Ryan, Soderbergh On Cannes Jury

American actress Meg Ryan and director Steven Soderbergh will sit on the nine-member jury awarding the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival next month, organizers announced Wednesday.

Ryan is the romantic comedy queen of ``When Harry Met Sally'' and ``Sleepless in Seattle.'' Oscar-winner Soderbergh directed "Erin Brockovich " ``Traffic'' and ``Ocean's Eleven.'' The jury is headed by French director Patrice Chereau.

Aishwarya Rai will become the first Indian actress on the Cannes jury. Along with Rai, a former Miss World, the jury features veteran French actor Jean Rochefort and actress Karin Viard and writer Erri De Luca of Italy.

Also judging this year's festival, which runs May 14-25, is Bosnia's Danis Tanovic, who directed ``No Man's Land,'' and China's Jiang Wen, director of ``Missing Gun.'' Chereau, the jury president, is best known for his historical drama ``La Reine Margot.''

The jury will announce the prestigious Palme d'Or award at the festival's closing ceremony on May 25. Cannes president Gilles Jacob is scheduled to announce this year's official film selection on April 23.

The futuristic sci-fi sequel ``The Matrix Reloaded'' is already scheduled to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. The second film in the Matrix thriller trilogy, ``Reloaded'' will be shown out-of-competition on May 15.

American director David Lynch headed last year's panel on which actresses Sharon Stone and Michelle Yeoh served. Franco-Polish director Roman Polanski won the 2002 Palme d'Or for "The Pianist," the story of one man's survival in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. Polanski won an Oscar for that film last month as did its star, Adrien Brody.