Venice International Film Festival revealed the members of the four international Juries (Venezia 77, Orizzonti, “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for Best Debut Film, Venice Virtual Reality) for the 77th edition of the festival taking place September 2 -12, 2020.
Actress Cate Blanchett will preside over the Jury for the Venezia 77 Competition; filmmaker Claire Denis will preside over the international Jury of the Orizzonti section; director Claudio Giovannesi will preside over international Jury for the “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film and storyteller Celine Tricart will preside over international Jury of the Venice Virtual Reality section.
Juries of the 77th Venice Film Festival
Venezia 77
The members of the Jury for the Venezia 77 Competition are:
Cate Blanchett – president (Australia), is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning actress, producer, humanitarian, and dedicated member of the arts community. In recognition of her continued advocacy for the arts and support of humanitarian and environmental causes. In 2018, Blanchett served as Jury President of the 71st Cannes Film Festival in France. Her countless extraordinary film performances have garnered Blanchett three BAFTAs, two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, as well as numerous award nominations. Blanchett is equally accomplished on the stage, having led the Sydney Theatre Company as co-Artistic Director and CEO for six years with her partner, Andrew Upton. For her onstage roles, she was nominated for a Tony and honored with the Ibsen Centennial Commemoration Award.
Veronika Franz (Austria), director and screenwriter, began her career as a film journalist for the Viennese daily Tageszeitung Kurier. Since 1997 she has worked with director Ulrich Seidle as an artistic collaborator, and was his co-screenwriter for Dog Days (Hundstage, 2001), Import Export (2007) and the PARADISE trilogy (2012/13). The documentary Kern (2102) was both her debut film as a director, and the first film she made with director Severin Fiala. It was followed by her first fiction feature film, Goodnight Mommy (Ich seh Ich seh, 2014), which she co-directed with Fiala and presented in Venice in the Orizzonti section. The film won numerous awards and was selected to represent Austria at the Academy Awards. The two directors then made their first film in English, The Lodge, starring Riley Keough and Jaeden Martell, presented at the Sundance Film Festival 2019.
Joanna Hogg (Great Britain), is a director and screenwriter, considered one of the most important in the UK. Her first feature-length film, Unrelated(2008), starring Tom Hiddleston, won the Fipresci Prize at The London Film Festival. Her second film, Archipelago(2010) won a Special Commendation at The London Film Festival and had a successful theatrical release. In 2013 she made Exhibition, starring the Slits guitarist Viv Albertine, and British artist Liam Gillick. Her most recent film The Souvenir,executive produced by Martin Scorsese, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2019where it won the World Cinema Dramatic Grand Jury Award.
Nicola Lagioia (Italy), a writer, is the director of the Salone Internazionale del Libro in Turin since 2016. He has published the novels Tre sistemi per sbarazzarsi di Tolstoj (senza risparmiare se stessi) (minimum fax 2001, Lo Straniero prize), Occidente per principianti (Einaudi 2004), Riportando tutto a casa (Einaudi 2009, Vittorini prize, Volponi prize, Viareggio prize), La Ferocia (Ferocity, Einaudi 2014, Premio Strega award, Premio Mondello award). He is one of the hosts of Pagina3, the daily press review on Rai Radio3. He writes for publications such as «Repubblica», «Il Venerdi», «Internazionale», «La Stampa». His books have been translated in 15 countries.
Christian Petzold (Germany), one of the most significant directors and screenwriters in Germany, won the German Film Critics’ award for Best Film three times for Die innere Sicherheit (The State I Am In, 2000), presented in Venice, Gespenster (Ghosts, 2005) and Yella (2007), presented in Berlin. In 2008, he was in Venice in Competition with Jerichow, for which he won the Deutscher Filmpreis in 2009 as Best Director. He won the Silver Bear in 2012 for Barbara in Berlin, where in 2018 he won great critical acclaim for Transit. In 2020, again in Berlin, he won the FIPRESCI award for Undine.
Cristi Puiu (Romania), director and screenwriter, made his debut as a director in 2001 with the low-cost road movie Stuff and Dough (Marfa şi bani), presented in the Quinzaines section at Cannes and considered to be the film that ushered in New Romanian Cinema. In 2005 his second feature film, the black comedy titled The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, won critical acclaim and the Un Certain Regard prize at the Cannes Film Festival. He had equal success with Sieranevada, presented in Competition at Cannes. In 2020 Manor House (Malmkrog)won the award for Best Director in the Encounters section of the Berlin Film Festival.
