Gimme Moore! Demi, Skarsgard and Zhao to join eclectic Cannes jury

Still riding high from the late-career boost of her Oscar-nominated role in The Substance – which took the Best Screenplay Award in Cannes in 2024 – 63-year-old Moore will join the international jury for the Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off on 12 May.

The jury will be handing out a host of prizes, including the prestigious Palme d'Or for best film at the closing ceremony on 23 May.

Moore is joined by Chinese filmmaker Chloé Zhao, whose film Hamnet has won several awards including Best Motion Picture – Drama at the Golden Globes and Outstanding British Film at the BAFTAs. She is only the second woman to be nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Director. 

Joining them is Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard, who starred in Sentimental Value, directed by Joachim Trier, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes last year and earned him an Oscar nomination.

He first gained international attention with Breaking the Waves (Grand Prix, 1996 Cannes Festival) and has gone on on to deliver critically praised performances in film and television. Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis on the set of Ridley Scott's "Thelma and Louise" (1991) used for the poster of the Cannes Film Festival 2026.

South Korean director Park Chan-wook to preside at Cannes Film Festival

International experience

Ivorian-American actor Isaach de Bankolé brings his international cinema experience to the jury, having worked with the likes of Jim Jarmusch, Ryan Coogler and France's Claire Denis. He is set to appear in the upcoming third instalment of the Dune franchise, by Denis Villeneuve.

Also on the panel is actress Ruth Negga, born in Ethiopia then raised in Ireland and England. She has earned several nominations for her work in theatre and cinema, notably in Jeff Nichols' Loving, which was in the main competition at Cannes in 2016.

Belgian director and screenwriter Laura Wandel's first feature film, Playground, was part of the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes in 2021 and won her the FIPRESCI Critics' Award. The film was also shortlisted for the Oscar for Best International Feature Film. She also directed Adam's Sake, starring Léa Drucker, which opened the Critics Week in 2025.

Winner of the Un Certain Regard Prize at the 2025 Festival de Cannes for his debut feature, The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, Diego Cespedes is currently working on his second feature The Case of a Boy Who Lost His Heart.

Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty has worked with director Ken Loach and producer Rebecca O'Brien for 30 years and wrote two Palme d'Or-winning films, The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006) and I, Daniel Blake (2016). He has also won best screenplay awards at numerous international festivals.

The jury will be headed by arthouse South Korean director, Park Chan-Wook (Oldboy, Decision to Leave).

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Palme d'Or contenders

There are 22 films in competition for the Palme d'Or, including former winners, newcomers and strong showings from Spain and Japan.

Frontrunners for the top prize include Japan's Hirokazu Kore-eda with the AI-themed Sheep in the Box, Cristian Mungiu from Romania with Fjord, and Russian auteur Andrey Zvyagintsev, whose film Minotaur focuses on wealthy Russians confronted with conscription.

Spanish veteran and Cannes favourite Pedro Almodovar will appear for the seventh time with his Amarga Navidad ("Bitter Christmas"), while exiled Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi will represent Iran with Histoires Paralleles (Parallel Tales).

The Cannes Film Festival runs from 12 to 23 May.