The Barbie Effect: Greta Gerwig to Preside Over 2024 Cannes Film Festival

From receiving several exceptional global awards for ‘Barbie’, Greta Gerwig, the director of the most talked-about movie has been appointed Jury President for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. This seals the many nominations and awards she has received as the strong force behind the Matell doll film.

After Cate Blanchett who presided over the festival in 2018, the ‘Barbie’ director happens to be the first female to fill the position in the last six years.

Greta who couldn’t measure her feelings after the announcement shared that “I love films – I love making them, I love going to them, I love talking about them. As a cinephile, Cannes has always been the pinnacle of what the universal language of movies can be. Being in a place of vulnerability, in a dark theatre 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 Fim Festival Jury. I cannot wait to see what journeys are in store for all of us!”

The Cannes Film Festival’s president, Iris Knobloch, and Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate affirmed the trust and confidence reposed in Greta to do an excellent job with an acknowledgement of her prowess as a director.

“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. …Beyond the 7th 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,” said Iris Knobloch, Festival President, and Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate.

Greta’s ‘Barbie’ is the biggest Box Office hit worldwide. As well as the lead on the Global Globe Awards nomination list for next year. As an actress, she has starred in Damsels in Distress, To Rome With Love, and Maggie’s Plan.

The 77th Cannes Film Festival is expected to take place from Tuesday, May 14 to Saturday, May 25, 2024.

Meanwhile, this week has been one ride for women’s excellence. First was the appointment of Mexican-Kenyan actor, Lupita Nyong’o as the Jury President for the 2024 Berlin Film Festival. The next was the announcement of Tricia Tuttle as the new director for the Berlin Film Festival and now Greta Gerwig as the Jury President for next year’s Cannes Film Festival. Go women!