Organizers of the Cannes Film Festival have chosen satirical Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti to head the jury at this year's festival.

The veteran actor and director of 2001 Palme d'Or winner "The Son's Room" will head the jury for the May 16-27 festival on the French Riviera.

Festival organizers said Friday that Moretti's films "are the incarnation of all the best in cinema over the past thirty years."

Moretti, 58, directed and acted in last year's Palme contender "Habemus Papam" — Latin for "We Have a Pope" — a surprisingly gentle comedy about a cardinal who suffers stage fright when he is chosen as the next pontiff.

Robert De Niro headed last year's nine-member jury, which chose Terrence Malick's drama "The Tree of Life" for the festival's top honor.