Sean Penn, American actor and director, is named President of the Jury of the 61st Festival de Cannes, due to take place from May 14 - 25, 2008.

"In the last few years - Penn declared, upon accepting the invitation extended by Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux - it seems there has been a rejuvenation of cinema building worldwide; increasingly thoughtful, provocative, moving, and imaginative films by talented filmmakers: that a new generation of filmmaking may have begun. The Cannes Film Festival has long been the epicenter in the discovery of those new waves of filmmakers from all over the world. I very much look forward to participating in this year's festival as President of the jury."

Sean Penn has become an American film icon in a career spanning nearly three decades. Penn won the Best Male Performance Prize at the Festival de Cannes in 1997 for She’s so Lovely by Nick Cassavetes. He has been nominated four times for the Academy Award as Best Actor: in Dead Man Walking (Winner Best Actor /1995 Berlin Film Festival) by Tim Robbins, Sweet and Lowdown by Woody Allen, I am Sam by Jessie Nelson and won the Oscar in 2004 for his performance in Clint Eastwood's Mystic River, which was presented in competition at Cannes.

As an actor, Sean Penn forced audiences and critics to take notice in his very first roles in Taps by Harold Becker (1981), Fast Times at Ridgemont High by Amy Heckerling (1982), Falcon and the Snowman by John Schlessinger (1985), At Close Range by James Foley (1987), then Colors by Dennis Hopper (1988) and Casualties of War by Brian de Palma (1989), he proves himself to be one of the greatest talents of his generation, from Carlito’s Way by Brian de Palma (1993), to The Thin Red Line by Terrence Malick (1998), Hurlyburly (Winner Best Actor / 1998 Venice Film Festival) by Anthony Drazen, 21 Grams (Winner Best Actor / 2003 Venice Film Festival) by Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu (2003), The Interpreter by Sydney Pollack (2005) and All the King's Men by Steve Zaillian (2006).

Socially committed, the enfant terrible of Hollywood seems to succeed at everything he undertakes: the exceptional actor is also a subtle filmmaker, who gains the respect of critics and public alike for his humanist values. His first film, The Indian Runner, which he wrote, directed and produced, was presented at Cannes in 1991. In 1995, Sean Penn directed Jack Nicholson in Crossing Guard, an actor with whom he again works in The Pledge, which was selected for the competition at Cannes in 2001. Furthermore, he participated in the collective project 11’09’’01: September 11 with 11 of the great filmmakers of international cinema.

Sean Penn adapted his latest directorial effort, Into the Wild, from the non-fiction book by Jon Krakauer. Following its successful run in the United States, the award-winning film is to be released in France on January 9th 2008.