Will Smith to join Cannes Film Festival jury
April 26, 2017
Actor Will Smith and fellow Hollywood stars Jessica Chastain and Fan Bingbing are part of the nine-member jury that decides on who wins the prestigious Palme d'Or award this year at the famed Cannes Film Festival.
Other panelists include Germany's Oscar-nominated director Maren Ade,South Korean director Park Chan-wook, and Italy's Paolo Sorrentino. French writer, singer and director Agnes Jaoui and Oscar-winning French-Lebanese composer Gabriel Yared complete the jury line-up.
The 2017 jury at France's most famous cinema event in May is headed by Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar.
Almodóvar, who won the festival's best director prize in 1999 for "All About My Mother" and best screenplay seven years later for "Volver," was named jury president in January.
The 18 films competing for the Palme d'Or this year include Sofia Coppola's "The Beguiled," Todd Haynes' "Wonderstruck," and Andrey Zvyagintsev's "Loveless."
US actress Uma Thurman is set to act as jury president for the festival's Un Certain Regard section, which focuses on young filmmakers and is not part of the general competition.
The 70th Cannes Film Festival opens on May 17. The winner of the Palme D'Or award is to be named on May 28.
db/kbm (Reuters, AP, AFP)