PARIS (REUTERS) - Australian movie star Cate Blanchett will head the jury at this year's Cannes Film Festival on the French Riviera, its organisers said on Thursday (Jan 4).

Blanchett, 48, received international acclaim for her role as Elizabeth I of England in Shekhar Kapur's 1998 film Elizabeth and has won three Golden Globe awards.

Other jury members for the 71st edition of the festival, which will run from May 8 to 19, will be announced at a later date.

Blanchett, who recently took part with other Hollywood figures in a campaign to help fight sexual harassment following the Harvey Weinstein sex scandal, will become the 11th woman to chair the event in the festival's history.

She will take over from Spanish director Pedro Almodovar as jury head at Cannes, which last year awarded its Palme d'Or to the Swedish satirical drama film The Square.