Cannes has not forgotten Xavier Dolan. The Croisette-born filmmaker from Quebec has agreed to chair the jury of the “Uncertain Consideration” section in 2024.
“I am overwhelmed by the honor that the Cannes Festival has given me to return there as President of the Unknown Respect jury,” said Xavier Dolan in a press release published on Thursday afternoon.
“Even more than making films, it has always been important to me personally and professionally to discover the talents of other filmmakers. “This assignment will give me the opportunity, together with the members of the Un Certain Regard jury, to devote myself to something artistically essential: films and their search for truth,” he also said.
“This choice was obvious,” says the festival team. Xavier Dolan's cinema has found its maturity in the extreme youth and audacity of its director, who opens wide the field of possibilities, who believes more in dreams than in reality and who gives himself the means to realize his creative ambitions.
Last summer, Xavier Dolan announced that he would no longer be making films, but could continue directing TV series. “I don’t want to do films anymore because they don’t make me happy,” he said on his Instagram account.
Sparkling journey
Before being appointed chairman of the Un Certain Regard jury, a branch of the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival, Xavier Dolan was a member of the competition jury that awarded the Palme d'Or in 2015 to the film Dheepan by Jacques Audiard.
In 2009, at the age of 20, the Quebec artist made a notable appearance at Cannes, where his first film, I Killed My Mother, won everything at the Directors' Fortnight.
He was then promoted to the official selection. In 2010 and 2012 he presented Les amours Imaginaires and Laurence Anyways in the Un certain consideration section.
In 2014 it was consecrated. Mama had capsized the Croisette so much that many predicted she would win the Palme d'Or. In the end he won the jury prize.
Two years later, Xavier Dolan left Cannes with the Grand Prix of the competition thanks to his film Just the End of the World.
At his last competition appearance, his last feature film Matthias et Maxime was excluded from the prize list.