The organizers of Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday announced Mexican film director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu as head of the jury for the 72nd edition of the festival which will hold in May.

By the announcement, the “Birdman” and “21 Grams” director becomes the first Mexican to head the jury at Cannes Film Festival.

55-years-old Inarritu won the best director award in Cannes in 2006 for “Babel”, a film with a web of narratives spanning three continents and exploring cultural prejudices.

He also won back-to-back best director Oscars in 2014 and 2015, for “Birdman”, a black comedy about a washed-up actor starring Michael Keaton, and “The Revenant”, which featured Leonardo DiCaprio as a bear trapper battling the elements in the American wilderness.

The organizers including President of the Festival de Cannes, Pierre Lescure, said in a statement

“Cannes embraces all types of cinema, and through the presence of… Babel’s director, it is Mexican cinema that the Festival will be celebrating.”

They cited “Carne y Arena” (Flesh and Sand) – a virtual reality project showing life as an immigrant and presented by Inarritu at Cannes in 2017 – as a recent highlight of work he has launched in France.

The organisers, however, said other jury members for the 2019 edition of the festival, which runs from May 14 to 25, will be announced at a later date.