Jane Campion, Mia Hansen-Løve, Martin McDonagh, Shu Qi Join Damien Chazelle’s Venice Jury
The juries for the 80th Venice International Film Festival has been selected for the main competition, Orizzonti and Lion of the Future sections. Academy Award-winning director Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog) will join main jury President Damien Chazelle (Academy Award winner for La La Land) along with Saleh Bakri, Mia Hansen-Løve, Gabriele Mainetti, Martin McDonagh, Santiago Mitre, Laura Poitras, and Shu Qi.
Jury president Chazelle has opened Venice twice. First, with 2016’s La La Land and in 2018 with First Man. This year Venice will host the world premiere of Luca Guadagnino’s tennis triangle romance Challengers, starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist. The film will be screened Out of Competition on Wednesday, August 30, in the Sala Grande at the Palazzo del Cinema (Lido di Venezia), on the opening night of the 80th Venice Film Festival. The film opens in the U.S. on September 15.
Saleh Bakri is a Palestinian film and theater actor known for the movie Wajib (2017) by Annemarie Jacir. Bakri won the Muhr Award for Best Actor at the Dubai Film Festival. He also had a leading role in Elia Suleiman’s The Time That Remains (2009). In 2013 he played the lead in Salvo directed by Antonio Piazza and Fabio Grassadonia, which won the Critics’ Week Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. His latest film performances are in the Oscar-nominated short film The Present by Farah Nabulsi (2020) and in Costa Brava, Lebanon by Mounia Akl, presented at the Venice Film Festival in 2021.
Jane Campion is new Zealander director, screenwriter and producer. She is the first female director to receive the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, for The Piano (1993). Her second feature, An Angel at My Table, was awarded the Grand Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1990. Jane wrote, directed, and was a producer on The Power of the Dog, which was awarded the Silver Lion for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival in 2021 and won Best Director at the 94th Academy Awards, as well as 2 Golden Globe awards and 2 BAFTA awards.
Mia Hansen-Løve is a French director and screenwriter. She has directed eight feature-length films, including Father of My Children (2009), Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes, Goodbye First Love (2011), special mention at the Locarno International Film Festival, and Things to Come (2016), Silver Berlin Bear for Best Director at the Berlin International Film Festival. One Fine Morning, her most recent movie, was presented at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs in Cannes in 2022 and was sold to over 90 countries.
Gabriele Mainetti is an Italian director, actor, composer and producer whose short film, Tiger Boy (2012), was selected in the shortlist of the Academy Awards. In 2015 Mainetti directed They Call Me Jeeg, which won 7 David di Donatello awards, 2 Silver Ribbon awards, 4 Golden Ciak awards and one Globo d’oro award. Freaks Out, his second feature, was selected in competition at the Venice Film Festival in 2021, and won 6 David di Donatello awards, 3 Silver Ribbon awards and the Audience Award at the Rotterdam Film Festival.
Martin McDonagh is an Irish screenwriter and director. His most recent film, The Banshees of Inisherin, presented in competition at the Venice Film Festival in 2022, won 4 Golden Globe Awards and 4 BAFTA Awards, including Best Screenplay for both. Other film work as a writer and director includes Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing Missouri, which won the award for best screenplay in Venice in 2017, Seven Psychopaths (2012), In Bruges (2008) and his Academy Award-winning short, Six Shooter (2004).
Santiago Mitre is an Argentinian screenwriter and director. The Student (2011), his solo debut, won the Jury Special Prize in Locarno’s Cineasti del Presente. Paulina (2015) won the Grand Prix of Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival. Argentina, 1985, his fifth feature, premiered in competition at the Venice Film festival in 2022, where it won a FIPRESCI award and then went on to win the Golden Globe Award and Goya Award, as well as grab a Best International Feature nomination at the Academy Awards.
Laura Poitras is an American director and journalist whose most recent film, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, won the Golden Lion at the 2022 Venice Film Festival, and was nominated for an Academy Award. Her film Citizenfour (2014) won an Academy Award for Best Documentary. Her journalism exposing the U.S. National Security Agency’s global mass surveillance programs received the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.
Shu Qi is a Chinese actress who has received three Hong Kong Film Awards and two Golden Horse Awards for best actress, among countless other awards. She has collaborated with master director Hou Hsiao-Hsien on three films: Millennium Mambo (2001), Three Times (2005), and The Assassin (2015). Shu Qi has also played leading roles in both art-house films and box-office hits, including Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (2013) by Stephen Chow, Gone with the Bullets (2014) by Jiang Wen, and Mojin: The Lost Legend (2015) by Wuershan.
The members of the international Jury for the Orizzonti section are:
Jonas Carpignano – president, Italian director, screenwriter and producer. Carpignano made his debut with Mediterranea (2015), presented at the Semaine de la Critique at Cannes, later nominated for three Spirit Awards, and winner of the Breakthrough Director prize at the Gotham Awards. Two years later A Ciambra (2017), which won an award at Cannes, was selected to represent Italy for the Academy Awards. A Ciambra received seven nominations for the David di Donatello and won the award for Best Director. In 2021, A Chiara, presented at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Cannes, won the Europa Cinemas Label award, received six nominations for the David di Donatello and won the Best Actress award.