Ludivine Sagnier (France), is an actress who first appeared on screen in 1989 in I Want to Go Home! By Alain Resnais. In 1990 she appeared in the epic film Cyrano de Bergerac. She then starred in two films presented at Cannes in 2003, Little Lili (La petite Lili)and Swimming Pool. In 2003 she played Tinkerbelle in P. J. Hogan’s film Peter Pan. She often appears in the films of French director François Ozon: Water Drops on Burning Rocks, 8 Women and Swimming Pool, and has become one of the most renowned and esteemed French actresses. Her most recent films include The Truth (La Vérité) by Hirokazu Koreeda, the opening film of the Venice International Film Festival 2019, and the second series The New Pope by Paolo Sorrentino.
The Jury of Venice 77 will award the following official prizes to the feature films in Competition: Golden Lion for Best Film, Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize, Silver Lion for Best Director, Coppa Volpi for Best Actor, Coppa Volpi for Best Actress, Award for Best Screenplay, Special Jury Prize “Marcello Mastroianni” Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress.
Orizzonti
The members of the international Jury of the Orizzonti section are:
Claire Denis – president (France), French director, screenwriter and actress, was born in Paris but grew up in Africa through the age of 13. She graduated in 1972 from IDHEC and worked as an assistant to Jacques Rivette, Costa-Gavras, Jim Jarmusch and Wim Wenders. Her debut film, Chocolat (1988), a reflection upon colonialism, won critical acclaim. It was followed by No Fear No Die (S’en fout la mort, 1990), in Competition in Venice, US Go Home (1994), Nénette and Boni (Nénette et Boni, 1996), Beau Travail (1999), presented in Venice, Trouble Every Day (2001) and Friday Night (Vendredi soir, 2002). Her next film, White Material (2009), was in Competition in Venice. In 2018, High Life won an award at the San Sebastián Film Festival.
Oskar Alegria (Spain), a Spanish director, directed the Punto de Vista film festival in Pamplona from 2013 to 2016. His first film, Emak Bakia baita (2012), a documentary that went in search of the house on the Basque coast where Man Ray filmed Emak Bakia, was screened in many international film festivals, including Telluride and San Sebastiàn, garnering many acknowledgments. In 2019, he presented his documentary Zumiriki in the Orizzonti section in Venice, about his four-month experience living in an isolated cabin on a riverbank.
Francesca Comencini (Italy), is a director, screenwriter and author, daughter of the great director Luigi and sister of Paola and Cristina. In France, where she lived for 18 years, she directed her first film Pianoforte (1984), the story of two young drug addicts, which won the Premio De Sica in Venice. She worked with her father on the screenplay for A Boy from Calabria (Un ragazzo di Calabria). She developed her interest in documentaries with Elsa Morante (1995), Shakespeare a Palermo (1997), Carlo Giuliano, ragazzo (2002), presented at the Cannes Film Festival, and In fabbrica (2007). Her fiction films include The Words of My Father (Le parole di mio padre, 2001), The White Space (Lo spazio bianco, 2009) and A Special Day (Un giorno speciale, 2012), presented in Competition in Venice, Stories of Love That Cannot Belong in This World (Amori che non sanno stare al mondo, 2017), presented in Locarno. Since 2014, she has directed 15 episodes of Gomorra – La serie, the television adaptation of the eponymous novel by Roberto Saviano.
Katriel Schory (Israel), an Israeli producer, founded the production company Belfilms in 1974, which has since produced over 150 films and television shows, including feature films, documentaries and international co-productions. Since 1999 to 2019, he has served as the Executive Director of the Israel Film Fund, where he has authorized more than 300 full-length narrative feature films, many of which were selected to major film festivals and won prestigious awards, including Gold and Silver Lions in Venice, Gold and Silver Bears in Berlin, the Camera d’or at Cannes and four Academy Award nominations.
Christine Vachon (USA), is an American producer and winner of the Independent Spirit Award and the Producer Award from the Gotham Independent Film Awards. Her first major success was the production of Todd Haynes’ debut film, Poison, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. In 1995 she co-founded, with Pamela Koffler, the film and television production company Killer Films, which won an Oscar for Kimberley Pierce’sBoys Don’t Cry. She has produced some of the most highly-acclaimed independent films, winning Academy Award nominations for Todd Haynes’ masterpieces Far From Heaven, I’m Not There and Carol.
