Robert De Niro will be the chairman of the jury at the Festival de Cannes

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

While Hollywood is preparing for the Oscars, the French are determined with the list of participants in the traditional Cannes Film Festival. One of the main characters has already been determined - the famous American actor Robert De Niro will become the chairman of the jury of the film festival.

Over the past four years, 67-year-old De Niro will become the fourth US cinematographer to head the jury at the planet's most prestigious film forum. Let us remind you that last year the American director Tim Burton was the chairman.

“Having visited the chairmen of the Cannes jury twice in the 1980s, I know in advance that both me and my friends from its composition will face a very difficult task,” said Robert De Niro himself. “At the same time, I am glad and proud that the organizing committee of the festival entrusted me with this role.”

Traditionally, the name of the chairman is announced at the end of December - beginning of January, and the names of the other members of the jury, as well as the competition program, become known only closer to the beginning of the screening.

"From the very beginning of his acting career, Robert De Niro is closely associated with the Cannes Film Festival, since Martin Scorsese's film Taxi Driver, in which he played the main role, was awarded the Palme d'Or in Cannes in 1976," the president said in a statement. Festival Gilles Jacob and its artistic director Thierry Fremault.

They especially noted that De Niro has a talent for reincarnation and, like a chameleon, gets used to a role that becomes a part of himself.

“For me it is both an actor and a director, sometimes we forget that he is also a director. He made two films. This is a kind of living legend, a sacred figure. He's also a colleague for me, because de Niro created a film festival in New York called the Tribeca Film Festival. This person is very versatile. So, not to mention his talent, his fame and the respect that his career instills, he generally seemed to us the perfect candidate. In addition, I had spoken with him earlier on this topic and knew that he was interested in participating in the jury. But this year, his work schedule allowed him to do it,”Fremo said in an interview with Radio France Internationale.