Four-time Oscar winner Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu has been named jury president for the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, it was announced Tuesday night.
“Cannes is a festival that has been important to me since the beginning of my career,” Inarritu said in a statement. “I am humbled and thrilled to return this year with the immense honor of presiding over the Jury. Cinema runs through the veins of the planet and this festival has been its heart. We on the jury will have the privilege to witness the new and excellent work of fellow filmmakers from all over the planet. This is a true delight and a responsibility, that we will assume with passion and devotion.”
“It is very rare for Alejandro G. Iñárritu to agree to take part in a jury, and this is the first time that the Festival de Cannes Jury is to be chaired by a Mexican artist. Cannes embraces all types of cinema, and through the presence of Babel’s director, it is Mexican cinema that the Festival will be celebrating,” Cannes president Pierre Lescure and delegate general Theirry Fremaux said in a statement.
“Not only is he a daring filmmaker and a director who is full of surprises, Alejandro is also a man of conviction, an artist of his time. We are always happy to welcome him on the Croisette,” they continued.
Inarritu has won the Academy Award for Best Director twice, for “Birdman” in 2015 and for “The Revenant” in 2016. “Birdman” also won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.
The 72nd Cannes Film Festival is set to happen May 14 to 25.