2021 Cannes: Jodie Foster to be honored during Opening Ceremony

Academy Award winning actress and director Jodie Foster will be the Guest of honour at the Opening Ceremony of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, which will take place on the stage at the Palais des festivals on Tuesday July 6, and kick-off the 74th edition and led by the President of the Jury, Spike Lee.

Following Jeanne Moreau, Bernardo Bertolucci, Jane Fonda, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Manoel de Oliveira, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Agnès Varda and Alain Delon, Jodie Foster will receive the Festival’s Honorary Palme d’or in recognition of a brilliant artistic journey, and a unique personality with a modest yet strong commitment to some of the major issues of our time.

“Cannes is a festival to which I owe so much, it has completely changed my life, states Jodie Foster several weeks before the event. Although I had already directed before, my first time on the Croisette was a defining moment for me. Showcasing one of my films here has always been a dream of mine. In fact, I have had several opportunities to fulfil my dream, details Foster, who told Andy Warhol that she had always wanted to become a filmmaker. Cannes is a film festival by auteur-filmmakers who honour artists. And I greatly appreciate that.”

A trusted friend of the Festival de Cannes for more than four decades – seven of her films, whether as an actress or a director, have been showcased here –, she will join the 74^th edition as of its opening. President Pierre Lescure is overjoyed: “Jodie Foster has provided us with an amazing gift by coming to celebrate the return of the Festival on the Croisette. Her aura is unparalleled: she embodies modernity, the radiant intelligence of independence and the need for freedom.”

“Jodie never ceases to reinvent herself, adds General Delegate, Thierry Frémaux. She questions with her piercing gaze, learns from others, and is willing to step back from her beliefs in order to forge new morals. Do what is fair. An idea that she strives to convey in the decisions she makes as an actress and director, and which makes her so precious during our confusing times. We will honour her with warmth and admiration!”

The 74th edition of the Festival de Cannes will take place from July 6-17 with the announcement of the in competition and out of competition lineup on June 3.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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