Rodrigo Sorogoyen

Source: Courtesy of Catalan Films

Rodrigo Sorogoyen

Spanish writer-director-producer Rodrigo Sorogoyen has been named President of the Jury of the 63rd edition of Cannes’ Critics’ Week, the festival’s parallel selection dedicated to first and second features running May 15-23.

Watch Sorogoyen announce the news below.

Sorogoyen praised Critics’ Week for providing “vital support to cinema, new voices, and new ways to tell stories” and that without such voices, “there would be no new cinema. They’re the ones that make it live and make it work.”

He said his role as jury president is “a big responsibility which I look forward to.”

The multiple Goya award-winning filmmaker’s The Beasts  premiered in the Cannes Premiere strand in 2022. The psychological thriller went on to screen at several festivals including San Sebastian, Tokyo and Chicago and won nine Goya wards including best director and best film among 17 nominations plus the César award for best foreign film in France.

The filmmaker is also behind 2019 drama Mother, 2018’s Spanish-French thriller The Realm, that won seven Goya awards, 2016 crime thriller May God Save Us, 2013 romantic drama Stockholm, and 2008’s 8 Dates co-directed with Peris Romano.

Critics’ Week will unveil Sorogoyen’s fellow jury members at a later date.  Amanda Nell Eu’s art horror Tiger Stripes won the grand prize at last year’s edition of Critics’ Week.

The Cannes official selection will be unveiled next Thursday (April 11), with the sidebar line-ups revealed in the following days.