The films and jury of the 65th Cannes Film Festival

by Dimitris Ioannou

The jury members of the 65^th Cannes Film Festival announced on Wednesday by the festival director Thierry Fremaux and cover a wide range of the arts and ethnicities.

The Palestinian actress and director Hiam Abbass, the British director and scriptwriter Andrea Arnold, the also British actor Ewan McGregor, the French actress Emmanuelle Davos, the German actress Diane Kruger, the Greek-American director, scriptwriter and producer Alexander Payne, the Haitian director, scriptwriter and producer Raoul Peck and the French designer Jean Paul Gaultier will be the jury, while the Italian director, actor and producer Nanni Moretti is honoured to be their President.

Those nine people will have to decide the winners in the main categories between the 22 films in Competition. This year we find a very strong English-language presence in the lineup, maybe because the festival is dedicated to the 50 years from the death of Hollywood's idol, Marilyn Monroe.

The festival will open on May 16 with the movie “Moonrise Kingdom” by the American filmmaker Wes Anderson, most known for his movies “The Royal Tenebaums” and “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou”. David Cronenberg's “Cosmopolis” starring Robert Pattinson, Andrew Dominik's “Killing Them Softly” with Brad Pitt and Ray Liotta, and Lee Daniels' “Paperboy” with “High School Musical's” star Zac Efron, John Cusack and Nicole Kidman, are some of the most anticipated films.

Among other English-language filmmakers we see “Take Shelter” director Jeff Nichols, competing with “Mud” starring Reese Witherspoon and Matthew McConaughey, John Hillcoat with “Lawless” starring Tom Hardy and Shia LaBeouf, Walter Salles with Viggo Mortensesn, Kristen Stewart and last years winner Kirsten Dunst being “On the Road” and Ken Loach with “The Angels' Share” starring Roger Allam, John Henshaw and Daniel Portman.

International auteurs on the list include Michael Haneke with “Love” (Amour), Cristian Mungiu with “Beyond the Hills”, Sangsoo Hong with “In Another Country” (Da-Erun Na-Ra-E-Suh) and Abbas Kiarostami with “Like Someone in Love”.

The rest of the filmmakers competing for the Palme d'Or prize are: Jacques Audiard with “De Rouille Et D'os” starring Marion Cotillard, Leos Carax with “Holy Motors” starring Eva Mendes, Matteo Garrone with “Reality”, Im Sang-soo with “The Tast of Money” (Do-Nui Mat), Sergei Loznitsa with “In The Fog” (V Tuman), Yousry Nasrallah with “After The Battle” (Baad El Mawkeaa), Alain Resmais with “Vous N'avez Encore Rien Vu”, Carlos Reygadas with “Post Tenebras Lux”, Ulrich Seidle with “Paradise: Love” (Paradise: Liebe) and Thomas Vinterberg with “The Hunt” (Jagten).

The 65th Cannes Film Festival will run from May 16 through May 27 in the South of France.