Cannes Film Festival has announced that Demi Moore, Chloe Zhao, Ruth Negga, Laura Wandel, Stellan Skarsgard, Isaach De Bankole, Diego Cespedes, and Paul Laverty are set to join president Park Chan-wook for the festival’s main Competition jury for its 79th edition running May 13-24.
The jury will be tasked with awarding the Palme d’Or to one of the 22 films in this year’s competition among other prizes during the festival’s closing night ceremony on May 23.
Moore returns to the Croisette after her star turn in Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance which earned her a best actress Oscar nomination. She will next be seen in Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters and Roger Ross Williams’ Strange Arrivals.
Beijing-born director, screenwriter, editor and producer Zhao is best known for Academy Award-winning Nomadland and 2025 hit Hamnet that garnered Jessie Buckley the lead actress Oscar and won outstanding British film at the Baftas. She is the second woman to be nominated twice for the Academy Award for best director.
Ethiopian-born, English and Irish-raised actress and producer Negga was in Cannes in 2016 for Jeff Nichols’ competition title Loving which earned her an Oscar nomination. Her film and TV credits include Rebecca Hall’s Passing and limited series Presumed Innocent.
Belgian writer-director Wandel attended Cannes in 2021 with her debut feature Playground, which premiered in Un Certain Regard, and Adam’s Sake starring Lea Drucker which opened Critics’ Week last year.
Swedish actor Skarsgard is back on the Croisette after Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value won the grand prix at last year’s festival and the actor earned an Oscar nomination for his role. His filmography includes Good Will Hunting, Mamma Mia! and Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia.
De Bankolé is known for his work with Claire Denis including Chocolat and White Material and Jim Jarmusch in films such as Night On Earth, Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai and The Limits Of Control. He will next be seen on big screens in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Three.
Chilean writer-director Céspedes won the Un Certain Regard prize last year for his debut feature The Mysterious Gaze Of The Flamingo. He is currently developing his second feature The Case Of A Boy Who Lost His Heart.
Laverty has worked with Ken Loach and producer Rebecca O’Brien for 30 years and wrote the screenplays for Palme d’Or-winning films The Wind That Shakes The Barley and I, Daniel Blake.
The group will join South Korean auteur Park, who will return to the Croisette after winning the best director prize in 2022 for Decision To Leave.
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