Written by Kianna Best on Dec 14, 2023. Posted in Awards and Festivals

Greta Gerwig announced as 2024 Cannes Jury President

Cannes Film Festival has announced actor, screenwriter and director Greta Gerwig will take on the role as jury president for the 77th edition. Breaking record for the 2023’s Barbie phenomenon, Gerwig will become the first American female director to take on the presidency of the festival, as well as the youngest. Cannes Film Festival will return from May 14-25 2024.

“As a cinephile, Cannes has always been the pinnacle of what the universal language of movies can be. Being in the place of vulnerability, in a dark theatre filled with strangers, watching a brand-new film is my favourite place to be,” Gerwig commented on her selection. “I am stunned and thrilled and humbled to be serving as the president of the Cannes Film Festival Jury. I cannot wait to see what journeys are in store for all of us!”

Greta Gerwig rose to record braking acclaim with the 2023 release of Barbie, taking over the screen and the world in extraordinary ways. Alongside her creative partner Noah Baumbach, Gerwig’s Barbie became the highest grossing movie of this year, generating USD 1.36 billion at the box office. This is not the first time, however, that Gerwig has taken on the female empowerment centred narrative, rather also doing so in her second film ever Little Women, a resurgence of Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel.

“This is an obvious choice, since Greta Gerwig so audaciously embodies the renewal of world cinema, for which Cannes is each year both the forerunner and the sounding board”, said Iris Knobloch, Festival President, and Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate. “Beyond the 7th Art, she is also the representative of an era that is breaking down barriers and mixing genres, and thereby elevating the values of intelligence and humanism.”

Gerwig’s catalogue of projects precedes the blonde icon that she revived in record-breaking ways. Moving into screenwriting, Gerwig co-wrote Hannah Takes the Stairs and Nights and Weekends, which she also co-directed, Frances Ha, Mistress America and Lady Bird, with which she garnered 5 Academy Award nominations, including Best Director.

Images courtesy of Warner Bros Media