Two-time Palme Winner Ruben Ostlund to Head Cannes Jury

Ruben Östlund poses with his second Palme d'Or as the 75th Cannes Film Festival wrapped up on Saturday. Mehdi Chebil
Ruben Östlund poses with his second Palme d'Or as the 75th Cannes Film Festival wrapped up on Saturday. Mehdi Chebil
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Two-time Palme Winner Ruben Ostlund to Head Cannes Jury

Ruben Östlund poses with his second Palme d'Or as the 75th Cannes Film Festival wrapped up on Saturday. Mehdi Chebil
Ruben Östlund poses with his second Palme d'Or as the 75th Cannes Film Festival wrapped up on Saturday. Mehdi Chebil

Swedish director Ruben Ostlund, a two-time winner of the Palme d'Or, will be jury president at this year's Cannes Film Festival in May, organizers announced Tuesday.

Ostlund, 48, won the festival's top prize last year for "Triangle of Sadness", which left audiences squirming over its biting exploration of class divisions on a cruise ship, and extended display of extreme sea sickness.

The film, which stars Woody Harrelson as a drunken Marxist captain, has also earned him three nominations at next month's Oscars -- for best picture, best director and best original screenplay.

Ostlund also won the Palme five years earlier for "The Square", with a similarly cringe-inducing look at the art world, AFP said.

In a statement, Ostlund said he was "happy, proud and humbled to be entrusted with the honor" of leading the jury, which comes exactly 50 years after fellow Swede Ingrid Bergman had the role.

It is the third time a two-time Palme winner has led the jury in Cannes, following Francis Ford Coppola and Emir Kusturica, and the first time it has gone to someone the year after they won.

The selection of films is due to be announced next month, along with the other members of the jury.

Ostlund has become known for his scathing insights into the embarrassing foibles of Western middle classes.

He first gained international attention with 2014's "Force Majeure" about a father on a ski trip who rescues his mobile phone before his children during an avalanche.

It won the runner-up Jury Prize in the secondary Un Certain Regard section at Cannes.

Three years later, he went straight to the top, winning the Palme d'Or for "The Square", still set in Sweden but featuring US actor Elisabeth Moss and Britain's Dominic West.

After his victory last year, Ostlund said his goal with audiences was "to entertain them, to (make them) ask themselves questions, to go out after the screening and have something to talk about."



Sunday's Golden Globes to Launch Hollywood's Awards Festivities

FILE - Event signage appears above the red carpet at the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Event signage appears above the red carpet at the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
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Sunday's Golden Globes to Launch Hollywood's Awards Festivities

FILE - Event signage appears above the red carpet at the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Event signage appears above the red carpet at the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

Hollywood will kick off its 2025 awards festivities on Sunday at the annual Golden Globes ceremony where films such as "Wicked,The Brutalist" and "Emilia Perez" compete for trophies and attention ahead of the Oscars.
Timothee Chalamet, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande and Angelina Jolie are among the stars in the running for acting honors at the red-carpet ceremony that will be hosted for the first time by comedian Nikki Glaser. The show will be broadcast live on CBS and stream on Paramount+, Reuters reported.
Spanish-language musical "Emilia Perez" and post-World War Two epic "The Brutalist" lead the night's movie nominees.
"The Brutalist" stars Adrien Brody as a Holocaust survivor who flees to the United States to chase the American dream. The 3-1/2 hour tale is considered a frontrunner for the night's top prize, best film drama.
Competitors include "Conclave," about the selection of a pope, and two movies starring Chalamet - Bob Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown" and sci-fi epic "Dune - Part II."
Unlike the Oscars, musical and comedy films compete in a separate category at the Globes. Nominees in that field include box office smash "Wicked" and dark romantic comedy "Anora."
Winning a Globe can help films in the run-up to the Academy Awards in March. If a movie or actor takes home a Globe, "it increases the likelihood a member of the film academy will check out that project," said Scott Feinberg, executive editor for awards at The Hollywood Reporter.
Feinberg predicted "The Brutalist" or "Conclave" would earn the drama prize at the Globes. The musical or comedy category is harder to gauge, he said, because the nominees are so different from one another.
"Emilia Perez," a musical thriller, tells the story of a Mexican drug lord who transitions from a man to a woman. "Wicked," a prequel to "The Wizard of Oz," was adapted from a popular Broadway stage show.
"Anora," about a sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch, is more of a traditional comedy while "The Substance" starring Demi Moore as a fading celebrity seeking a fountain of youth, is essentially a horror movie, Feinberg said.
"That (category) is just all over the place," Feinberg said.
Winners of the Globes are chosen by 334 entertainment journalists from 85 countries, compared with roughly 9,000 voters who select the Academy Awards. The Globes voting body was expanded in recent years and organizers instituted reforms after being criticized for ethical lapses and a lack of diversity.
In TV categories, restaurant tale "The Bear" leads the Globes nominees, followed by mystery comedy "Only Murders in the Building" and historical epic "Shogun."