The Cannes Film Festival has appointed actor-filmmaker Greta Gerwig as the jury president for its upcoming 77th edition.
The festival shared the news on Thursday morning, calling Gerwig a “heroine of modern our times” who had shaken the “status quo”.
The actor-filmmaker, who is currently receiving praise for her work on Barbie, the film based on the iconic Mattel doll, will become the first female American director to take on the role of jury president at the prestigious film gala. The 40-year-old is also the youngest person to take on the role since Italian actor Sophia Loren (then 31) in 1966.
The 77th edition of the festival will take place from May 14 to May 25, 2024. Gerwig has attended Cannes alongside her partner Noah Baumbach before, notably in 2017 when his The Meyerowitz Stories premiered, but she’s never presented a film there.