Burundi singer joins roster of the Cannes Film Festival jury panel

Khadija Nin, a Burundian singer has been named as one of the jury members in the renowned Cannes Film Festival.  This comes after heavy criticism of the lack of women’s participation in the film competition.  The makeup includes five men and four women from seven nationalities and five continents.

Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux explained to Variety last week, “For the last four years, I’ve become much more concerned about the presence of women at the festival. I’ve been having discussions with intelligent women like Jessica Chastain and have listened to their advice about ways to improve certain things. We’ve started paying more attention to the gender ratio on our selection committees, for instance. Right now, two out of the three committees have as many women as men.”

The festival is slated to commence on May 8 and end on May 19.

Previously labeled the International Film Festival until 2002, The Cannes Film Festival was founded in 1946 and previews all genres of films across the world. It is held annually in Cannes, France.

Nin is a musician and singer. Growing up in Burundi, she emigrated to Zaire, now DR Congo, then later to Belgium.

Her breakthrough album Sambolera was released in 1996 signaling her entry into mainstream music.  Nin is known for seamlessly blending pop and African sounds.

Nin has released four albums during the course of her career.