Juliette Binoche named 2025 Cannes Film Festival President of the Jury

Celebrated French actress Juliette Binoche has been named President of the Jury for the 2025 edition of the Cannes Film Festival in May. 

Binoche follows in the footsteps of US director Greta Gerwig whose jury chose Sean Baker’s Anora as last year’s Palme d’Or.

The festival stated that this marks the second time in its history that one woman will take the torch from another. The last time was in 1966 when Sophia Loren took over president of the jury duties from Olivia de Havilland. 

The honour also comes exactly 40 years after the Oscar-winning The English Patient star first came to the Croisette with André Téchiné’s Palme d’Or contender Rendez-vous in 1985. The film won Téchiné Best Director and launched a 21-year-old Binoche, who has often said that she “born at Cannes”. 

“I’m looking forward to sharing these life experiences with the members of the Jury and the public. In 1985, I walked up the steps for the first time with the enthusiasm and uncertainty of a young actress; I never imagined I’d return 40 years later in the honorary role of President of the Jury. I appreciate the privilege, the responsibility and the absolute need for humility,” said Binoche.

Since 1985, Binoche has appeared in another seven Palme d’Or contenders: Micheal Haneke’s Code Unknown (2000) and Caché (2007); Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy (2010), for which she won Best Actress; David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis (2012); Olivier Assayas’ Sils Maria (2014), Bruno Dumont’s Slack Bay (2016) and Tran Anh Hùng’s The Taste Of Things (one of our favourite films of 2023). 

Her filmography includes credits in films by Jean-Luc Godard (Hail Mary), Krzysztof Kieślowski (the Three Colors trilogy), Anthony Minghella (The English Patient, Breaking and Entering), and Claire Denis (High Life, Both Sides of the Blade) - to name but a few. 

She is also the first actress to have ever completed “Europe’s Triple Crown”, winning a Golden Bear in Berlin (The English Patient), a Palme d’Or in Cannes (Certified Copy) and a Volpi Cup in Venice (Three Colors: Blue). 

“Winner of the most prestigious awards, Juliette Binoche does not seek virtuosity, preferring to trust only in emotion and the elusive truth of the moment,” wrote the Cannes Film Festival in its release announcing Binoche’s presidency. “She is doubtless encouraged, as Louis Malle pointed out after Damage, by ‘her love affair with the camera, and her stupefying presence and intensity’.” 

The festival cited how Binoche’s work to raise awareness around issues such as education, displaced people, human rights and ecology, as well as how she has taken on the role of President of the European Film Academy.  

Euronews Culture recently interviewed Juliette Binoche to discuss her first year as President of the European Film Academy and the importance of choosing your filmgoing experience.  

“Don't go and see just any film,” she shared. “You really have to pick up the film you think is going to be something - the film that's going to change something in you.” 

You can read the full interview here.  

The 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival runs 13-24 May 2025.