Festival President, Sayed Fouad, announced that the international superstar, Jimmy Jean-Louis will be the guest of honor for the 9th edition from 6 to 12 March 2020, after Jean-Louis agreed to attend the festival in Luxor to receive an honorary trophy at the opening ceremony which will be held in the Luxor Temple, and two of his films will be screened as part of the festival’s program, “Desrances” from Burkina Faso, directed by Apolline Traoré, which participates in Long Narrative competition, and “Rattlesnakes” from the United States in the Diaspora section.
Director Azza El Hosseiny, director of the festival, has stated that Jean-Louis will hold a press conference at the Luxor Temple, and will take a Nile cruise in Luxor and Aswan to promote tourism.
Jimmy Jean-Louis lived in the slums of Haiti until the age of 12 until he moved to Paris. He worked for three years in a musical theatre in Spain La Belle Époque before embarking on a successful modelling career in Europe.
He moved to Los Angeles in 1998 to pursue acting. His filmography includes Tears of the Sun with Bruce Wills, Hollywood Homicide with Harrison Ford, Monster-in-Law with Jane Fonda and Jennifer Lopez, Phat Girlz with Oscar winner Mo'Nique. He also starred in some famous TV series such as Heroes where he portrayed the charismatic Rene aka The Haitian, Arrow, Heroes Reborn, and Joy with Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, and Robert DeNiro. He is currently a regular on the number drama of the summer Claws which has been screened at TNT since 2017. His most important role to date is playing the title character in Toussaint Louverture, for which he won the best actor at the Pan African Film Festival and a nomination at the Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2012.
Jimmy Jean-Louis was named Ambassador at large to Haiti by his Excellency President Michel Martelly In 2014.
