Italian helmer Gianfranco Rosi to head Locarno Film Fest main jury

PanARMENIAN.Net - Italian director Gianfranco Rosi, winner of the 2013 Venice Golden Lion for docu “Sacro GRA,” will head the main jury of the 67th Locarno Film Festival, Variety said.

Rosi will preside a jury panel that comprises German helmer-scribe Thomas Arslan, whose “Gold” was a Berlin standout this year; Brazilian actress Alice Braga (“City of God,” “Elysium”); Danish actress Connie Nielsen (“Gladiator”), seen most recently in Lars Von Trier’s “Nymphomaniac”; and Chinese director Diao Yinan, winner of this year’s Berlin Golden Bear for “Black Coal, Thin Ice.”

Syrian director Ossama Mohammed, whose “Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait” recently screened to acclaim at Cannes, will head Locarno’s Filmmaker of the Present jury.

Mohammed will be serving jury duty alongside Thierry Jobin, the Swiss topper of the Fribourg Festival; Canadian writer, director and actor Don McKellar (“The Grand Seduction”); French actress Clemence Poesy (“Last Love”); and France-based Hong Kong native Mary Stephen, ace editor of, among other films, Eric Rohmer’s “Conte d’automne” and Lixin Fan’s “Last Train Home.”

Rutger Hauer will head the jury for Locarno’s Pards of Tomorrow jury for shorts, flanked by Brazilian director and programmer Helvécio Marins Jr. (“Girimunho”); Spanish filmmaker Lois Patino (“Costa da morte”); Ukrainian director Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, winner of this year’s Cannes Critics’ Week with “The Tribe”; and Swiss director Nicole Vogele (“Nebel”).

Locarno’s full lineup will be announced on July 16. The prominent Swiss fest dedicated to indie and innovative cinema will run Aug. 6-16.