It’s a first in Cannes history : a jury president is also the festival’s poster. Spike Lee, who will host this year’s edition of the Cannes Film Festival as president of the jury, also graces the official poster.

The Cannes Festival official poster was just released moments ago, and it features Lee, director of “Do The Right Thing,” as the character Mars Blackmon in a still from his first film, “She’s gotta have it” (1986). An invitation had already been extended several times to Lee to preside the jury, including in 2020, and, lo’ and behold, it all came together this year.

The poster, in black and white, shows Spike Lee looking up at the sky as the festival’s name floats in the air between two large birds. The festival’s palm motif was added to the inside of his cap’s bill. The image gives a sense of anticipation, what will he do next, what’s he got in store for us? And Lee looks like he’s asking the same thing of the festival, “what do you have in store for me and my group, Cannes? The poster is summery, the palm trees, a clear sky, the image strikes a positive note, after a year and a half of momentous peril for humankind, humiliations and disarray but also resilience and compassion. The world isn’t out of the woods yet, and some countries are still suffering from the pandemic. But life, it goes on. And where there’s life, there is cinema.

I’ll be in Cannes for the duration of the festival, attending the screenings and writing about all the films in the official selection.