Actress Juliette Binoche Will Be Jury President Of The 78th Festival de Cannes
Photo Credit: Best Of Binoche
With 40 years of filmmaking history, the renowned French actor will present the 2025 Palme d’Or when it’s presented on May 24th
It was just announced that French actress Juliette Binoche will be the president of the 78th Cannes Film Festival that will take place May 13-24th, in the renowned South of France city. Taking the baton from American film director Greta Gerwig, who was the jury’s president in 2024, Binoche will lead exactly 40 years after her first appearance on La Croisette for her film Rendez-vous, that premiered at Cannes in 1985. On May 24th she will be leading the pack where the prestigious Palme d’Or will be presented.
Binoche has starred in such films as the 1992 film Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, the 1996 film The English Patient, and the 2000 film Chocolat. And she has worked with various directors from Michael Haneke (Austria), David Cronenberg and Abel Ferrara (USA), Olivier Assayas, Leos Carax and Claire Denis (France), to Amos Gitaï (Israel), Naomi Kawase and Hirokazu Kore-eda (Japan), Krzysztof Kieślowski (Poland), and Hou Hsiao-hsien (Taiwan). She knows films and she knows filmmakers, a reason why she has been chosen for this role.
Having starred in 70 films over a span of 40 years, Cannes is like home for the actress. “I was born at the Festival de Cannes”, she often states. The Festival is known for exploring nationalities, cinematographies, sensibilities, genres, and various subjects, and Binoche is up to the task of navigating all of this.
Binoche walking the red carpet at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival | Photo Juliette Binoche Instagram
“I'm looking forward to sharing these life experiences with the members of the Jury and the public,” she says in announcement notes. “In 1985, I walked up the steps for the first time with the enthusiasm and uncertainty of a young actress; I never imagined I'd return 40 years later in the honorary role of President of the Jury. I appreciate the privilege, the responsibility and the absolute need for humility.”
Known firstly for her commitment to art, she’s described by the Festival as someone that, “does not seek virtuosity, preferring to trust only in emotion and the elusive truth of the moment.” Likened to American actress Olivia de Havilland, who was known for challenging the omnipotence of American studios, and who was also a Festival jury president in 1965, Binoche is being seen as one in a long list of iconic women helming the Festival. “As in a lengthy, beautiful family line, Juliette Binoche's presidency at this year's Festival celebrates and brings together the stars of the past,” says the Festival.
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