Cannes: Jessica Chastain, Will Smith Join Jury

Jessica Chastain, Will Smith and The Young Pope director Paolo Sorrentino will join president Pedro Almodovar on this year’s Cannes Film Festival jury.  

Two of the stars of last year’s festival: German director Maren Ade (Toni Erdmann) and South Korean helmer Park Chan-wook (The Handmaiden) will be back this year in the judges’ chair. Chinese star Fan Bingbing (Iron Man 3), French actress Agnes Jaoui (The Taste of Others) and Oscar-winning composer Gabriel Yared (The English Patient) complete this year’s nine-person international jury.

The awards for the 70th festival will be handed out on the closing night of the festival May 28.

Todd Haynes’ Wonderstruck, Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled, Okja from director Bong Joon-ho and The Killing of a Sacred Deer from The Lobster helmer Yorgos Lanthimos are among the films in the running for this year’s Palme d’Or.

Arnaud Desplechin’s Ismael’s Ghosts, starring  Marion Cotillard, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Mathieu Amalric and Louis Garrel, will open the 2017 Cannes film festival May 17.

Uma Thurman is set to head up the Un Certain Regard jury, while Palme d’Or winner Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) will head the jury for short and student films.

Italian-French actress Monica Bellucci will serve as master of ceremonies for the opening and closing nights.