He is a regular at the Croisette but this time it is as president of the jury that the American director Spike Lee will go to the 74th Cannes film festival in July, a position he will be the first black personality to occupy.

Spike Lee was scheduled to serve as jury president last year, but the pandemic prevented the festival from being held.

"Faithful to his commitments", he will therefore assume this function for the 74th edition, which is to be held from July 6 to 17, and whose preparations are in full swing, with many films viewed by the selection committee, "said Tuesday the organizers in a press release.

The Official Selection and the composition of the Jury will be unveiled in early June, they said.

The designation of this flagship filmmaker of the black cause, author of both activist and mainstream films, is a strong symbol once again sent after last year's announcement by the most prestigious film festival in the world.

A long-awaited festival

"For 30 years, the indefatigable Spike Lee translates with acuity the questions of his time, in a resolutely contemporary form which never neglects the lightness and the entertainment", underlined the organizers of the Festival in a press release.

"We could not have hoped for a more powerful personality to question our times so upset," said festival president Pierre Lescure, quoted in the press release.

"His enthusiasm and his passion for cinema give us increased energy to prepare for the great festival that everyone is waiting for", added the general delegate Thierry Frémaux.

This 74th edition scheduled, at the Palais des Festivals, is expected as rarely: if sanitary conditions allow it to be held on the dates scheduled, it will be the most important world cinema meeting for more than a year.

Most of the other major festivals have been forced in recent months to cancel or have contented themselves with online editions.

With AFP

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