Hollywood may have treated Chinese actress Fan Bingbing like a flower vase when she was given only one line to say in “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” But not in Cannes where she was just named a juror to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
Pedro Almodovar, a Spanish director, would be the jury president of the 70th Cannes Film Festival. Fan Bingbing is one of the eight jury members whom the festival organizers named on Tuesday. Besides Fan Bingbing, the other jurors are American actor Will Smith, veteran Cannes jurors Park Chan-Wook from South Korea and Paolo Sorrentino from Italy, German director Maren Ade, French filmmaker Agnes Jaoui, French composer Gabriel Yared and American actress Jessica Chastain, China.org reported.
The 70th Cannes Film Festival will be from May 17 through May 28. The closing ceremony would be held on May 28 when the Palme d’or would be awarded. Fan Bingbing said she is grateful to Cannes for choosing her to be one of the eight jurors.
Because she considers the Cannes Film Festival the greatest sacred palace of film art, she feels the pressure. However, she added, the juror role “is also a precious opportunity to learn, and to see the best films of the world for a year.”
Fan Bingbing is certainly qualified to be a juror because of her long career as an international actress. She has also received awards in international film festivals such as the Best Actress Awards at the San Sebastian Film Festival and the 11th Asian Film Festival for the starring role in the 2016 movie “I Am not Madame Bovary,” Shanghai Daily reported.
Among her TV and film portfolio are “My Fair Princess” in 1998, “Cell Phone” in 2003, “Lost in Beijing” in 2007, “Buddha Mountain” in 2011 and “Double Xposure” in 2012.