‘The Holdovers’ Director Alexander Payne Named President of Venice Film Festival International Jury

Alexander Payne, director of The Holdovers, Sideways, Nebraska, and The Descendants, will chair the International Jury of the Competition at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival taking place August 27 – September 6, 2025. The International Jury will assign the Golden Lion for Best Film, as well as other official awards.

In accepting, Alexander Payne said, “It’s an enormous honor and joy to serve on the jury at Venice. Although I share a filmmaker’s ambivalence about comparing films against one another, I revere the Venice Film Festival’s nearly 100-year history of loudly celebrating film as an art form. I couldn’t be more excited.”

Alberto Barbera commented, “Alexander Payne belongs to the small circle of filmmakers-cinephiles whose passion for cinema is fueled by knowledge of films of the past and curiosity about contemporary cinema, without boundaries or barriers of any kind. These qualities – along with his experience as a screenwriter – make him an ideal candidate to preside over the work of the Venice Jury, which is called upon to evaluate films from around the world. I am grateful to Alexander for accepting my invitation, which seals an acquaintance that goes back to the days of his graduation short film at UCLA.”