Cannes 2015: The Coen Brothers to serve as joint presidents of the film festival jury

The siblings said it was a 'special honour' to be asked to head up the jury

Film-making duo Joel and Ethan Coen are due to pen the scrip to Steven Spielberg's new project (Getty Images)

The Coen brothers will serve as joint presidents of the Cannes Film Festival jury this year.

The No Country for Old Men, True Grit and Fargo filmmakers announced the news in a statement from the film festival.

“We look forward to returning to Cannes this year,” they said.

“We welcome as always the opportunity to watch movies there from all over the world. Cannes is a festival that has been important to us since the very beginning of our career.

“Presiding over the Jury is a special honour, since we have never before been president of anything.”

It is the first time the Cannes jury will be jointly headed by two people.

Previous presidents of the jury include Steven Spielberg, Robert De Niro, Tim Burton and Quentin Tarantino.

The Coen brothers have shared directing and writing credits on all of their films over the past thirty years.

The siblings have presented seven of their 16 feature films at the annual film festival in the past.

In 1991 they won the Palme d’Or prize for Barton Fink. They have also been awarded the runner-up Grand Jury Prize for Inside Llewyn Davis in 2013 and the best director award for Fargo in 1996 and The Man Who Wasn’t There in 2001.

The other members of the jury have yet to be announced.

The 2015 Cannes Film Festival will take place from 13 to 24 May.

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