Cannes 2017: Pedro Almodóvar Is Jury President
Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar is the next President of the Jury for the Festival International du Film de Cannes, which begins on the Riviera on May 17 and runs through May 28, 2017.
Cannes executives Pierre Lescure and Thierry Frémaux stated:
“For its 70th edition, the Festival de Cannes is delighted to welcome a unique and hugely popular artist. His works have already carved out an eternal niche in the history of film. A long and loyal friendship binds Pedro Almodóvar to the Festival, where he was a member of the Jury under the presidency of Gérard Depardieu.”
The filmmaker said:
“I am grateful, honoured and a bit overwhelmed. I am aware of the responsibility that entails being the president of the jury and I hope to be up to the job. I can only tell that I’ll devote myself, body and soul, to this task, that it is both a privilege and a pleasure.”
The Spanish filmmaker from La Mancha has been creating riveting, iconoclastic cinema for 35 years. His 20 films from “Pepi, Luci, Bom” (1982) to last year’s Spanish Oscar submission “Julieta” range through every genre: comedy, musical, melodrama, fantasy, satire, dark noir and mystery thriller, while paying homage to the masters Sirk, Franju, Hitchcock and Buñuel. His family of actors include Penélope Cruz, Marisa Paredes, Antonio Banderas, Rossy de Palma, Javier Bardem, Javier Cámara, Carmen Maura and Victoria Abril.
Five of his films — “All About my Mother” (Todo Sobre mi Madre, Best Director), “Volver” (Best Screenplay, Best Collective Female Performance), “Broken Embraces” (Los Abrazos Rotos), “The Skin I Live In,” and “Julieta” – have been selected in Competition. “Bad Education” (La Mala Educación) opened the Festival in 2004 while the director himself was featured on the poster of the 60th Festival.
The Official Selection and Members of the Jury will be announced in mid-April.
