Alejandro González Iñárritu first Mexican to serve as Cannes jury president
The Birdman director will oversee prize deliberations at the film festival in May, making him the first person from his country to do so
Catherine Shoard
27 Feb 2019
Alejandro González Iñárritu has been named president of this year’s Cannes film festival. Iñárritu, who won the best director Oscar two years running for Birdman and The Revenant, is the first Mexican to chair the panel.
His association with the festival began nearly 20 years ago, when his first film, Amores Perros, premiered on the Croisette. Two years ago, he attended with the virtual-reality experience Carne y Arena.
“Cannes is a festival that has been important to me since the beginning of my career,” Iñárritu said in a statement. “I am humbled and thrilled to return this year with the immense honour of presiding over the jury.”
“Cinema runs through the veins of the planet,” he added, “and this festival has been its heart. We on the jury will have the privilege to witness the new and excellent work of fellow film-makers from all over the planet. This is a true delight and a responsibility that we will assume with passion and devotion.”
President of the festival Pierre Lescure and artistic director Thierry Frémaux described Iñárritu as “not only a daring film-maker and a director who is full of surprises [but] also a man of conviction, an artist of his time”.
The 72nd Cannes film festival, which runs 14-25 May, finds itself in need of a boost. There was controversy last year after Frémaux declared films from the streaming giant Netflix ineligible for the awards, upon which it withdrew its submissions.
These were said to include Roma, which won three Oscars last Sunday night, and the Coen brothers’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Both then premiered at August’s Venice film festival instead. Negotiations are said to be ongoing over whether the rules change this year.
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