Spike Lee has been chosen to head the jury at Cannes Film Festival in July, organisers said on Tuesday, making him the first black person to take on the role.
The American filmmaker was supposed to perform the function at last year’s event, but it was cancelled due to the pandemic. Usually held in May, this year’s Cannes Film Festival is set to take place July 6-17.
French Riviera festival announcing on Tuesday said that Lee will be president of the jury for the 74th Cannes.
Pierre Lescure, president of the festival, praised Lee for his loyalty and spirit.
Lescure in a statement stated;
Throughout the months of uncertainty we’ve just been through, Spike Lee has never stopped encouraging us. This support is finally coming to fruition and we could not have hoped for a more powerful personality to chart our troubled times.
Accepting the invitation in a recorded Twitter message, Lee said he was “very humbled“.
He expressed;
Way back in 1986, my very first film ‘Shes Gotta Have It’ played there and it was my introduction to the world of cinema, so Cannes will always have a deep, deep spot in my heart.
He said “Yes”.
AGAIN!
Conversation with Spike Lee, President of the Jury of the Festival de Cannes from 6 to 17 July 2021! #Cannes2021 pic.twitter.com/G1ZFX3pJ9V— Festival de Cannes (@Festival_Cannes) March 16, 2021
Organizers said preparations “are in full swing” for this year’s Cannes, more details of which will be announced in coming weeks. Selections will be announced in early June.
With COVID-19 still circulating at high levels in France, and the country making slow progress in its vaccination campaign, doubts remain over whether this year’s edition will go ahead as planned from July 6 to 17, having already been delayed from its usual slot in May.
It would be the biggest get-together for the global industry in more than a year, with most other festivals either cancelled or relegated to online versions in recent months.
Lee, 63, has been a fixture at Cannes over the years, premiering seven of his films there including “Do the Right Thing” in 1989. In 2018, his “BlacKkKlansman” about a black police officer infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan, won one of the festival’s top prizes, the Grand Prix.
With a back-catalogue that has thrown a spotlight on issues of race and politics in the US, Lee was seen as a symbolic choice at a time when the French film industry has been mired in controversies over the representation of minorities.
The Cannes jury, which selects the winner of the coveted Palme d’Or, has rarely displayed much diversity in the president’s chair.
Hong Kong auteur, Wong Kar-wai is the only Asian to have had the honour, while French-Algerian actress, Isabelle Adjani was the first of African descent in 1997.
Lee has tried his hand at many genres but is best known for films that put the African-American experience front and centre. Those have ranged from slice-of-life classics such as “Do the Right Thing” to more overtly political works such as “Malcolm X” and his most recent Netflix hit “Da 5 Bloods” about black veterans from the Vietnam war.
“BlacKkKlansman” served as a powerful anti-Trump statement and won him his first Oscar, not counting an honorary award he received in 2015.
Lee exploded on to the film scene at Cannes in 1986 with “She’s Gotta Have It”, which took home Youth Award.
“Jungle Fever” (1991), “Girl 6” (1996), “Summer of Sam” (1999), “Ten Minutes Older” (2002) have also featured at the festival.
The official selection for this year’s festival, along with the rest of the jury is due to be named in early June.
Via AFP.
