2012 Cannes Film Festival Jury: Helmers Andrea Arnold, Hiam Abbass, Alexander Payne and Raoul Peck Join Moretti

Five filmmakers in Alexander Payne, the Cannes loved Andrea Arnold, actress turned nouveau director Hiam Abbass (upcoming Inheritance, Jerusalem, I Love You) and Raoul Peck will join Nanni Moretti’s jury of nine alongside thesps Emmanuelle Devos, Diane Kruger, Ewan McGregor and the very fashionable pick of haute couture designer Jean Paul Gaultier.

What members of the press often do if try to guess, is guess who’ll win the Palme, the Grand Prix and Jury prizes based on the personalities of the assigned jury members. We begin then begin with the ego size of the head jury member, which in this case is a filmmaker, actor and producer, but an exhibitor and political figure in his own right in Moretti. Also in who we could assign as more politically minded jurors are Abbass and Peck — so Main Comp selections such as Yousry Nasrallah’s Apres la Bataille, Ulrich Seidl’s Paradies: Liebe and Matteo Garrone’s Reality might be up their alley.

We then have worldly actors in McGregor (I’m thinking of his continent roaming motorcycle trips) and tri-language speaking Kruger who along with Devos might look at strong dramatic material they can instantly recognize such as Jacques Audiard’s De Rouille et d’Os , Thomas Vinterberg’s Jagten and Michael Haneke’s Amour.

We then have the two members of the jury who are key influencers and happen to be polar opposites in terms of style. Auteurs in their own right, Andrea Arnold and Alexander Payne should be an outspoken pair — which means Carlos Reygadas’ Post Tenebras Lux or Cristian Mungiu’s Beyond the Hills could be up their alley. And what use or influence could a Jean Paul Gaultier play especially if there is a hung jury? We’ll have our Vegas odds picks for prizes prior to the fest and on the final day of the fest.

Here’s the press release from the fest:

Hiam Abbass was born in Galilee. Following her studies in Haifa she joined Palestine’s El-Hakawati Theatre Group. She first appeared in Michel Khleifi’s Wedding in Galilee (1987). Fame soon followed with Raja Amari’s Red Satin (2002). She appeared in The Syrian Bride (2005) then Lemon Tree (2008) by Eran Riklis , Free Zone and Disengagement by Amos Gitaï (2005) and Bab el Shams by Yousry Nasrallah (2004). She also filmed in France with Patrice Chéreau, Jean Becker and Radu Mihaileanu (The Source – in Competition at Cannes 2011). Her American filmmaking career began with Jim Jarmusch (The Limits of Control– 2009) and Thomas McCarthy (The Visitor– 2008) as well as with Julian Schnabel in Miral, presented at the Venice Film Festival in 2010. She has just finished shooting Inheritance, her first feature film as a director.

Andrea Arnold, British director and scriptwriter, was awarded the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film in 2004 for Wasp. Her first feature-length film, Red Road (2006), was selected at Cannes in Competition, as was Fish Tank (2009); both received the Jury Prize. In 2011, she directed an adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights, selected in Competition at the Venice Film Festival.

Following her studies at the prestigious Cours Florent, Emmanuelle Devos began shooting with the brilliant young generation of filmmakers fresh out of La Fémis: Noémie Lvovsky and Arnaud Desplechin who brought her to Cannes in 1996 with his My Sex Life… or How I Got Into an Argument. The accolades arrived in 2001 with Jacques Audiard’s Read My Lips (César for Best Actress). She filmed again with Desplechin and Audiard and also with Nicole Garcia, Emmanuel Carrère, Alain Resnais and Xavier Giannoli, whose In The Beginning saw her win the 2010 César for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Still devoted to theatre work, her film career continues unabated. She will soon begin shooting with Martin Provost and with Jérôme Bonnell alongside Gabriel Byrne.

Born in Germany, Diane Kruger received international acclaim in 2004 for her role in Wolfgang Peterson’s Troy. Numerous successes followed, namely Christian Carion’s Joyeux Noël which featured in the Official Selection at Cannes and received an Oscar nomination in 2005 for Best Foreign Language Film. She subsequently worked with Agnieszka Holland, Bille August and Quentin Tarantino. In France, she recently filmed with Fred Cavayé and Fabienne Berthaud. She can currently be seen in Benoît Jacquot’s Farewell, My Queen, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2012. Most recently, she completed filming of Pascal Chaumeil’s Fly Me to the Moon as well as Andrew Niccol’s The Host.

A world-famous designer who has worked with artists such as Madonna, Angelin Prejlocaj and Régine Chopinot, Jean Paul Gaultier began his career with Pierre Cardin before launching his own fashion house in 1976. Passionate and highly versatile, he has never stopped experimenting in new fields, including dance, music and cinema. He designed the costumes for The City of Lost Children by Jeunet and Caro and for Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element. In particular, he has worked with Pedro Almodόvar on Bad Education, which opened the Festival de Cannes in 2004 and on The Skin I Live In, which was in Competition last year. A great cinema-lover, Jean Paul Gaultier has often spoken of his love for actresses or directors such as Jacques Becker.

Ewan McGregor has proven himself as a true international actor. From Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting (In Competition, Cannes 1996) to George Lucas’ Star Wars (2002-2005), and Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge, which opened the Festival in 2001. He demonstrated the full extent of his range in Woody Allen’s Cassandra’s Dream, Grant Heslov’s The Men who Stare at Goats (2010) and The Ghost Writer by Roman Polanski (2010). He is currently filming an HBO’s series adaptation of the Jonathan Franzen novel, The Corrections. Following in the footsteps of Jude Law in 2011, Cannes is delighted to welcome this latest representative of the British acting fraternity.

Originally from Nebraska, Alexander Payne earned his MFA in Film at UCLA.  He made his feature film debut with Citizen Ruth (1996) and followed up with Election (1999), which won Best Screenplay from the Writers’ Guild of America and the New York Film Critics Circle, as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. About Schmidt (2002), premiered in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. A sensitive director whose inspiration is often drawn from his own filmmaking passions, Payne directed Sideways (2004) as well as his latest film, The Descendants (2011), starring George Clooney, both of which won Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Haitian born Raoul Peck grew up in Congo, France, Germany and the United States. He has created a complex and diverse body of work from documentaries to TV fiction. His feature films include The Man by the Shore (in Competition at Cannes 1993); Lumumba (presented at the Director’s Fortnight 2000). Sometimes in April (2005) was presented in Berlin and Moloch Tropical (2009) in Toronto and Berlin. The former Minister of Culture of Haiti, Raoul Peck has been, since 2010, Chairman of the Board of the film school La Fémis.