American director, actress and screenwriter Greta Gerwig has been named jury president for the 77th Cannes Film Festival 2024, following the massive success of her box-office hit Barbie — making her the first-ever American female director to assume the role.

“A heroine of our modern times, Greta Gerwig shakes up the status quo between a highly codified cinema industry and an era that is demanding greater scrutiny,” Cannes said in its announcement. Set to preside over the prestigious film festival in May, Gerwig will lead a panel of filmmakers who are tasked with selecting the winning features, and awarding the Palme D'or — which went to Justine Triet for Anatomy of a Fall this year — to the best film.

The highest-grossing film of the year, Gerwig's Barbie saw huge box-office success on its opening July weekend, setting a new record for any feature that was not a remake, sequel or superhero movie. Barbie is also the top-earning feature by a solo female director, following 2021 Chinese comedy Hi, Mom.

Barbie. Credit: Warner Bros.

Barbie is undoubtedly headed for awards success in the new year, leading Golden Globe and Critic's Choice Award nominations, as well as being tipped for lead contender at the Academy Awards. Originally slated to feature at Cannes, Barbie was withdrawn due to scheduling conflicts, premiering instead at the Shrine Auditorium in LA on July 9th, 2023.

Gerwig has previously attended Cannes alongside her partner Noah Baumbach, notably in 2017 when his film The Meyerowitz Stories premiered, but has never presented a film there.

Greta Gerwig at a reception for Barbie in Washington DC, July 2023. Photo: UKinUSA

“I love films – I love making them, I love going to them, I love talking about them. Gerwig expressed in a statement. "As a cinephile, Cannes has always been the pinnacle of what the universal language of movies can be, being in the place of vulnerability, in a dark theater filled with strangers, watching a brand-new film is my favorite place to be. I am stunned and thrilled and humbled to be serving as the president of the Cannes Film Festival Jury.

"I cannot wait to see what journeys are in store for all of us!”

Two-time Palme d’Or winner Ruben Ostlund (Triangle of Sadness, The Square) presided over last year's Cannes jury. Gerwig will be the first-ever American female director to preside over the Cannes Film Festival, following the legendary likes of French director Jane Campion in 2014 and actress Olivia de Havilland — Cannes’ first female jury president, in 1965. The 40-year-old is also the second youngest person to take on the role, preceding Italian actress Sophia Loren, who was 31 when she presided over Cannes’ jury in 1966.

In 15 years, she has established herself at the pinnacle of world cinema. The Festival de Cannes is delighted and proud to welcome the American filmmaker, screenwriter and actress Greta Gerwig as President of the Jury for its 77th edition! #Cannes2024
► https://t.co/tcYpu6Ednu pic.twitter.com/CdiVW6uY8k

— Festival de Cannes (@Festival_Cannes) December 14, 2023

“Yesterday, ambassador of independent American cinema, today at the summit of worldwide box office success, Greta Gerwig manages to combine what was previously judged to be incompatible: Delivering arthouse blockbusters, narrowing the gap between art and industry, exploring contemporary feminist issues with deft as well as depth, and declaring her demanding artistic ambition from within an economic model that she embraces in order to put to better use," Cannes' statement continued.

Having gained early notoriety starring and co-writing a series of independent mumblecore features such as Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007) and Nights and Weekends (2008), Gerwig went on to co-write and lead Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha (2012), as well as star in Mike Mills' 20th Century Women; before breaking into the mainstream with her semi-autobiographical 2017 directorial debut, Lady Bird. Gerwig's second film, her critically lauded adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, received six Oscar nominations in 2019.

Photo by Christopher Polk.

“This is an obvious choice, since Greta Gerwig so audaciously embodies the renewal of world cinema, for which Cannes is each year both the forerunner and the sounding board,” said Cannes’ president Iris Knobloch and general delegate Thierry Frémaux.

“Beyond the seventh art, she is also the representative of an era that is breaking down barriers and mixing genres, and thereby elevating the values of intelligence and humanism,” the pair added.

Previous Cannes jury presidents include fellow directors Spike Lee, Pedro Almodóvar, the Coen brothers, Alejandro González Iñárritu, as well as actresses Cate Blanchett and Isabelle Huppert.

The 77th Cannes Film Festival is set to take place next May...