The 2022 Cannes Film Festival has tapped multi-hyphenate Valeria Golino and actress Rossy de Palma to lead two of its juries. According to press releases from the fest, Golino has been named President of the Jury of Un Certain Regard, and de Palma President of the Jury of the Caméra d’Or. Last year, the juries were headed by filmmaker Andrea Arnold and actress Mélanie Thierry, respectively.
A section of Cannes’ Official Selection, Un Certain Regard showcases “young, auteur, and revelation films.” Kira Kovalenko’s “Unclenching the Fists” took home its top prize last year.
Serving on Golino’s jury are “Winter’s Bone” filmmaker Debra Granik, actress Joanna Kulig, singer-songwriter-actor Benjamin Biolay, and actor Édgar Ramírez — a gender ratio of 60 percent women and 40 percent men.
“I have been to Cannes so many times, as an actress, as a director, in different selections… It is the event of the month of May. It’s a party, where you reconnect with friends. But it’s also the occasion to reflect: What path did I take? What have others done? What does the cinema say that is universal, inherent to all times and all countries?” Golino commented. “It is all the more intense within a Jury, where we will feel, think, and share together. In this world full of sound and fury, I am happy and honored to be here to help, perhaps, filmmakers to emerge.”
The Caméra d’Or honors the best first feature film screening in the Official Selection or the fest’s sidebars. Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović’s “Murina” received the prize in 2021.
De Palma’s jury consists of three women, including herself (43 percent), and four men (57 percent). Her fellow members are ARRI France CEO Natasza Chroscicki, filmmaker Éléonore Weber, cinematographer Jean-Claude Larrieu, film critic Olivier Pelisson, actor-filmmaker Lucien Jean-Baptiste, and actor Samuel Le Bihan.
“The creation of a film is the story of an obsession, an act of disproportionate willingness that defies logic, propelled by the vital need to express a vision. In order to do that, it takes unfaltering perseverance in order to cross deserts strewn with mirages, dare expose yourself to those who are watching, convey the desire to overwhelm, transform, transcend,” de Palma said. “But in the case of a first film, it’s even more heroic, more daunting. Because, as in everything that is done for the first time, there is an ingredient of the unexpected, an element of magic. And we celebrate the birth of a filmmaker! My love story with cinema and with the Festival de Cannes is a story of pure joy which extends into being the President of Jury of the Caméra d’or. From the bottom of my heart, I do hope I will prove worthy of this great honor.”
Cannes will take place May 17-28. Its gender-balanced Competition jury counts Rebecca Hall, Deepika Padukone, Noomi Rapace, and Jasmine Trinca among its members.
