The Cannes Film Festival on Thursday announced that Barbie director Greta Gerwig will preside over the jury for its 77th edition, slated to take place from May 14 to 25, 2024.

Gerwig joins an exclusive list of female directors to preside over the jury at the prestigious festival in France, following in the footsteps of Jane Campion in 2014. She is the first American woman filmmaker to be given the responsibility.

The 40-year-old filmmaker will also be the youngest person to perform the duty since Sofia Loren, who had served as jury-resident at the age of 31 in 1966, to

“In 15 years, she has established herself at the pinnacle of world cinema. The Festival de Cannes is delighted and proud to welcome the American filmmaker, screenwriter and actress Greta Gerwig as President of the Jury for its 77th edition," the official handle of the festival posted on X.

The Festival de Cannes also expressed its excitement and pride in welcoming Gerwig. “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 festival president Iris Knobloch.

Gerwig, known for her directorial works such as Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019), said she was stunned and thrilled and humbled to be serving as the president of the Cannes Film Festival Jury. “I love films — I love making them, I love going to them, I love talking about them. As a cinephile, Cannes has always been the pinnacle of what the universal language of movies can be… I cannot wait to see what journeys are in store for all of us!”