Iñárritu to preside over Cannes Film Festival jury

Award-winning Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu

will preside over the jury at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival in May.

Festival president Pierre Lescure

, announcing the choice on Wednesday , praised Inarritu — the first Mexican to be given the honor — as a “daring filmmaker ... full of surprises” and an “artist of his time.”

“With the presence of the director of Babel , the Festival will pay homage to Mexican cinema,” stated the event organizers through a press release.

Inarritu said in the statement that “this is a true delight and a responsibility that we will assume with passion and devotion.”

Iñárritu is no stranger to the Cannes Film Festival . During the Critics’ Week in 2000 , he premiered his first long-feature film Amores Perros, starring Gael García Bernal . Six years later, he won the Palme d’or for Best Director for his film Babel . He was the first Mexican in history to recieve the award.

The Cannes festival, he said, is the heart of world cinema.

Iñárritu won best director Oscar for The Revenant in 2016 and Birdman in 2015, among numerous awards, becoming the first filmmaker in history to win an Oscar for Best Director two years in a row.

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served as jury president last year when the Palme d’Or , the top prize, was awarded to Shoplifters by Japanese director Kore-eda Hirokazu .

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