American filmmaker Tim Burton will chair the jury of this year's Cannes International Film Festival, organizers of the annual gala announced Tuesday.

Burton is the first filmmaker with a strong animation background to preside over the Cannes jury, said festival president Gilles Jacob.

"It's a great honor and I look forward, with my fellow jurors, to watching some great films around the world," Burton said.

Starting his filmmaking career with the Disney studio animation team, Burton is famed for such film productions as "Beetlejuice," "Edward Scissorhands," "The Nightmare Before Christmas," "Batman," "Batman Returns," "Sleepy Hollow," "Planet of the Apes" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".

Burton has won Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award for the Best Motion Picture.

Apart from directing and producing films, Burton is also an illustrator, a painter and a photographer, according to Cannes festival organizers.

This year's Cannes film festival, the 63rd version in the series, opens on May 12 for one of the world's oldest and most prestigious film festivals.

The festival lasts till May 23.

The official selection of the films to be screened in Cannes will be announced in mid-April.