Halle Berry joins the jury for the 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival
Oscar-winning actress and filmmaker Halle Berry has been announced as one of the jury members for the 78th edition of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. The actress, who became the first African-American woman to win the Best Actress award at the Oscars for her performance in Marc Forster’s Monster’s Ball, will serve on a women-majority jury alongside fellow actor Jeremy Strong; Payal Kapadia, the filmmaker behind All We Imagine as Light; Hong Sangsoo; Alba Rohrwacher; and Carlos Reygadas, with French actress Juliette Binoche presiding over the jury. Other Black members of the jury include Congolese director, documentarian, and producer Dieudo Hamadi, and French-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani. The jury will watch the 21 films in competition this year and will award the Palme d’Or at the end of the festival.
Berry is also set to star in a crime thriller titled Crime 101, which is scheduled for a theatrical release next year. The film follows a group of jewel thieves operating along the Pacific Coast, and features co-stars such as Chris Hemsworth, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, and Mark Ruffalo.
As she joins the jury, another Black creator whose Cannes debut we are anticipating is Nigeria’s own Akinola Davies Jr., whose film My Father’s Shadow will premiere at the festival in the Un Certain Regard category—a competition for debut and emerging filmmakers—making it the first Nigerian feature film to screen at the festival.
Other films set to screen at the renowned event include Scarlett Johansson’s Eleanor the Great, Kristen Stewart’s The Chronology of Water, Ethan Coen’s Honey Don’t, Spike Lee’s Highest to the Lowest, Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, Lynne Ramsay’s Die My Love, Simon Mesa Soto’s Un Poeta, Erige Sehiri’s Promised Sky, and Joachim Trier’s Affeksjonserdi (Sentimental Value). The festival will take place from May 13 to 24, 2025. Check out the full list of selected films here.
