Elle Fanning, Yorgos Lanthimos, Kelly Reichardt Joining 2019 Cannes Jury

The jury has been announced for the 2019 Festival de Cannes and this year’s president, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, has a number of award-winning filmmakers to debate the eventual winner of the Palm d’Or with. Four of the jury members are quite familiar to American prestige audiences and one appears to be among the youngest ever chosen for this particularly noteworthy task.

READ MORE: New works from Terrence Malick, Pedro Almodovar, Bong Joon-ho headed to 2019 Cannes Film Festival.

At 21-years of age, Elle Fanning is one of the youngest members of the jury and the only globally known actor in the group. She first appeared at Cannes as a member of Iñárritu’s ensemble for “Babel” in 2005. She returned with Nicolas Winding Refn’s “The Neon Demon” in 2016 and Sofia Coppola’s “The Beguiled” in 2017. She’s currently on screen in Max Minghella’s “Teen Spirit” and will reprise her role as Princess Aurora in “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” in October.

Burkina Faso native Maimouna N’Diaye is a celebrated actress and director who most recently was lauded for her performance in Sékou Traoré’s “Eye of the Storm.” Her other credits include “Bol d’amour” in 2001, “Gardens in Autom in 2005 and “A Woman like no other” in 2008.

Kelly Reichardt is one of the most acclaimed American independent filmmakers of her generation. Her film “Wendy and Lucy,” starring Michelle Williams, was screened as part of Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2008. “Meek’s Cutoff” and “Night Moves” were part of the 2010 and 2013 Venice Film Festivals. Her 2016 film, “Certain Women” debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and star Lily Gladstone earned numerous honors for her performance. Reichardt is currently in post on a new feature, “First Cow.”

Alice Rohrwacher is an Italian writer and director whose last film, “Happy as Lazzaro,” won the Best Screenplay prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. Her first film, “Heavenly Body,” screened in Director’s Fortnight in 2011. She returned to Cannes three years later with “The Wonders” which screened in competition and took home the Grand Prix award.

Enki Bilal is a celebrated French author who has written more than 30 graphic novels over the past four decades. He has also directed three films: 1989’s “Bunker Palace Hotel,” 1996’s “Tykho Moon” and 2004’s “Immortal.”

Robin Campillo is a French filmmaker best known for his feature “120 BPM (Beats Per Minute)” which took home the Grand Prix at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. He’s also co-written and edited a number of celebrated films with Laurent Cantet including “Time Out” in 2001, “Heading South” in 2005 and “The Class,” which won the Palme d’or at the 2008 Festival de Cannes and was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2009.

Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos most recently earned his first Best Director Oscar nomination for “The Favourite.” Fox Searchlight release also landed a Best Picture nomination and saw Olivia Colman honored as Best Actress. Lanthimos’ second feature, “Dogtooth,” put him on the global cinema map after it won the Un Certain Regard prize at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival in 2009. His follow up, “The Lobster,” screened at Cannes in 2016 where it won a jury prize. The following January, the film landed Lanthimos is first Academy Award nomination in the Original Screenplay category. He returned to Cannes in 2018 with “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” which took the Best Screenplay prize.

Paweł Pawlikowski is a Polish filmmaker who made his name in documentaries before his 2015 narrative “Ida” won the Oscar for Foreign Language Film. That was followed by last year’s “Cold War” which earned him the Best Director honor at Cannes and two Oscar nominations including Best Director and Best Foreign Language Film (it also landed a Cinematography nomination).

The 72nd Festival de Cannes runs from May 14 to May 25. The jury will hand out the prizes for this year’s festival on Saturday, May 25 during the official closing ceremony.