Chilean director and screenwriter Diego Céspedes has been selected as a member of the official jury for the Palme d’Or competition at the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, taking place May 12–23 in France. He becomes the third Chilean to serve on the festival’s main competition jury, following film critic María Romero in 1956 and filmmaker Raúl Ruiz in 2002.
Céspedes will serve on the jury responsible for awarding the festival’s top prizes, alongside an international panel chaired by South Korean director, screenwriter, and producer Park Chan-wook. He will also be joined by American actress and producer Demi Moore, Irish-Ethiopian actress and producer Ruth Negga, Belgian director and screenwriter Laura Wandel, Chinese director and screenwriter Chloé Zhao, Ivorian-American actor Isaach De Bankolé, Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty, and Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård.
Born in 1995, Céspedes studied Film & Television at the Universidad de Chile and began his career working as a cinematographer and editor on short films, including Non-Castus, which received a special mention at the Locarno Film Festival. His short The Summer of the Electric Lion (2018) won the Cinéfondation First Prize at Cannes and the Nest First Prize at the San Sebastián Film Festival, and also screened at Sundance, Palm Springs, Biarritz, and AFI Fest.
His debut feature, The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo / La misteriosa mirada del flamenco, developed at La Cinef, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year, where it won the Un Certain Regard Prize. He is currently developing his second feature film, The Case of a Boy Who Lost His Heart.
Set in a remote Chilean mining town in 1982, The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo follows young Lidia, who grows up within a queer household led by drag performers and trans women. When a mysterious illness—rumored to spread through the gaze between men—sows fear and hysteria, the community becomes the target of suspicion and violence.
Blending the fantastical with the everyday, Céspedes’ films explore marginal spaces and emotional communities with a singular visual language.
