The 40-year old actor, screenwriter, and director has surely shaken up Hollywood this year

It would seem as if there is a divide over Barbie, of those who are part of the Barbiemania craze and others who are staying far away from it. But, if you ascribe to the latter, you will have some wonder about the film, maybe even secretly desiring to see it- or just plain curious about said craze. I have to admit that I’m part of the latter. But, no matter which camp you find yourself in, we cannot-not admit that Greta Gerwig has shaken up cinema this year. So, it was not at all surprising that the Cannes Film Festival has chosen her to helm its 77th edition, that will take place May 14-25, 2024.

“I love films - I love making them, I love going to them, I love talking about them,” she states in notes from the Festival. “As a cinephile, Cannes has always been the pinnacle of what the universal language of movies can be. Being in the place of vulnerability, in a dark theatre filled with strangers, watching a brand-new film is my favorite place to be. I am stunned and thrilled and humbled to be serving as the president of the Cannes Film Festival Jury. I cannot wait to see what journeys are in store for all of us!”

An independent filmmaker, Gerwig is now at the heights of worldwide box-office success. An actress turned screenwriter, turned director, she will be the first American female director to be the Festival’s Jury President. Her screen written productions like Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007), Nights and Weekends (2008), Frances Ha (2012), Mistress America (2015), and Barbie (2023) show an evolution of her work. But, it is her first solo work of, Lady Bird (2017) that got her five Oscar nominations, including Best Director and Little Women (2019) that skootched her onto the world’s stage.

“Beyond the 7th Art, she is also the representative of an era that is breaking down barriers and mixing genres, and thereby elevating the values of intelligence and humanism,” says Thierry Frémaux in notes.

She’s a testament that the real magic happens at age forty and beyond, for it was Julia Child, Toni Morrison, Martha Stewart, Vera Wang, Samuel L. Jackson, Kris Jenner, Sam Walton, and Henry Ford- just to name a few that reached their worldwide success at forty or after. Gerwig is the youngest person since Sofia Loren (who was Jury President at age thirty-one in 1966), and the second female director since Jane Campion in 2014, and the second American woman after Olivia de Haviland first female Jury President in 1965.

“This is an obvious choice, since Greta Gerwig so audaciously embodies the renewal of world cinema, for which Cannes is each year both the forerunner and the sounding board,” said Iris Knobloch, Festival President in notes.

A sought-after name in Hollywood right now, Greta Gerwig is creating her own path, whether you’re in her camp or not.