As previously announced, the Jury for the 78th Cannes Film Festival will be chaired by French actress Juliette Binoche. She will be joined by American actress and filmmaker Halle Berry, Indian director and screenwriter Payal Kapadia, Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher, French-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani, as well as Congolese director, documentarist and producer Dieudo Hamadi, Korean director and screenwriter Hong Sangsoo, Mexican director, screenwriter and producer Carlos Reygadas and American actor Jeremy Strong.
The Jury will have the honor of awarding the Palme d’Or to one of the 21 films in Competition after Sean Baker’s “Anora,” presented by Greta Gerwig’s Jury, in 2024. The winners will be announced on Saturday, May 24th, at the Closing Ceremony, broadcast live by France Télévisions in France and by Brut. internationally.
JULIETTE BINOCHE – President
Actress – France
Juliette Binoche has worked in some 70 films and 40 years of artistic curiosity since her first significant role in André Téchiné’s “Rendez-vous,” presented on La Croisette in 1985. Four decades later, she became an international star and inspired unexpected collaborations and screenplays dear to her heart. She was awarded the Best Actress award at Cannes in 2010 for her role in Abbas Kiarostami’s “Certified Copy.” After her fifth film in the Official Selection, four more followed until Trần Anh Hùng’s “The Taste of Things” in 2023. Winner of the most prestigious awards (Oscar, Bafta, César, and Best Actress awards from the Berlin and Venice film festivals), Juliette Binoche does not seek virtuosity, preferring to trust only in emotion and the elusive truth of the moment. This is undoubtedly why she is so versatile and unpredictable in her art —her arts actually—as she strays from movies to TV-series (“The Staircase,” “The New Look”), theater (Ivo van Hove), dance (co-creation with Akram Khan), music (Alexandre Tharaud) and painting.
HALLE BERRY
Actress & filmmaker – United States
The first African-American woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Marc Forster’s “Monster’s Ball” (2002), Halle Berry alternates between blockbusters and independent productions. Noted for her performance as Dorothy Dandridge (1999), which earned her a Golden Globe, she became the same year Storm in Bryan Singer’s “X-Men.” Her many roles include Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever” (1991), “Swordfish” (2002), “Die Another Day” (2003), “Gothika” by Mathieu Kassovitz (2003), “Frankie & Alice” by Geoffrey Sax (2011), “Cloud Atlas” by the Wachowski sisters (2012), “Kingsman: The Golden Circle” by Matthew Vaughn (2017), “John Wick Parabellum” by Chad Stahelski (2019). In 2020, she directed her first film, “Bruised.” Also a producer, she co-produces some of the movies she stars in, most recently Alexandre Aja’s “Never Let Go” (2024).
PAYAL KAPADIA
Director & screenwriter – India
Winning the Grand Prix at the Festival de Cannes 2024 with “All We Imagine as Light,” Payal Kapadia makes a triumphant entry with her first feature film. This ode to friendship and Mumbai, on which she worked during her stay at La Résidence de La Cinéfondation in 2019, helped bring India back into the Festival de Cannes Competition after a thirty-year absence. The film has continued its run to the Golden Globes 2025 (nominated Best Director and Best Foreign Language Film) and won numerous awards, including the Best Film Prize at the Asian Film Awards 2025 in Hong Kong. Trained at the Film and Television Institute of India, she directed several short films, including Afternoon Clouds, which she presented at La Cinéfondation 2017. She made a name for herself with her non-fiction film “A Night of Knowing Nothing.” She shares her unique vision of cinemas the world over.
ALBA ROHRWACHER
Actress – Italy
One of Italy’s most sought-after actresses worldwide, Alba Rohrwacher made her mark with Luca Guadagnino’s “I am Love,” Saverio Costanzo’s “The Solitude of Prime Numbers,” Marco Bellocchio’s “Dormant Beauty,” and Laura Bispuri’s “Sworn Virgin.” A regular at the Festival de Cannes, she has presented several films in Competition, especially with her sister, director Alice Rohrwacher: “The Wonders” (Grand Prix 2014), “Happy as Lazzaro” (Prix du scénario ex-aequo 2018) and “La Chimera” (2023); and also with Matteo Garrone’s “Tale of Tales” (2014) and Nanni Moretti’s “Tre Piani” (2020). She has worked with Arnaud Desplechin, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Stéphane Brizé, Pablo Larraín, Noah Baumbach and Isabel Coixet. She has received numerous awards, including a Coppa Volpi at the Venice Film Festival, a Marc’Aurelio d’Oro at the Rome Film Fest, two David di Donatello, two Nastro D’Argento, and two Globo D’Oro.
