Canadian actor-filmmaker Xavier Dolan is set to preside over the jury panel for the Un Certain Regard section at the 77th Cannes Film Festival this year. He will be joined by French-Senegalese filmmaker Maïmouna Doucouré, Moroccan director Asmae El Moudir, German-Luxembourg actress Vicky Krieps and American critic-filmmaker Todd McCarthy.

Together, they will evaluate and honour outstanding works in the Un Certain Regard category, which showcases innovative films by emerging directors.

Dolan gained prominence with his directorial debut I Killed My Mother, which garnered acclaim at the Directors’ Fortnight in 2009. His Heartbeats and Laurence Anyways were showcased at Cannes in 2010 and 2012, respectively, in the Un Certain Regard section.

The filmmaker’s success continued with It’s Only the End of the World, which clinched the Grand Prize at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. In 2019, he returned to the Competition with Matthias & Maxime.

This year, the Un Certain Regard section will feature 18 films, including eight debut works, including Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri’s Santosh featuring Shahana Goswami and Sanjay Bishnoi. Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov’s The Shameless, which features Mita Vashisht, Tanmay Dhanania, Auroshikha Dey and Rohit Kokate, is also competing in this category.

The 2023 top prize in the Un Certain Regard was awarded to Molly Manning Walker for her debut feature How to Have Sex. This year, the section will kick off with the screening of When the Light Breaks by Rúnar Rúnarsson on May 15.