Kaouther Ben Hania, Tunisian director and screenwriter. Her debut film Le Challat de Tunis opened the ACID section in Cannes in 2014. Beauty and the Dogs (2017) participated in Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section and received an award for Best Sound Creation. The Man Who Sold His Skin, presented in Venice, received an Academy Award® nomination for Best International Feature Film in 2021. She participated in competition for the first time in Cannes in 2023 with Four Daughters.
Kahlil Joseph, American director and artist. In 2012 he co-founded the Underground Museum in Los Angeles with his brother and artist Noah Davis. In 2013 his two channel installation m.A.A.d opened at MOCA in Los Angeles. In 2016 he conceived and co-directed with Beyoncé Lemonade and in 2017 released his single channel film Sampha: Process. In 2018 The New Museum of New York commissioned his work Flypaper. His video installation BLKNWS premiered at Venice Biennale 2019 and is being adapted into major motion picture with A24/Participant releasing next year.
Jean-Paul Salomé, French director and screenwriter. He has directed various feature-length movies, including Restons groupés (1998), Belphegor – Phantom of the Louvre (2001), and Arsène Lupin (2004). In 2021, he was nominated for a César Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for his movie Mama Weed (2021), starring Isabelle Huppert. He collaborated with the French actress again in his next film, La Syndicaliste, presented in Venice in 2022 in the Orizzonti section.
Tricia Tuttle, British festival director and programmer. In 2023, Tricia Tuttle joined the National Film and Television School as Head of Directing Fiction. This follows a decade as Director of both the British Film Institute Festivals, the BFI London Film Festival and the BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival. In 2022, she was included in Variety500, an index of the 500 most influential business leaders shaping the global media industry.
The Orizzonti Jury will award the following prizes, with no joint awards allowed: Orizzonti Award for Best Film, Orizzonti Award for Best Director, Special Orizzonti Jury Prize, Orizzonti Award for Best Actress, Orizzonti Award for Best Actor, Orizzonti Award for Best Screenplay, Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film.
The members of the international Jury for the “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film – Lion of the Future are:
Alice Diop – president, French director and screenwriter. With her debut feature-length fiction film Saint Omer, Alice Diop won both the Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize, and the Lion of the Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film at the Venice International Film Festival in 2022. The film, France’s official selection for the Academy Awards®, went on to win many international accolades, including the César award for best debut film, and the Jean Vigo Prize. For Nous (2020), she won the award for best documentary and best film in the Encounters section of the Berlin Film Festival.
Faouzi Bensaïdi is a Moroccan actor, director and screenwriter. He directed his first short film, the award-winning La Falaise, in 1998. He wrote the screenplay for Loin with André Téchiné. In 2000, he made two short films: Le Mur, presented at the Quinzaine in Cannes, and Trajets, which won an award in Venice. His first feature-length film Mille mois won the Prix Le premier regard and the Prix de la jeunesse in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes. He then presented WWW – What a Wonderful World in Venice and Mort à vendre at the Berlin Film Festival, where he won the CICAE award. His most recent film is Déserts, presented at the 2023 Quinzaine des Cinéastes. A theatre actor and director, screenwriter, film editor and actor, Bensaïdi has acted for directors such as Bertrand Bonello, Nadir Mokneche and Jacques Audiard.
Laura Citarella, Argentinian director and producer. For El Pampero Cine she produced Historias Extraordinarias (2008), Castro (2009), La Vendedora de Fósforos (2017) and La flor (2018). Her films as director are: Ostende (2011), La Mujer de los Perros (2015), in co-direction with Verónica Llinás, Las Poetas visitan a Juana Bignozzi (2019), in co-direction with Mercedes Halfon, and Trenque Lauquen (2022), which premiered at Orizzonti at the Venice Film Festival.
Andrea De Sica, Italian director and screenwriter. In 2017, he shot his first feature film, Children of the Night, presented at the Torino Film Festival and winner of the Silver Ribbon for Best New Director. In 2018, he directed the series Baby, produced by Fabula Pictures and distributed by Netflix, as well as the second and third seasons. In 2021, he shot his second feature film, Don’t Kill Me, nominated for 4 Silver Ribbons, including Best Film. His series Uonderbois, produced by Lotus Production and distributed by Disney +, is now in post-production.
Chloe Domont, American writer and director. Her feature directorial debut Fair Play premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by Netflix. The film is set to release later this year. Produced by MRC, Star Thrower, and Rian Johnson’s T-Street, the film stars Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich and currently holds a 91% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Her short films, Haze and All Good Things have been included in the Official Selection of BAMcinemaFest, AFI FEST, LA Film Festival, AFI DOCS, among others. Chloe was a writer and director of the hit HBO drama Ballers and has also directed episodes of Billions for Showtime and Star Trek: Discovery for Paramount+.
The Jury of the Venice Award for a Debut Film will award to one of the debut feature-length films selected from the various competitive sections of the Venice Film Festival (Official Selection and Independent and Parallel Sidebars), with no joint awards allowed, the Lion of the Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film, with the cash prize of 100,000 USD donated by Filmauro, will be divided equally between the director and the producer.
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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