Xavier Dolan Named Cannes Un Certain Regard Jury President 2024

Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan is returning to Cannes Film Festival, this time to head up the Un Certain Regard jury as president.

A veteran of the Croisette, Dolan won the Jury Prize at Cannes with Mommy in 2014 and the Grand Prix trophy for It’s Only the End of the World in 2016.

“I am humbled and delighted to return to Cannes as president of the Un Certain Regard Jury. Even more than making films myself, discovering the work of talented filmmakers has always been at the very heart of both my personal and professional journeys. I see, in this responsibility I’m assigned, the opportunity to focus with the members of the Un Certain Regard Jury on an essential aspect of the art of film — stories told truthfully,” Dolan said in a statement on Thursday.

The Montreal-born director made his first entry in the Un Certain Regard sidebar with his second film, Heartbeats, in 2010. Two years later, his film Laurence Anyways earned the section prize for best actress for Suzanne Clement.

Other titles like Matthias & Maxime have bowed in Cannes in competition, and he made his debut on the Croisette at age 20 with I Killed My Mother as part of the Director’s Fortnight. His Cannes premieres have not always been happy ones.

The Marion Cotillard starrer It’s Only the End of the World was aggressively booed at a Cannes press screening, prompting Dolan to accuse the festival of encouraging trolling and bullying. The Canadian filmmaker started in film early, having appeared in commercials while still in kindergarten.

He quickly developed into an in-demand child actor in TV and films in French-speaking Quebec, and his childhood earnings helped finance his first feature.

Earlier, Greta Gerwig was named as the jury president for Cannes this year. The 77th Cannes Film Festival runs May 14-25, 2024.