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Meet the 2023 Cannes Jury: Brie Larson, Ruben Ostlund and More

Swedish director Ruben Ostlund has won the Palme d’Or twice for 2017’s The Square and last year’s Triangle of Sorrows. This year, he’s the head judge who decides who wins the top prize.

Mr Ostlund told The New York Times that he would take a “very Swedish approach to running juries”, adding that “it will be a democracy”.

At a press conference on Tuesday, he said the jury didn’t have many rules. “One thing I can say is that this year will be the first year in the history of the Cannes Film Festival where there will be no gossip between publicists at all,” Ostrund said.

In Ostlund’s film, which skewers the hypocrisy of class and society, characters who take such oaths end up doing the opposite. But don’t expect the top prize winner or any other awards to come from him alone.

he has 8 fellow jurors. Among them is French director Julia Ducournau, who won the award for her genre-crossing Titan in 2021. She has just 1 palme to Ostrund’s 2 palmes. As Spike Lee, head of the jury that year, said at the time, this was believed to be the first film in history in which Cadillac impregnated the heroine.

Several other judges are directors from Cannes. Originally from Argentina, Damien Chiffron is best known for his 2014 competitive comic anthology feature Wild Tales. Zambian-born Lungano Nyoni created I’m Not a Witch, an absurd story about an orphan accused of witchcraft. the film was a critics favourite, when it screened at the parallel Directors’ Fortnight festival in 2017. And Moroccan filmmaker Mariam Touzani was here last year with The Blue Kaftan, which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival.

Another judge, Atiku Rahimi, is a filmmaker and author. Afghan-born Rahimi has directed film adaptations of his novels, ‘Earth and Ash’ and ‘The Patience Stone’. The latter won the Prix Goncourt, France’s most prestigious literary prize, as a book.

Cannes has always favored jurying Hollywood stars, and this year American actors Brie Larson and Paul Dano joined the jury.

At Tuesday’s press conference, when a Variety reporter asked Larson if he’d see the film’s opening film, Jeanne du Barry, starring Johnny Depp, Larson was nervous because he’s historically been a #TimesUp supporter. There was a moment

“Are you asking me that?” Larson ruffled his hair. When asked about this issue, she replied: “I think you can see it. And if that happens, I don’t know how I’ll feel.”

Rounding out the jury’s cast of actors is French actor Denis Menochet, who recently played the deranged veteran in ‘Beau Is Not Afraid’.

At a press conference, Ostlund said, “If I had to choose between the Oscar and the Palme d’Or, it would be an easy choice. I’d rather win one than win an Oscar.”

Kyle Buchanan contributed to the report.

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