The Orizzonti Jury will award the following prizes, with no joint awards permitted:
Orizzonti Award for Best Film, Orizzonti Award for Best Director, Special Orizzonti Jury Prize, Orizzonti Award for Best Actor, Orizzonti Award for Best Actress, Orizzonti Award for Best Screenplay, Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film.
“Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film
The members of the international Jury for the “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film – Lion of the Future are:
Claudio Giovannesi – president (Italy), director, screenwriter and musician. His film Piranhas (La paranza dei bambini, 2019), adapted from the novel of the same name by Roberto Saviano and presented in Competition at the Berlin Film Festival, won the Silver Lion for Best Screenplay and was distributed in over 20 countries. Fiore (2016), in competition in the Quinzaine section at Cannes, won the Special Nastro d’argento. Ali Blue Eyes (Ali ha gli occhi azzurri, 2012), winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Rome Film Festival, was presented in competition at Tribeca. The documentary Fratelli d’Italia (2009) won a Special Mention from the Jury at the Rome Film Fest. For television, he directed two episodes for the second season of the series Gomorra.
Remi Bonhomme (France), director and programmer of international film festivals, is the new artistic director of the Marrakech International Film Festival and director of the Atlas Workshops, the Festival’s industry platform which supports cinema from the African continent and the Middle East. From 2009 to 2020, he was the Program Manager for Canne’s Semaine de la Critique and Director of Next Step, a workshop that guides short film directors as they work towards making their first feature-length films.
Dora Bouchoucha (Tunisia), a producer and festival director, since 1994 has produced a large number of feature films, short films and documentaries from Tunisia and other countries with her production company Nomadis Images. Her films have been selected for the Festivals in Venice, Cannes and Berlin. She created the Atelier de Projets for the Journées cinématographiques de Carthage, which she directed in 2008, 2010 and 2014. In 2017, she was a member of the International Jury at the Berlin Film Festival. Since 2018, she is the director of the Mediterranean Film Festival in Manarat.
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 a cash prize of 100,000 USD donated by Filmauro, to be divided equally between the director and the producer.
Venice Virtual Reality
The members of the international Jury of the Venice Virtual Reality section are:
Celine Tricart – president (USA), is an acclaimed storyteller who has developed a unique style involving highly emotional stories and strong visual artistry. Her work has been showcased at numerous top-tier festivals including Sundance, Venice, Tribeca, SXSW. She has received the Lion for Best VR Immersive Work at the 2019 Venice Film Festival and the Storyscapes Award at the Tribeca Film Festival amongst many other accolades. Celine is a world-renowned 3D and Virtual Reality expert. Her company, Lucid Dreams Productions, specializes in utilizing new technologies to further bold, unapologetic storytelling, and in empowering female and other minority voices in the filmmaking process.
Asif Kapadia (Great Britain), is a director of films and documentaries known for his visually striking films and his choice of extreme characters. Amy, which premiered at Cannes in 2015, tells the story of singer Amy Winehouse. The film won the Oscar for Best Documentary, and was the highest grossing British Documentary at the UK box-office, winning the Bafta, Efa awards for Best Documentary as well as a Grammy award. In 2001 he co-wrote and directed his debut narrative film, The Warrior, shot in the deserts of Rajasthan and the snows of the Himalayas. In 2010, his documentary Senna told the story of the Brazilian Formula One champion Ayrton Senna. In 2017 he directed two episodes from the Netflix series Midhunter. In 2019, he presented the documentary Maradona at Cannes, which was nominated for a Bafta award.
Hideo Kojima (Japan), is the author of video games known world-wide for having pushed the boundaries of creativity in this field. Widely considered the father of the stealth genre, action video games based on the player’s skill at avoiding being detected by the enemy. In 2015, he founded the Kojima Productions company, under the motto From sapiens to ludens. In 2019 the company released its first title, Death Stranding, for PlayStation® 4. Since its release, Death Stranding has won many game awards and achieved international acclaim.
The Venice Virtual Reality Jury will award the following prizes:
Grand Jury Prize for Best VR Immersive Work, Best VR Immersive User Experience and Best VR Immersive Story.