31/01/2017 - The Spanish filmmaker will head the jury at the 70th edition of the world-famous Cannes Film Festival (17-28 May 2017)

Director Pedro Almodóvar (© El Deseo/Nico Bustos)

For the first time ever, the competition jury at the Cannes Film Festival will be chaired by a Spanish director, in the guise of Pedro Almodóvar, who will do the honours at the 70th edition (17-28 May 2017) of the most important film gathering in the world. He steps into the shoes of Australia’s George Miller, who chaired the jury of the 2016 edition of the festival managed by Pierre Lescure (president) and Thierry Frémaux (General Delegate). 

Having served as a jury member at Cannes in 1992, Almodóvar has taken part in the official competition on the Croisette five times in total, with All About My Mother in 1999 (Best Director Award), Volver [+see also:
film review
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interview: Agustín Almodóvar
interview: Carmen Maura
interview: Pedro Almodóvar
interview: Pénélope Cruz
film profile] in 2006 (Best Screenplay Award and Best Actress Award for the entire female cast), Broken Embraces [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pedro Almodóvar
film profile] in 2009, The Skin I Live In [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pedro Almodóvar
film profile] in 2011 and Julieta [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Pedro Almodóvar
film profile] in 2016. Furthermore, Bad Education [+see also:
trailer
film profile] opened the Cannes Festival out of competition in 2004. For the record, the filmmaker has won two Oscars, in the categories of Best Foreign-language Film in 2000 (All About My Mother) and Best Original Screenplay in 2003 (Talk to Her [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), and he also took part in competition at Berlin in 1990 with Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! and at Venice in 1988 with Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (winning the Osella for Best Screenplay to boot).

Pedro Almodóvar – who has been described by Lescure and Frémaux as a "unique and hugely popular artist", whose "works have already carved out an eternal niche in the history of film" – had the following to say about his appointment as the chair of the Cannes competition jury: “I am very happy to be able to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival from such a privileged position. I am grateful, honoured and a bit overwhelmed. I am aware of the responsibility that being the president of the jury entails, and I hope to be up to the job. I can only tell you that I’ll devote myself, body and soul, to this task, which is both a privilege and a pleasure.”

(Translated from French)