Acclaimed US filmmaker Tim Burton will head the nine member jury at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival later this year, it has been announced.
The fifty one year old director, whose distinctive style has been responsible for some of the quirkiest and most visually arresting motion pictures of the last two decades (“Beetlejuice”, “Batman”, “Batman Returns”, “Edward Scissorhands”, “Mars Attacks!”, “Sleepy Hollow” to name but a few) called the invitation a “great honour”. The event, which runs for eleven days from the twelfth of May, sees the panel ultimately choose the Best Film for the prestigious Palme d’Or award. “When you think of Cannes, you think of world cinema,” Burton declared. “And, as films have always been like dreams to me, this is a dream come true…” He went on to joke that “After spending my early life watching triple features and forty eight hour horror movie marathons, I’m finally ready for this.” Gilles Jacob, the President of the Cannes Film Festival, said that he was delighted to have such a filmmaking “magician” on board for this year’s event. “We hope his sweet madness and gothic humour will pervade the Croisette,” he noted.
Burton’s latest motion picture, a typically bizarre remake of the “Alice in Wonderland” story filmed in 3D, stars Burton perennial Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, as well as the director’s real life partner Helena Bonham Carter, and is scheduled to be released at the cinema in the United States in March.
