And now that awards season is behind us, we can look forward to festival season. It literally never stops. As one of the most coveted film festivals on the calendar, it'll be all eyes on Cannes come May. And as for who'll preside over the proceedings? Why it's only Steven freakin' Spielberg.
This year marks the 66th edition of the festival. Making a statement on his forthcoming presidency, Mr Spielberg said: "My admiration for the steadfast mission of the festival to champion the international language of movies is second to none... The most prestigious of its kind, the festival has always established the motion picture as a cross cultural and generational medium."
As per The Hollywood Reporter, Spielberg isn't exactly new to the festival. His first ever film, Sugarland Express, won best screenplay at Cannes back in 1974, while his classic E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial had its world premiere at the much loved festival in 1982. It closed the festival that year and went on, as you know, to go down in history as a family favourite. Spielberg went on to say that this "is still one of the most vibrant memories of my career." Then another of his films, The Color Purple, was shown as a noncompetition film in 1986.
Most recently, Spielberg has been revelling in the post Lincoln critical reception. While he didn't scoop the Best Director gong at the Oscars, it'll no doubt go down as the best presidential movie to date.