LEÏLA SLIMANI
Writer – Morocco, France
French-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani published her first novel in 2014 with Éditions Gallimard, “Adele: A Novel,” which won critical acclaim and was nominated for the 2014 Prix de Flore. Her second novel, also published by Gallimard, “Lullaby,” won the Prix Goncourt 2016 and the Grand Prix des lectrices Elle 2017. It was adapted for the cinema in 2019, starring Karin Viard and Leïla Bekhti. She then published three other novels with “Éditions Gallimard: The country of others” (Grand Prix de l’héroïne Madame Figaro 2020), “Watch Us Dance” and “J’emporterai le feu.” Leïla Slimani is also the author of stories, essays, and comic strips. She campaigns for sexual rights and, in 2020, was awarded the Prix Simone de Beauvoir for her fight for women’s rights. In 2024, she co-wrote the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games with Thomas Jolly.
DIEUDO HAMADI
Director, Documentarian, Producer – Democratic Republic of Congo
Entering the history of the Festival de Cannes with his film “Downstream to Kinshasa” (2020) in the Official Selection 2020, Dieudo Hamadi questions the institutions of his country, the DRC. After two acclaimed short films, “Ladies in Waiting” (2009) and “Tolérance zéro” (2010), he directed a documentary, “Atalaku” (2013), winner of the Joris Ivens Award for Best First Film at the Festival Cinéma du Réel; then “National Diploma” (2014), Grand Prix FIDADOC at the Festival of Agadir. In 2015, he founded his production company, Kiripifilms. In 2017, he directed “Mama Colonel,” Grand Prix at the Festival Cinéma du Réel, and in 2019 received a grant from the McMillan-Stewart Foundation of Harvard’s Film Study Center. He is currently working on a series, “Milimo, les âmes errantes de Kinshasa,” which he is producing and directing for Canal +, and on his next feature film, “La Vie est un chemin de fer.”
HONG SANGSOO
Director & Screenwriter – South Korea
A prolific filmmaker who has won numerous international awards, Hong Sangsoo has been a staple of the Festival de Cannes for many years, so much so that he used it as the setting for his film “Claire’s Camera” (Special Screenings 2017). With four films in Competition (“Woman Is the Future of Man” in 2004, “Tale of Cinema” in 2005, “In Another Country” in 2012, “The Day After” in 2017) and four films in the Un Certain Regard section (“The Power of Kangkwon Province” in 1998, “Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors” in 2000, “Hahaha” in 2010 which won him the Un Certain Regard Prize, “The Day He Arrives” in 2011), Hong Sangsoo is evolving while remaining faithful to his cinema, which is pure and intimate. After presenting “In Front of Your Face” (Cannes Premiere 2021) and making seven films, he is currently working on his upcoming film titled At the Middle of Life.
CARLOS REYGADAS
Director, Screenwriter & Producer – Mexico
With his first film “Japón” (2002), Carlos Reygadas won Caméra d’Or Special Distinction for his unique and demanding cinematography. He entered the Competition at the Festival de Cannes 2005 with his second feature, “Battle in Heaven.” He returned to the Festival de Cannes 2007 with “Silent Light,” winning the Jury Prize (ex-aequo). With “Post Tenebras Lux,” awarded Best Director at the Festival de Cannes 2012, he confirms his mastery of his art. In 2018, he directed “Our Time.” He is also a co-producer, notably of some films by Amat Escalante, Dea Kulumbegashvili, Christine Haroutounian, andHilal Baydarov. In 2023, he published “Presencia,” a book on cinema and the source of creation. Carlos Reygadas is currently working on his next film, “Wake of Umbra.”
JEREMY STRONG
Actor – United States
Jeremy Strong is an Oscar, BAFTA nominated, and Emmy, Golden Globe, and Tony Award-winning actor. His masterful performance as Roy Cohn in “The Apprentice,” which was selected in the Festival de Cannes 2024 Competition, earned him Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA nominations. That same year, he returned to Broadway in “An Enemy Of The People,” for which he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. His previous film credits include Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” Adam McKay’s “The Big Short,” James Gray’s “Armageddon Time,” Kathryn Bigelow’s “Zero Dark Thirty,” and Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln.” Jeremy Strong won the Emmy, Golden Globe, and Critics Choice Award for his iconic portrayal of Kendall Roy in HBO’s hit series “Succession.” Upcoming, he stars in Scott Cooper’s Bruce Springsteen biopic, “Deliver Me From Nowhere,” to be released later in 2025.
The 2025 Cannes Film Festival will run from May 13th until May 24th. The full lineup can be seen here. Dan Bayer and I will be attending in-person this year from Next Best Picture.
Are you excited for the 2025 Cannes Film Festival? Are you planning to attend the festival this year? Which films are you most looking forward to seeing? Please let us know in the comments section below or on our X account.
