French actress Camille Cottin, star of Netflix hit Call My Agent, is to be the host of the 77th Cannes Film Festival in May.
Cottin will host the opening and closing ceremonies of the festival, which takes place on the French Riviera from 14 - 25 May.
The 45-year-old comedian first came to the attention of French audiences with her provocative stand-up character Connasse (Bitch).
Her role as a high-energy, cynical artistic agent in the French series Dix pour cent adapted in English by Netflix (Call my Agent) opened the doors to Hollywood, where she has made several films.
She went on to star in Ridley Scott's House of Gucci, alongside Matt Damon in Stillwater and was in a biopic about former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (Golda).
She also recently appeared alongside Jean Dujardin and George Clooney in an ad for Nespresso coffee capsules.
In France, her latest film Toni en famille sees her play the role of a mother raising her five children alone, juggling a full-time job and singing in bars in the evening.
Big names expected in line-up
France Télévisions and Brut, official partners of the Cannes Film Festival, will once again broadcast the opening and closing ceremonies this year.
This year's festival has already appointed the head of its jury: Barbie director Greta Gerwig.
Quebec director Xavier Dolan will chair the jury for the Un Certain Regard prize.
The main competition jury will pick a successor to Anatomy of a Fall, which won last year's Palme d'Or and went on to win the Oscar for best original screenplay last week for writer-director Justine Triet.
Several big names in cinema are rumoured to be among this year's entries.
There is the highly anticipated new project from directing legend Francis Ford Coppola, Megalopolis, starring Adam Driver and Forest Whitaker.
There's also the adaptation of Limonov by Emmanuel Carrère by the Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov, a musical comedy by Jacques Audiard in the world of drug trafficking in Mexico and possibly Emmanuelle, signed Audrey Diwan.
The festival line-up is due to be announced on 11 April.
(with AFP)
