Superstar Greta Gerwig ('Barbie') 'upset' to preside over 2024 Cannes Film Festival jury

This is called ideal casting. With Greta Gerwig, director of the blockbuster "Barbie", elected president of the jury for the 2024 edition, the Cannes Film Festival hit the nail on the head. Through the American director, the world's largest film festival affirms its ambition to combine international influence, cinematographic standards and popularity, editorial independence and the fight for women's freedom.

American director Greta Gerwig ("Barbie"), pictured here in October 2023, will be president of the jury at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. © Chris Delmas / AFP

By: Siegfried Forster Follow

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Greta Gerwig continues to climb the heights one after the other: after achieving the feat of the best debut of all time for a film directed by a woman with Barbie, after entering cinema history as the first female director to surpass $1 billion at the box office with $4.1939 billion in receipts, surpassing even legendary feats such as Gone with the Wind from 2024, she will rise to the top of world cinema in <> as the second female director after Jane Campion in the demanding role of president of the jury.

The press release sent this morning by Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate, and Iris Knobloch, President of the Cannes Film Festival, does not hide the joy and pride of having convinced Greta Gerwig to take on this role: "This choice is an obvious one, as Greta Gerwig boldly embodies the revival of world cinema of which the Cannes Film Festival is both the precursor and the sounding board every year.

« I am overwhelmed, enthusiastic and humbled»

This choice is all the more fortunate, because Greta Gerwig herself seems to be overwhelmed with happiness to be at the top of world cinema for two weeks: "As a cinephile, Cannes has always been for me the pinnacle of what the universal language of films can represent. Putting yourself in a state of vulnerability, sitting inside a dark room full of strangers to watch a new movie, is what I like best. I am overwhelmed, enthusiastic and humbled to become the President of the Jury of the Cannes Film Festival. I can't wait to find out what journeys await us!

The Festival de Cannes is thus committed to the director who has shaken up the film industry with an original approach mixing both the requirements of the 7th art and marketing, a cult and stereotypical doll with an innovative and feminist approach, while making a film that reaches as many people as possible.

Before becoming the new figurehead of world cinema, Greta Garwig, born in 1983 in Sacramento, was for a long time something of a muse of American independent cinema, ploughing her furrow with courage and perseverance. After remarkable collaborations as a co-writer for films such as Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007), Nights and Weekends (2008), Frances Ha (2012) and Mistresse America (2015), she directed her first solo film in 2017. On the first try, she landed five Oscar nominations for Lady Bird, the story of a high school girl who seeks to break free from her mother, her social status and her city, discovering love, theater and college.

The existential questions of a woman today

At the heart of her second work are also the existential questions of a woman imprisoned by the codes of a patriarchal world. Dr. March's Four Daughters seeks to change the way women are viewed in human history. It's an approach that Gerwig pursues in a radical way with Barbie, co-written with her partner Noah Baumbach. As a director, she transforms the doll, long considered the absolute woman-object, into a tool of emancipation and audacity. Expelled from her country, Barbie Land, Barbie sets out in search of true happiness. The rest is history: the pink wave caused by Greta Gerwig will conquer the whole world. On the other hand, the film's many innuendos have sparked controversy and even censorship in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, the Philippines, and China. Lines, meant to signify drawings made by children to symbolize the border between Barbie Land and the real world, have been interpreted as questioning the borders between real countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines or China. In Arab countries, too, Greta Gerwig's feminist vision has sparked blockades, notably in Algeria, Kuwait and Lebanon.

In other words, we can expect Greta Gerwig, who is still the favorite in the race for the Oscars and the Golden Globes, not only to be content with the prestigious, but often very silent role of president of the jury, but also to launch debates well beyond the Croisette.

► The 2024 Cannes Film Festival will take place from May 14 to 25, 2024.

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