The juries are appointed for the Venezia 80 Competition, for Orizzonti and the “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film.
The 80th Venice Film Festival, which runs from August 30-September 9, has announced Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri, and Moroccan actor, director and screenwriter Faouzi Bensaïdi as jury members.
Under President Damien Chazelle, the main Competition jury will include Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri, new Zealander director, screenwriter and producer Jane Campion, French director and screenwriter Mia Hansen-Løve, American director and journalist Laura Poitras, Irish screenwriter and director Martin McDonagh, Italian director Gabriele Mainetti, Argentinian screenwriter and director Santiago Mitre, and Chinese actress Shu Qi.
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.
The members of the international jury for the Orizzonti section comprise Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, American director and artist Kahlil Joseph, French director and screenwriter Jean-Paul Salomé, and British film festival director and prominent industry figure Tricia Tuttle. The jury will be headed by Jonas Carpignano, an Italian director, screenwriter and producer.
Kaouther Ben Hania’s 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 the competition for the first time in Cannes in 2023 with Four Daughters.
The members of the international Jury for the Luigi De Laurentiis Venice Award for a Debut Film – Lion of the Future are Moroccan actor, director and screenwriter Faouzi Bensaïdi, Argentinian director-producer Laura Citarella, Italian director Andrea De Sica, and US writer and director Chloe Domont.
Faouzi Bensaïdi is a Moroccan actor, director and screenwriter. He directed his first short film, 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.
