Nicole Kidman, Ang Lee and Vidya Balan join jury

Nicole Kidman, Ang Lee and Vidya Balan

Might it be the most star-studded Cannes jury in history? The world's most famous film festival has announced that this year's president, Steven Spielberg, will be joined by a cavalcade of heavyweight figures -- including Oscar winners Ang Lee, Christoph Waltz and Nicole Kidman.

The glittering quartet will be joined by Britain's Lynne Ramsay, perhaps with time on her hands after exiting the Natalie Portman indie-western “Jane's Got a Gun”, French cinema icon Daniel Auteuil, Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu, Japanese director Naomi Kawase and Bollywood diva Vidya Balan.

Mungiu, Ramsay, Auteuil and Kawase are all past Cannes award-winners. Ramsay took a Youth prize in 2002 for her elliptical drama “Morvern Callar”, while Kawase won the Camera d'Or for “Suzaku” in 1997 and the Grand Prix in 2007 for “The Mourning Forest”. Auteuil won the best actor award at Cannes in 1996 for drama “The Eighth Day”. Mungiu is the only figure on the jury to have taken home the festival's top Palme d'Or prize, which he won in 2007 for the harrowing drama “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”.

“We have only one criteria and that is already done for the president -- the legitimacy,” festival artistic director Thierry Fremaux told the Hollywood Reporter. “So for the jury, Steven Spielberg will be the centre and we are finishing it with great people.”

The 66th Cannes film festival runs from May 15 to 26. The only woman ever to have won an Oscar and a Palme d'Or, Jane Campion, will oversee the Cinéfondation and short film competitions, while Audrey Tautou will host the opening and closing ceremonies.

Source: guardian.co.uk