French auteur Robert Guediguian to head Horizons jury at Venice Fest

PanARMENIAN.Net - French auteur Robert Guediguian (“Marius et Jeannette,” “La ville est tranquille”) and Italian actor/director Kim Rossi Stuart have been recruited for jury duty at the upcoming Venice Film Festival, respectively as presidents of the jury for the Horizons section and for the Luigi di Laurentiis Venice Award for a Debut Film – Lion of the Future, Variety reports.

As previously announced, the president of this year’s Venice competition jury is Sam Mendes. Horizons is dedicated to more cutting-edge fare, compared with the competition.

While not a Venice regular, Guediguian is certainly no stranger to the Lido where his multi-stranded Marseille-set drama “La ville est tranquille” (“The Town is Quiet”) premiered in 2000. His entire filmography is centered in observing life in the bustling French port city “with stories set in the microcosm of the neighbourhood he was born in, focusing on the lives of common people,” as the fest put it in a statement.

Rossi Stewart is an Italy’s A-list actor best known internationally for turns in Gianni Amelio’s China-set “The Keys to the House” and Michele Placido’s Fox-produced “Angel of Evil,” both of which screened in Venice. His directorial debut, the dysfunctional family drama “Along the Ridge,” premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 2006.

Rossi Stewart’s second directorial effort “L’intelligenza del maschio” about male mating issues, in which he also stars, is also likely to surface in Venice. His female co-stars in that film are Jasmine Trinca (“The Gunman”) and Cristiana Capotondi (“The Mafia Kills Only in Summer”).

The Lion of the Future prize – for which first all first works at Venice, screening in official and also independent parallel sections, are eligible – carries $100,000 in cash, donated by Italian producer Aurelio De Laurentiis’ Filmauro, to be divided equally between the director and the producer.

The 73rd edition of Venice will run August 31-September 10. The lineup will be announced on July 28.