DUBAI: French-Algerian actor Tahar Rahim will be part of this year’s Cannes Film Festival jury led by director Spike Lee, organizers announced on Thursday.
“The Serpent” star will be joined by US actress Maggie Gyllenhaal and “Parasite” lead Song Kang-Ho.
It will be a female-majority jury for the July 6 to 17 festival, which has faced criticism in recent years for its lack of female representation.
Only one woman has ever won the Palme d’Or in its 73 years: Jane Campion for “The Piano” in 1993.
This year’s jury will wade through 24 entries (only four by women) to decide the winner of the arthouse world’s most coveted film prize.
The nine members include French actor-director Melanie Laurent, best known abroad for her role in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds.”
The jury also features several international filmmakers: Brazilian Kleber Mendonca Filho, who competed at Cannes in 2016 with “Aquarius”; Austrian Jessica Hausner, who competed with “Little Joe” in 2019; and French-Senegalese director Mati Diop, whose debut “Atlantique” won the Grand Prix the same year.
Egyptian director Sameh Alaa will be part of the short film jury. (Getty)
Rahim made his name with indie favorite “The Prophet” and recently had an award-winning turn in Guantanamo drama “The Mauritanian” and a TV hit with the BBC-Netflix show “The Serpent.”
Rahim is not the only Arab joining the jury for this year’s Cannes.
Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania will be part of the short film jury. (AFP)
Last week, the festival announced that Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania and Egyptian director Sameh Alaa will be part of the short film jury.
