Cannes Film Festival just revealed actress Jodie Foster will be this year’s recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Palme d’Or. Foster will join the likes of Jane Fonda and Clint Eastwood by becoming the fifth American to receive such merit.
According to the press release made by the prestigious French festival, Fonda will be honored for her “unique personality and a brilliant artistic journey.” She is set to collect her Palme d’Or at the festival’s opening ceremony, which will take place on July 6th.
Foster has a strong bond with the Cannes Film Festival, making her first appearance as part of the Taxi Driver cast in 1976. Since then, she regularly visited the festival both as an actress and a director. Two of her directorial efforts were shown at the festival, 2011’s The Beaver and 2015’s Money Monster, while the latter one had its premiere at the event.
“Cannes is a festival to which I owe so much, it has completely changed my life,” said Foster after receiving the news.
The Lifetime Achievement Palme d’Or honors filmmakers who “achieved a notable body of work” but never won a competitive prize at the festival. The first honorary award was given to Ingmar Bergman in 1997 on the festival’s 50th anniversary and has been handed out sporadically since. The most recent winner before Jodie Foster was French actor Alain Delon, who was honored in 2019.
