Steven Spielberg Leads Jury at Cannes
East Hampton’s Steven Spielberg is leading the jury at the 66th annual Cannes International Film Festival on the French Riviera this week, May 15–26.
“My admiration for the steadfast mission of the festival to champion the international language of movies is second to none,” Spielberg said. “The most prestigious of its kind, the festival has always established the motion picture as a cross-cultural and generational medium.”
The director replaces Nanni Moretti at the jury’s helm, and he joins fellow jurors, including Life of Pi director Ang Lee, actress Nicole Kidman, actor Christoph Waltz, British director Lynne Ramsay, French actor Daniel Auteuil, Indian actress Vidya Balan, Japanese director Naomi Kawase and Romanian director Cristian Mungiu.
Spielberg has been asked to lead the Cannes jury for years, but his filming commitments have always gotten in the way. His next film will be an adaptation of American Sniper, a memoir chronicling the life of murdered Navy Seal Chris Kyle—the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history. Hamptons visitor Bradley Cooper is playing Kyle.