The Cannes Film Festival has announced that Pedro Almodóvar will serve as 2017’s jury president. Almodóvar’s most recent film, Julieta, was in competition at Cannes last year, and he’s had a number of other entries in years prior. His Bad Education was the opening night selection in 2004. “I am very happy to be able to celebrate the Festival de Cannes 70th anniversary from such a privileged position,” Almodóvar said in a statement. “I am grateful, honored and a bit overwhelmed. I am aware of the responsibility that entails being the president of the jury and I hope to be up to the job. I can only tell that I’ll devote myself, body and soul, to this task, that it is both a privilege and a pleasure.“
In 2016, George Miller, hot off Mad Max: Fury Road, took on the role Almodóvar will now assume. He and his fellow jurors made some controversial picks when it came to who should receive the festival’s big awards. The next edition of Cannes kicks off May 17.