PARIS– British director Andrea Arnold has been tapped jury president of Critics Week’s Grand Prize.
Arnold will preside over a jury comprising four international journalists. The Grand Prize will be awarded to one of the seven feature films playing in competition.
Topped by Charles Tesson, Critics’ Week is a sidebar running alongside Cannes Intl. Film Festival, honoring first and second films. Last year’s Grand Prize (sponsored by Nespresso) was given to Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza’s “Salvo.”
A prestigious launchpad for emerging directors, Critics Week helped Arnold launch her international career, premiering her short film “Milk.” She went to direct “Red Road” and “Fish Tank” which both bowed in competition at Cannes and won the Jury Prize .
“I was so excited when ‘Milk’ screened in (Critics’ Week) that I kept crashing into things. When I got home I counted 19 bruises,” reminisced Arnold. “I am just as excited about being asked to be president of the jury of the Nespresso Grand Prize for (Critics’ Week) and I think it might be a good idea to put away the china. I see it as an adventure. I will go into it open. See what and who comes.”
With Jane Campion presiding Cannes’s competition jury and many femme-helmed movies tipped for various selections, the French Riviera-set festival could have a definite womanly flair.
