Coens head Cannes jury

PARIS—The Coen brothers, award-winning US directors of “No Country for Old Men” and “Fargo,” will jointly head this year’s Cannes Film Festival jury, organizers have announced.

Joel and Ethan Coen will be copresidents of a panel of filmmakers and actors who will judge the films in the fest’s main competition, which will run May 13-24.

“We are very happy to be coming back to Cannes,” the brothers said in a statement, adding they were “especially happy at the opportunity being given to us to see films from around the entire world.” Cannes “has always played an important role for us,” since the beginning of their careers, they said.

It is the first time the jury will be headed by two people. “This is more of an honor in that we’ve never been presidents of anything,” they said.

But the Coens are used to collaborating closely, having shared directing and writing duties on all of their films over the past three decades.

The siblings are also Cannes darlings, having picked up the festival’s top Palme d’Or prize for “Barton Fink” (1991), its runner-up grand jury prize for “Inside Llewyn Davis” (2013), and its best director award for “Fargo” (1996) and “The Man Who Wasn’t There” (2001).

“The Coens incarnate a certain ‘auteur’ filmmaking that is universal,” Cannes director Thierry Fremaux said. AFP