American director Spike Lee has been named president of the 73rd Cannes Film Festival jury, succeeding last year's president, fellow director Alejandro González Iñárritu.

Lee, who's premiered seven of his films at the festival, becomes the first black head of the panel, and commented 'When I got the call that I was offered the opportunity to be President of Cannes Jury for 2020, I was shocked, happy, surprised and proud all at the same time. To me the Cannes Film Festival (besides being the most important film festival in the world - no disrespect to anybody) has had a great impact on my film career. You could easily say Cannes changed the trajectory of who I became in world cinema'.