Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan is officially the 2024 Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard jury president. Dolan, who is a self-taught writer/director, made his feature debut at age 19 with “I Killed My Mother” based on his original short story. The film was chosen to represent Canada at the Academy Awards.
His work has repeatedly been featured at Cannes ever since Dolan’s 2010 sophomore feature “Heartbeats” marked his first entrance in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard program.
“I am humbled and delighted to return to Cannes as President of the Un Certain Regard Jury,” Dolan said in a statement. “Even more than making films myself, discovering the work of talented filmmakers has always been at the very heart of both my personal and professional journeys. I see, in this responsibility I’m assigned, the opportunity to focus with the members of the Un Certain Regard Jury on an essential aspect of the art of film: stories told truthfully.”
The 2024 Cannes Film Festival will take place May 14 to 25, with “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig presiding over the Jury. The official selection will be announced April 11.
Dolan’s Cannes accolades have been consistent over the years. “Laurence Anyways” earned Suzanne Clément the Best Actress title in Un Certain Regard, before Clément went on to star in Dolan’s coveted film “Mommy” that was Dolan’s first feature in Competition. “Mommy” tied with Jean-Luc Godard’s “Goodbye to Language” to win the Jury Prize. Dolan later joined the jury chaired by the Coen brothers at the 68th Festival de Cannes. Dolan debuted “It’s Only the End of the World” at the festival the following year, and “Matthias & Maxime” premiered in Competition in 2019.
However, Dolan turned down attending 2018 Cannes with follow-up film “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan,” his first English language feature. “Some last-minute developments prompted us to decide it wasn’t the ideal place for the film to premiere, and I can’t say I disagree,” Dolan told IndieWire at the time.
Dolan previously hinted at possible retirement and voiced his dissatisfaction with modern filmmaking in a 2022 interview with Le Journal de Montreal.
“I don’t really want to do this job anymore. I’m tired. We are in 2022, and the world has changed drastically,” Dolan said. “Me, in that world, I no longer necessarily feel the need to tell stories and to relate to myself. I want to take time to be with my friends and family. I want to shoot commercials and build myself a house in the country one day when I have enough money saved. I don’t say that in a sad way at all. I just want to live something else, other experiences.”
The director later debuted the TV series “Night Logan Woke Up” at 2023 Sundance, which IndieWire critic Ben Travers called a “mystery soap” that aligns with the “grim twin of Pedro Almodóvar.”
