Turkish screenwriter Ebru Ceylan, wife of Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan, will be part of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in May, in addition to French screen stars Omar Sy and Eva Green.
Also joining them is Oscar-nominated actor Lily Gladstone, who won a string of awards for her performance in Martin Scorsese's 2023 "Killers of the Flower Moon." At 37 years old, she will be the youngest member of the jury.
They will join a jury led by "Barbie" director Greta Gerwig at this year's festival on France's Cote d'Azur, which runs from May 14 to 25.
The jury is tasked with selecting the winner of the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, from a selection of 22 films.
Nuri Bilge Ceylan, came to the world's agenda after actress Merve Dizdar received the Award for Best Actress at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival for her role in his movie "About Dry Grasses."
The jury also includes Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, who won the 2018 Palme d'Or for "Shoplifters," Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino, Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona and Lebanese director Nadine Labaki.
Legendary director Francis Ford Coppola will return to the Cannes Film Festival with his long-awaited epic "Megalopolis," 45 years after winning a Palme d'Or for "Apocalypse Now," organizers said on Thursday, announcing a line-up that includes major names of world cinema.
He has twice won the Palme d'Or – for "The Conversation" (1974) and, controversially, for "Apocalypse Now" (1979), which was not even finished when it premiered at the festival.
He has self-funded "Megalopolis," said to be a Roman political drama transplanted to modern-day New York, starring Adam Driver, Forest Whitaker and other stars.
"We are overjoyed that he has done us the honor of coming to present this film," festival director Thierry Fremaux told reporters.
Kevin Costner's multiepisode epic "Horizon, An American Saga” will premiere at the festival.
The first chapter of "Horizon" will debut at the French film festival on May 19, giving the world its first glimpse of Costner's ambitious Western epic. The first two parts of "Horizon” are set to open in quick succession this summer, with Warner Bros. releasing chapter one in theaters June 28 and the second installment on Aug. 16.
"It’s been 20 years since I’ve had the pleasure of being on the Croisette," Costner said in a statement. "I’ve been waiting for the right time to return and I’m proud to say that this time has come.”
"The French have always supported films and believed deeply in filmmaking,” added Costner. "Just as I believe deeply in my film.”
"Horizon,” which will screen out of competition at Cannes, is directed by Costner and stars him, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington and Jena Malone.
This year's competition for the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, includes another team-up between Emma Stone and Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos – "Kinds of Kindness" – just weeks after Stone's Oscar win for their Frankenstein-style satire "Poor Things."
"The Apprentice," a biopic about the early years of Donald Trump by Iran-born director Ali Abbasi, is also expected to draw attention.
They include "The Seed of the Sacred Fig" by Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, who has faced prison time for criticizing the government. It is unclear if he will be able to attend the festival.
Oliver Stone will present his latest documentary, "Lula," about the current president of Brazil, out of competition.
French comedy "The Second Act" will open the festival.
The movie, whose original French title is "Le Deuxieme Acte," is a comedy road trip movie directed by Quentin Dupieux. It features Lea Seydoux, Vincent Lindon and Louis Garrel among its star actors.
Richard Gere and Uma Thurman are back together in front of the camera for Paul Schrader's "Oh Canada," which focuses on draft evaders who fled the United States.
Jacques Audiard, who has already won the Palme d'Or for "Demons and Miracles," will be showing "Emilia Perez," a musical set in the Mexican drug cartel scene.
Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov, who lives in exile in Germany, is presenting an adaptation of "Limonov" by Emmanuel Carrere, a biography of the Russian writer and dissident Eduard Limonov. It is his fourth invitation to the main competition after "Leto," "Petrov's Flu" and "Tchaikovsky's Wife."
Paolo Sorrentino will present "Parthenope," a story about a beautiful young woman who wants to be recognized for more than just her looks. The film with Gary Oldman is set in Naples, the 53-year-old's hometown.
After a colossal 16-year restoration effort, Abel Gance's seven-hour silent classic "Napoleon" will finally return to the big screen.
The project to restore the epic 1927 film began in 2008 when two film researchers discovered different versions of the film in Gance's archives at the Cinematheque Francaise in Paris.
Restoring the French director's original vision turned into a mammoth, multimillion-euro operation combining detective work, digital wizardry and extraordinary dedication.
The head of the restoration project, Georges Mourier, told Agence France Presse (AFP) in 2021 that it had become "an act of madness."
It will finally see the light of day as part of the Cannes Classics section of the festival – the first time Gance's cut has been shown in 97 years.
Only the first part, running 3 hours and 40 minutes, will be shown in Cannes. The full seven-hour extravaganza will be screened with a 250-piece orchestra in Paris in July, followed by screenings elsewhere.
The film has long had a near-mythical status among cinephiles, not least director Francis Ford Coppola who owns many of the rights through his company, American Zoetrope, and presented an earlier restored version to widespread acclaim in 1981.
It was already known that "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga," the latest installment of the post-apocalyptic franchise, would get its world premiere at the festival, playing out of competition.
A film about women's rights in China will also play out of competition. "She Has No Name" stars two of the country's biggest stars, Lei Jiayin and Zhang Ziyi.
George Lucas will receive an honorary Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Lucas will be honored at the closing ceremony of the 77th French Film Festival on May 25. He joins a short list of those to receive honorary Palmes. Last year, Harrison Ford, a regular leading man for Lucas in "Star Wars” and "Indiana Jones,” was awarded one. Other recent recipients include Michael Douglas, Tom Cruise, Forest Whitaker and Jodie Foster.
"The Festival de Cannes has always held a special place in my heart," Lucas said in a statement. "I was surprised and elated when my first film, ‘THX-1138,’ was selected to be shown in a new program for first-time directors called the Directors’ Fortnight. Since then, I have returned to the festival on many occasions in a variety of capacities as a writer, director and producer. I am truly honored by this special recognition which means a great deal to me.”
Legendary Japanese animators Studio Ghibli will receive an honorary Palme d'Or at the festival.
The Oscar-winning studio, co-founded by Hayao Miyazaki 40 years ago, is beloved worldwide for its masterpieces like "Spirited Away," "My Neighbour Totoro" and "Howl's Moving Castle."
It will mark the first that Cannes gives an award to a collective, rather than an individual.
Miyazaki made few public appearances and his longtime collaborator Isao Takahata died in 2018.
The other founder, producer Toshio Suzuki, said he was "truly honored and delighted" to be receiving the award.
Ghibli's "characters populate our imaginations with prolific, colorful universes and sensitive, engaging narrations," said the Cannes organizers in a statement.
"With Ghibli, Japanese animation stands as one of the great adventures of cinephilia, between tradition and modernity," they added.
Miyazaki, 83, has announced his retirement more than once but was back in cinemas last year with "The Boy and the Heron," which won the Oscar for the best-animated film last month, his second after "Spirited Away" in 2003.
