and sheds light on social issues that are usually invisible. This former Moroccan journalist, who became a screenwriter then a director, stood out in 2019 with her first feature film, Adam. The film recounts the friendship between a widow and a young pregnant woman in the Medina of Casablanca, an opportunity to address the condition of women in Morocco. Critically acclaimed, Adam takes Maryam Touzani to Cannes, where she is selected in the Un Certain Regard section. She returned to the Croisette last year with THE Kaftan bluea film about homosexuality in Morocco.

Denis Menochet

It was on television that Denis Ménochet began his career, notably making appearances in the famous series Cafe Camera. He was offered small roles in the cinema, in Inglorious Bastards by Quentin Tarantino, The Roundup by Roselyne Bosch or even Adoptees by Melanie Laurent. But it is in recent years that the French exploded in the cinema, especially with his role in Up to the hilt, directed by Xavier Legrand, where he co-starred with Léa Drucker and for which he was nominated for the César for best actor. The native of Enghein-les-Bains is also one of the favorite actors of François Ozon, with whom he collaborates in particular in Thanks to God or peter von kant. A true protean actor, he plays dramas, comedies and blockbusters.

Atiq Rahimi

Winner of the Goncourt Prize in 2008 for his novel Syngue Sabour. stone of patience, Atiq Rahimi is a Franco-Afghan writer and director. After fleeing the Taliban regime in 1984, he requested political asylum in France and took a doctorate in audiovisual at the Sorbonne. His first documentary, Earths and Ashesadapted from his novel on the war in Afghanistan, won him a presentation in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004. He returned to the cinema in 2013 for the adaptation of his novel, which won an award from the Goncourt Academy .

Damian Szifron

Damián Szifrón is a regular at the Cannes Film Festival. This Argentinian screenwriter and director was in competition for the Palme d’Or in 2014 for his film The New Savages, also nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. After a long break, he wrote and directed his first film in English this year, Misanthrope, the story of the hunt for a mass murderer in the United States. A true gifted Argentine filmmaker, he was also a screenwriter for several television series.

Paul Dano

He is one of the emblematic figures of American cinema. Paul Dano, revealed in the early 2000s by the film Long Island Expressway, connects successful films across the Atlantic. He notably embodies the silent teenager in the comedy Little Miss Sunshine, a cult feature film. With his mysterious face, he regularly shares the bill with Hollywood legends: Robert de Niro, Harisson Ford, Michael Caine… Recently, Paul Dano was chosen by Steven Spielberg to interpret the director’s father in The Fabelmansbittersweet autobiography, alongside Michelle Williams.

Rungano Nyoni

Rungano Nyoni, actress, screenwriter and director from Zambia is above all known for her short films. She received the award for best short film at the Tribeca Film Festival. But it is only recently that Rungano Nyoni made a name for itself, thanks to I am not a witch, a feature film that tells the story of a little girl accused of witchcraft in a traditional Zambian village. The film is critically acclaimed and receives numerous awards. Selected during the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 2017, Rungano Nyoni won the prize for best first film at the BAFTAs ceremony in Great Britain the same year.