Coen brothers to head Cannes jury

The Coen brothers, the Oscar-winning directors of No Country for Old Men, Fargo and The Big Lebowski, are to head this year's Cannes Film Festival jury.

Joel and Ethan Coen will act as co-presidents of the panel of film-makers and actors who will judge the contenders in the main competition.

The US siblings, who are 60 and 57 respectively, won the festival's Palme d'Or prize for Barton Fink in 1991.

"We look forward to returning to Cannes this year," they said in a statement.

"We welcome as always the opportunity to watch movies there from all over the world."

It will be the first time the French festival's competition jury is chaired by two people.

"Cannes is a festival that has been important to us since the very beginning of our career," the Coens continued.

"Presiding over the jury is a special honour, since we have never heretofore been president of anything.

"We will issue further proclamations at the appropriate time."