Spielberg to head up Cannes festival jury
FRANCE: Award-winning director Steven Spielberg will head up this
year's Cannes Film Festival jury, the organisers announced Thursday,
just days after he missed out on his third best-director Oscar.
Spielberg, 66, one of the most powerful and respected film-makers in
Hollywood, said he was flattered by the appointment.
"The memory of my first Cannes Film Festival, nearly 31 years ago
with the debut of E.T., is still one of the most vibrant memories of my
career," he said in a statement.
"It is an honour and a privilege to preside over the jury of a
festival that proves, again and again, that cinema is the language of
the world," he added.
The broad reach of Spielberg's film-making made him an obvious choice
to head up the jury of one of the world's most influential film
festivals, the organisers said.
Ever since E.T. screened at Cannes in 1982, "I've often asked Steven
to be jury president, but he's always been shooting a film," said the
festival's president, Gilles Jacob.
"So when this year I was told 'E.T., phone home,' I understood and
immediately replied: 'At last!'" The festival is one of the highlights
in the international cinema calendar and this year runs between May 15
and May 26.
Spielberg's work cuts across a broad spectrum "between entertainment
films and serious reflections on history, racism and the human
condition", festival organisers said in the statement.
AFP |