Greta Gerwig has been named as the jury president for next year’s Cannes Film Festival.

The Barbie director has signed up to head the jury, which is tasked with watching all the main competition films at the French festival and deciding which one should win the coveted Palme d’Or for best movie, among other prizes.

“I love films – I love making them, I love going to them, I love talking about them. As a cinephile, Cannes has always been the pinnacle of what the universal language of movies can be,” Gerwig said in a statement. “Being in the place of vulnerability, in a dark theatre filled with strangers, watching a brand-new film is my favourite place to be.

“I am stunned and thrilled and humbled to be serving as the president of the Cannes Film Festival Jury. I cannot wait to see what journeys are in store for all of us!”

Gerwig, 40, is the first American female director to serve as Cannes jury president and the youngest person to take on the task since Sophia Loren, who was 31 when she presided over the jury in 1966. Gerwig is also the second female director following Jane Campion in 2014 and the second American woman after Olivia de Havilland, who was the first female jury president in 1965.

Iris Knobloch, Festival President, and Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate, added, “This is an obvious choice, since Greta Gerwig so audaciously embodies the renewal of world cinema, for which Cannes is each year both the forerunner and the sounding board.”

Gerwig is having a phenomenal year. Barbie, her third directorial feature, is the highest-grossing movie of 2023 and the highest-grossing movie ever by a solo female director.

It has also been critically successful and is currently nominated for 12 Grammys, nine Golden Globes and 18 Critics Choice Awards.

The 77th Cannes Film Festival will take place between 14 and 25 May.

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