Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu will preside over the jury of the official selection competition at Cannes this year, the festival announced Wednesday. It is for the first time that a Mexican filmmaker is headlining the jury at the prestigious festival, which will run from May 13-25. "Cannes is a festival that has been important to me since the beginning of my career.

I am humbled and thrilled to return this year with the immense honour of presiding over the Jury," the "Birdman" director said in a statement, posted on the official website of the festival. Cannes has played an instrumental role in Inarritu's career. His 2000 international hit "Amores Perros" won the Critics' Week sidebar. Inarritu was awarded the best director honour for his 2006 film "Babel" in the festival. He returned to the festival with "Biutiful" in 2010 and in 2017 with his virtual reality film "Carne y Arena".