The Cannes Film Festival has appointed Swedish director and two-time Palme d’Or winner Ruben Östlund as jury president for its upcoming 76th edition, running from May 16 to 27.
Östlund’s jury duty will fall exactly 50 years after late compatriot, actress Ingrid Bergman also served in the role in 1973.
“I am happy, proud, and humbled to be trusted with the honor of jury president for this year’s Competition at the Festival de Cannes. Nowhere in the film world is the anticipation as strong as when the curtain rises on the films in Competition at the festival,” said Östlund.
“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. The cinema has a unique aspect – there, we watch together, and it demands more on what is shown and increases the intensity of the experience. It makes us reflect in a different way than when we dopamine scroll in front of individual screens.”
Östlund has deep ties with Cannes.
Five of his six features have world premiered in Cannes, kicking off with Involuntary, his anthology film exploring the psychology of group behaviour which debuted in Un Certain Regard in 2008.
His next feature Play, which sparked controversy at home for its portrayal of a gang of Swedish-Somali teenage boys who prey on weaker white boys, played in parallel section Directors’ Fortnight in 2011.
The director returned in 2014 with French Alps-set, dark family comedy Force Majeure, which world premiered in Un Certain Regard winning its jury prize.
Östlund went on to win the Palme d’Or for art world-set social satire The Square and his devastating critique of the ultra-wealthy Triangle of Sadness, in 2017 and 2022 respectively.
The latter title is now in the running for Best Picture, Original Screenplay and Achievement in Directing in this year’s Academy Awards.
Östlund, who studied cinema in Gothenburg, directed his first feature film The Guitar Mongoloid in 2004. Set in the fictional city of Jöteborg, modelled on Gothenburg, the film revolved around a series of different people living outside the norms.
In between his early features, Östlund also won Berlin’s Golden Bear for best short for Incident By A Bank in 2010.
“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 continue to invent itself,” said the festival.
“Ruben Östlund has therefore become the third two-time winner of the Palme d’Or to be the President of the Jury, following Francis Ford Coppola and Emir Kusturica, and the very first to take on this role the year after his acclaim in Cannes,” it added.
Östlund said he would be emphasizing the “social function” of cinema as president of the jury.
“A good movie relates to the collective experience, stimulates us to think and makes us want to discuss what we have seen – so let’s watch together!”
The festival’s Official Selection will be announced around mid-April.
