Nicole Kidman, Ang Lee join Spielberg on Cannes festival jury

Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman and director Ang Lee will join Steven Spielberg next month on the Cannes film festival jury, organisers said on Wednesday.

Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman and director Ang Lee will join Steven Spielberg next month on the Cannes film festival jury, organisers said on Wednesday.

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Australian Kidman won the best actress Academy Award for her portrayal of author Virginia Woolf in The Hours while Taiwan-born Lee was named best director earlier this year for his fantasy epic Life of Pi.

Lee, who has spent almost his entire professional career abroad, also won a best director Oscar for the gay cowboy drama Brokeback Mountain, while his kung fu epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won best foreign language film.

The other jury members named were: Indian actress Vidya Balan; Japanese director Naomi Kawase; Lynne Ramsay, Scottish director of We Need to Talk About Kevin; French actor/director Daniel Auteuil; Romanian director Cristian Mungiu; and actor Christoph Waltz.

Waltz picked up this year's best supporting actor Oscar for his role in the Quentin Tarantino-directed Django Unchained, having won the same award in 2010 for his performance as the Nazi officer in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds.

The jury, headed by Spielberg, will award the coveted Palme d'Or to one of the 19 films in competition at the May 15-26 festival.