Swedish director Ruben Östlund to preside over Cannes Film Festival jury
The 'Triangle of Sadness' director and two-time Palme d'Or winner will be the first Swedish Cannes Jury President since Ingrid Bergman in 1973.
“Triangle of Sadness” director, Ruben Östlund, will head up this year’s competition jury for the 76th Cannes International Film Festival. The Swedish director is currently enjoying a run of popularity. His last film, a capitalism satire starring Woody Harrelson, Harris Dickinson, Dolly De Leon and the late Charlbi Dean, won the Palme d’Or for Best Film in Cannes last year - the director’s second award, after his 2017 win for the art world satire “The Square”.
Buoyed by its Palme d’Or win, “Triangle of Sadness” has become Östlund’s most commercially successful film, with a box office of $24 million and counting. After sweeping the European Film Awards, winning Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenwriter for Östlund, as well as the Best Actor award for Zlatko Buric, the film just picked up three Oscar nominations for Best Film, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay in 2022.
So, it seems natural for Ruben Östlund to be back at the French festival to preside over the jury of its 76th edition. “I am happy, proud and humbled to be trusted with the honour of jury president for this year’s competition at the Festival de Cannes,” said Östlund, who will be the first Swede to head the jury in 50 years, following the footsteps of Ingrid Bergman. “Nowhere in the film world is the anticipation as strong as when the curtain rises on the films in competition at the festival.”
“It is a privilege to be part of it, together with the Cannes audience of connoisseurs. I am sincere when I say that cinema culture is in its most important period ever,” Östlund continued. A fervent supporter of moviegoing, the director said “cinema has a unique aspect” and makes us reflect in a different way than when we consume media on individual screens. The Swedish helmer vowed to: “remind [his] colleagues in the jury about the social function of the cinema.” He will be the third filmmaker with two Palme d’Or awards to preside over the jury, after Francis Ford Coppola and Emir Kusturica.
Festival organisers were pleased by Östlund’s views on maintaining the social and artistic aspects of cinema. In the official press release, they stated: “By inviting Ruben Östlund to preside over the Jury, the Festival de Cannes wishes to pay a tribute to films that are uncompromising and forthright and which constantly demand that viewers challenge themselves and that art continues to invent itself.”
The 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival will run from 16 - 27 May. For the latest announcements and a complete list of films in competition, visit the official Festival de Cannes website.