MUMBAI: American film director Tim Burton will be the Jury President for the 63rd Festival de Cannes, which takes place from 12 – 23 May.

Upon accepting the invitation from Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux, Burton said, "After spending my early life watching triple features and 48-hour horror movie marathons, I’m finally ready for this. It’s a great honour and I look forward, with my fellow jurors, to watching some great films from around the world. When you think of Cannes you think of world cinema. And as films have always been like dreams to me, this is a dream come true."

American director Timothy Walter Burton was born 25 August, 1958 in California. From childhood he developed a passion for drawing and Gothic films, and studied at the California Institute of the Arts before joining the Disney studios animation team.

Famous for being a filmmaker, Burton is also an illustrator, a painter and a photographer. In 1998, he published a collection of illustrated poems. His next feature, a 3D adaptation of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, staring his emblematic actor Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, will be released in theatres in the US on 5 March.

"It’s the first time an artist whose origins are in animation will preside over the jury of the Festival de Cannes. A filmmaker with a heart of gold and silver hands, Tim Burton is first and foremost a poet. He’s a magician of visual delights who turns the screen into a faery wonder. We hope his sweet madness and gothic humour will pervade the Croisette, bringing Christmas to all. Christmas and Halloween," said Festival president Gilles Jacob.