Cannes Film Festival Jury Includes Kirsten Dunst, Valeria Golino, Vanessa Paradis, and Katayoon Shahabi
The Cannes Film Festival has announced the complete Jury for the 69th fest, which will run from May 11–22 this year.
As was previously announced, “Mad Max: Fury Road” Australian director George Miller will act as jury president, presiding over four other men and four women. The remaining jury members hail from Iran, Denmark, United States, Italia, France, Canada, and Hungary, making for an international group.
Thankfully, the jury is almost almost half women: Kirsten Dunst, Valeria Golino, Vanessa Paradis, and Katayoon Shahabi. Though with an odd number of jury members it’s impossible to achieve complete equality, we are nevertheless happy that the Cannes jury is 44 percent female. The other members of the jury include Arnaud Desplechin, Mads Mikkelsen, Donald Sutherland, and László Nemes.
Find biographies of the female jury members below, courtesy of Cannes Film Festival.
Kirsten Dunst, actress (United States)
Kirsten Dunst made her breakthrough performance at the age of 11 in “Interview with the Vampire” by Neil Jordan earning her a Golden Globe nomination. She played in Sofia Coppola’s independent film, “The Virgin Suicides,” in the “Spider-Man” film series by Sam Raimi, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” by Michel Gondry, “Marie Antoinette” by Sofia Coppola, “On the Road” by Walter Salles, “Midnight Special” by Jeff Nichols, and won the Best Actress Award at the 2011 Festival de Cannes for her performance in Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia.” She received a Golden Globe nomination for her role on the FX miniseries “Fargo.” She can next be seen in Kate & Laura Mulleavy’s “Woodshock.”
Valeria Golino, actress, director, producer, writer (Italy)
Early on in her career, Valeria Golino was awarded the Prize of Best Actress for her role in Francesco Maselli’s “A Tale of Love” at the Venice Film Festival and her career became international. She notably appeared in Barry Levinson’s “Rain Man” (1988), Emanuele Crialese’s “Respiro” (2002), Valeria Bruni Tedeschi’s “Actrices” (2007), and Paolo Virzì’s “Human Capital” (2013). In 2013, she directed her first film, “Miele,” screened at the Festival de Cannes in the Un Certain Regard selection, and received the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. She recently appeared in Giuseppe M. Gaudino’s “Per Amor Vostro,” which won her the Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival. She is currently working on directing her next feature-length film.
Vanessa Paradis, Actress, Singer (France)
An actress and singer of great renown, Vanessa Paradis has pursued both careers internationally, be it recording albums, performing concerts, or shooting films. She played notably in “Girl on the Bridge” by Patrice Leconte (1999), “Heartbreaker” by Pascal Chaumeil (2010), “Café de Flore” by Jean-Marc Vallée, and “Fading Gigolo” by John Turturro. In music, she has notably collaborated with Serge Gainsbourg and Matthieu Chedid. Her most recent album, “Love Songs,” won her a 2014 Victoire de la Musique award.
Katayoon Shahabi, producer (Iran)
She worked as a film promoter in Farabi Cinema Foundation (FCF), before establishing in 1994 her own company, Sheherazad Media International (SMI), the most important private company active in the worldwide distribution of features, documentaries, and co-production with foreign companies. SMI has introduced films from acclaimed directors to the world. In 2012, she launched her company, Noori Pictures too, with which “Tales” by Rakhshan Banietemad and “Wednesday, May 9” were awarded in Venice in 2014 and “Nahid” by Ida Panahandeh in Un Certain Regard 2015.
