Omar Sy, Lily Gladstone and Eva Green join Gerwig’s jury

From top left: Omar Sy; Lily Gladstone; Juan Antonia Bayona; Nadine Labaki; Greta Gerwig; Ebru Celan; Hirokazu Kore-ada; Eva Green; and Pierfrancesco Favino (Pablo Arroyo). Photo: Courtesy of Cannes Film Festival; Selly Sy, Lindsay Siu, Germán Romani, Jihad Hojelli, Ben Rayner, Nuri Bige Celan, Mikiya Takimoto, Xavier Torres-Bacchetta, Pablo Arroyo

As pre-Cannes anticipation goes in to overdrive, the organisers have announced the full Competition jury under the already announced presidency of Greta Gerwig whose Barbie made her the first director in the history of cinema to top the billion-dollar mark at the box office.

Besides other prizes the jury’s most onerous task is to bestow the Palme d’Or which last year went to Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall.

Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone who was in Cannes last year for Killers Of The Flower Moon steps on to the jury roster alongside French actress Eva Green (from The Three Musketeers) and Lupin’s gregarious lead actor Omar (The Intouchables) Sy.

Turkey’s Ebru Ceylan who co-wrote Palme d’Or winner Winter Sleep from 2014, also figures in the lineup with Capernaum director Nadine Labaki from Lebanon and Spain’s Juan Antonio Bayona whose Society Of The Snow was Oscar nominated this year as best international feature.

The ranks are completed by Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino (who recently has worked with Gabriele Salvatores on Naples to New York) and Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-da who won the 2018 Palme d’Or for Shoplifters and was awarded Best Screenplay in Cannes last year for Monster.

At this stage they can agree that it’s all to play for with a Competition comprising 22 titles. The winners will be revealed at the closing ceremony on 25 May. Cannes Film Festival starts on 14 May.