Barbie director Greta Gerwig to be next Cannes film festival president

American director Greta Gerwig has been announced as the president of the jury for 2024’s Cannes Film Festival, in what event organisers are dubbing a “first” for the event.

The role, which is offered out each year to an individual from the cinema industry, was given to Swedish director Ruben Östlund in 2023.

Greta Gerwig is best-known for her work as a director, including for 2023’s Barbie film, which garnered over 4 million ticket sales in France and grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.

However, she is also an actress, appearing in a number of films and television shows.

Ms Gerwig will be the first American-born woman to hold the role, however a number of American men have taken the mantle, including Sean Penn and Clint Eastwood.

The event will run between May 14 and May 25 next year.

Role of the president includes ‘best film’ vote

Each year, the board of directors of the Cannes Film Festival appoint an honorary, temporary president to act as head of the jury for that year’s event.

The president votes on a number of awards, including the Palme d’Or, given for the best feature film and widely seen as the highlight of the festival.

She will lead a jury that includes other well-known figures and critics from the industry.

Gerwig is technically the ‘first’

The organisers are claiming that Ms Gerwig’s appointment is the “first of its kind” however this is only partially true.

While she is indeed the first American-born woman to head the jury, Olivia de Havilland already held the role in 1956.

Not only was she the first woman to be offered the presidency, Ms de Havilland was also a naturalised American citizen, albeit born in Japan to British parents.

While some lists of former Cannes presidents class her as a citizen of the United States, others say she was British.

Ms de Havilland, whose younger sister was Hollywood Golden Age actress Joan Fontaine, moved to France in 1955 (just prior to her Cannes presidency), where she lived until her death in 2010.

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