It’s been announced that Tim Burton will serve as President of the jury for this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Burton competed at the festival in 1995 with Ed Wood, but has never won at the famed event.
Cannes run for two weeks from May 12th, with Burton heading the group that will decide on the prestigious Palm D’Or and other festival prizes. The BBC reports that the director commented on his appointment, “When you think of Cannes, you think of world cinema. And, as films have always been like dreams to me, this is a dream come true… After spending my early life watching triple features and 48-hour horror movie marathons, I’m finally ready for this.”
Although the director is known for his visuals and gothic flair, these aren’t generally the films that do well at Cannes, which has a reputation for choosing lesser known, world cinema offerings. Whether the Alice In Wonderland director’s appointment will mean the festival will go a little more mainstream is yet to be seen, although probably not, as Burton has shown in the past that he has an eclectic range of influences. We’ll just have to wait and see whether we can feel Tim’s hand in the films that are eventually chosen as this year’s Cannes winners.