Juliette Binoche: French becomes a jury in Cannes

The French actress Juliette Binoche (60) has been appointed President of the International Jury of the Film Festival in Cannes 2025. In doing so, she succeeds the “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig (41) and will preserve the group of film experts who select this year’s winner of the Golden Palm.

The 78th International Film Festival in Cannes will take place from May 13th to 24th, 2025. Binoche connects a long story with Cannes: she debut exactly 40 years ago, at the premiere of André Téchiné’s “Rendez-Vous” in 1985. It was her first big film role and made her a star. “I was born at the Festival de Cannes,” she said later.

Since then, the French woman has been a guest in Cannes and returns with films by some of the best -known international authors such as Michael Haneke (“Code Unknown”, “Caché”), David Cronenberg (“Cosmopolis”), Krzysztof Kieślowski (“Three Colors: Red” ) or Olivier Assayas (“The Clouds of Sils Maria”). For her role as an antique dealer in Abba’s Kiarostamis “Die Liebesfärschler”, she was awarded the best actress in Cannes in 2010.

“In 1985 I went up the steps for the first time with the enthusiasm and uncertainty of a young actress. I never thought that I would return to the jury president 40 years later,” said Binoche in an explanation. “I appreciate the privilege, responsibility and absolute need for humility.”

Binoche was recognized as the best actress at all three major European film festivals (Cannes, Venice, Berlin). In 1994 she received the Volpi Cup for Kieślowski’s “three colors: blue” and the silver bear in Berlin for her representation of a nurse in World War II in Anthony Minghellas “The English Patient”. For this role, she also received a BAFTA and an Oscar as the best supporting actress.

In recent times, Binoche played Coco Chanel in Todd A. Kessler’s Appletv+series “The New Look” and once again dealt with her “The English Patient” colleague Ralph Fiennes (62) for “The Return”. Last year she took over the office of President of the European Film Academy in Berlin, which has been awarding the European Film Award annually since 1988.