Leïla Bekhti to Lead the Un Certain Regard Jury at Cannes
French actress Leïla Bekhti has been appointed President of the Cannes Film Festival’s prestigious Un Certain Regard Jury.
Bekhti will be joined by an esteemed panel that includes Senegalese producer Angèle Diabang, Lebanese composer Khaled Mouzanar, Italian director Laura Samani, and French director Thomas Cailley.
She succeeds UK filmmaker Molly Manning Walker, who led last year’s jury that awarded Chilean director Diego Céspedes the Un Certain Regard Prize for his debut film, The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo.
"For my first time as Jury President, I will find myself in the unique position of watching, listening, sharing, and celebrating," Bekhti stated. She emphasized the importance of cinema as a medium that fosters encounters with others, oneself, and the wider world. "Discovering them alongside a jury, living this timeless experience, is both a responsibility and a joy. I look forward to the exchanged perspectives, the dialogues, and the doubts as well, which make up the richness of this living art. And, ultimately, I will be there in the most precious seat of all: that of the audience."
Bekhti first gained recognition for her role in Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet (2009). Her more recent work includes audiences in Sink or Swim (2018) by Gilles Lellouche, Joachim Lafosse’s The Restless (2021), and Kheiron’s All Three of Us (2015). She will soon be seen in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Changer l’eau des fleurs.
The Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival will open with Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. The festival is scheduled to run from May 12 to May 23.
