Sean Penn to head jury
The jury of the 61st edition of the Cannes Film Festival (May 14-25) will be presided by US actor and director Sean Penn, who won the Best Actor Award at Cannes in 1997 for She's So Lovely.
Thierry Frémaux, delegate general of the festival, believes that Penn is “the obvious choice”, as he "embodies US independent film and a certain side of American culture that we love."
Following in the footsteps of Stephen Frears, who last year led the Palme d’Or jury, Penn commented: "The Cannes Film Festival has long been the international epicentre in the discovery of new waves of filmmakers. For this reason, I very much look forward to participating as president of the jury. In the last few years, there has been a rejuvenation of cinema building worldwide, increasingly thoughtful, provocative, moving and imaginative…a new generation of filmmaking may have begun."
(Translated from French)
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