The Cannes Film Festival announced today that famed Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar will be the President of the Jury at the historic 70th incarnation of the festival this May.
In a statement from the festival, Almodóvar responded to the invitation from Cannes President of the Festival Pierre Lescure and Delegate-General Thierry Frémaux noting, “I am very happy to be able to celebrate the Festival de Cannes 70th anniversary from such a privileged position. 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.”
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Lescure and Frémaux added, “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.”
Almodóvar has written and directed 20 films including “All About My Mother,” which won the Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2000 and “Talk to Her” which found Almodóvar with a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award win in 2003. Five of his films have played in competition at Cannes including the aforementioned “All About My Mother,” “Volver” ( Best Screenplay and Best Collective Female Performance wins from the Jury), “The Skin I Live In” and, last year’s entry, “Julieta.” “Bad Education” opened Cannes in 2004. The 67-year-old cinematic icon served on the jury in 1992 and was on the poster in 2007 for the 60th incarnation of the festival.
Recent Jury Presidents have included Steven Spielberg (2013), Jane Champion (2014), Joel and Ethan Coen (2015) and George Miller last year.
The 70th Festival de Cannes will run from May 17-28.