The full international jury for this year’s Venice Film Festival has been unveiled. The lineup joining president Isabelle Huppert is director-heavy, consisting of James Gray (“Ad Astra”), Andrew Haigh (“All of Us Strangers”), Agnieszka Holland (“Green Border”), Kleber Mendonça Filho (“Bacurau”), Abderrahmane Sissako (“Bamako”), Giuseppe Tornatore (“Cinema Paradiso”) and Julia von Heinz (“Treasure”). “Memoirs of a Geisha” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” star Zhang Ziyi rounds out the jury.
In addition to awarding the Golden Lion for best film, the jury will also be responsible for handing out the Silver Lion grand jury prize, Silver Lion for best director, Coppa Volpi for best actress, Coppa Volpi for best actor, special jury prize, best screenplay and the Marcello Mastroianni Award for new young actor or actress.
Revered French actor Huppert was revealed as the president of the jury in May. “Isabelle Huppert is an immense actress. Demanding, curious and of great generosity,” Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera said in a statement. “The muse of numerous great filmmakers, she has never shirked the invitation of young or not-so-famous directors who have seen in her the ideal interpreter of their stories. Her enormous willingness to constantly put herself on the line, a sign of her uncommon intelligence, together with her ability to look at cinema beyond geographic and mental boundaries, make her an ideal president of the jury in a festival open to the entire world such as the Venice Film Festival.”
Though the full program of the festival has yet to be announced, last week Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice” sequel was unveiled as the opening film.
The 81st Venice Film Festival runs from Aug. 28 to Sept. 7.
Source: Variety
