Greta Gerwig Selected as Jury President for 2024 Cannes Film Festival: 'I Cannot Wait'

"I am stunned and thrilled and humbled to be serving as the president of the Cannes Film Festival Jury," she said

The Cannes Film Festival revealed Thursday morning that Barbie director Greta Gerwig will serve as the head of its upcoming festival jury.

In a post on the festival's website, organizers congratulated Gerwig, 40, on "a year in which she beat every record with her film Barbie."

"I love films," Gerwig said in a statement. "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."

"Being in the place of vulnerability, in a dark theater filled with strangers, watching a brand-new film is my favorite 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."

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According to the festival archives, Gerwig's choice also marks festival history with several firsts. She will become the first female American director to head the jury. She will also be the youngest president since 31-year-old Sophia Loren in 1966. She is only the 12th woman to head the panel (French actress Jeanne Moreau scored the honor twice).

Gerwig is also just the second female director since the festival began in 1946 to be named and the second American woman. Oscar winner Olivia de Havilland was the first female to serve as President in 1965.

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

They added, "Beyond the 7th Art, she is also the representative of an era that is breaking down barriers and mixing genres, and thereby elevating the values of intelligence and humanism."

Gerwig's Barbie leads in nominations among movies at the upcoming Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards.

The 77th Cannes Film Festival is scheduled to begin May 14. The jury's awards, including the Palme d'Or, will be announced at its closing ceremony on May 25.

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