– Fabrice Du Welz, Marco Alessi, Lolita Chammah, Paulina García and Olivier Père will serve on the International Competition jury
Director Fabrice Du Welz (© 2024 Fabrizio de Gennaro for Cineuropa – fadege.it, @fadege.it)
The 79th Locarno Film Festival has unveiled the composition of the international juries that will hand out this year’s awards. Taking place from 5-15 August, the Swiss festival will see its juries decide the winners across the International Competition, the Filmmakers of the Present Competition, the Leopards of Tomorrow competitions and other competitive sections, culminating in the presentation of the prestigious Golden Leopard and the festival’s other prizes.
Belgian filmmaker Fabrice Du Welz will preside over the International Competition jury. Du Welz previously presented Adoration on the Piazza Grande and The Passion According to Béatrice out of competition at Locarno. Over the course of his career, he has directed nine feature films that have screened at other major international festivals, including Cannes (Alleluia, in the Directors’ Fortnight), Venice (Maldoror, out of competition) and Toronto.
Joining him on the jury are Italian producer Marco Alessi, founder of Rome-based Dugong Films and an advocate of international arthouse co-productions; French actress Lolita Chammah, seen in films like Copacabana and the recent The Money Maker; Chilean actress Paulina García, winner of the Silver Bear for Gloria and one of the leading figures of Chilean cinema; and Olivier Père, executive director of Arte France Cinéma and former artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival.
The Filmmakers of the Present Competition, dedicated to emerging filmmakers, will be judged by Tunisian actress, director and producer Afef Ben Mahmoud, who also heads the Gabès Cinéma Fen festival; Czech producer and director Radovan Síbrt, co-founder of the independent company PINK, whose credits include the Oscar-winning Mr. Nobody Against Putin; and Italian filmmaker Margherita Spampinato, whose debut feature Sweetheart won two awards in the section at last year’s festival before also receiving two David di Donatello Awards.
The Leopards of Tomorrow competition jury will consist of Lebanese writer, director and actress Mounia Akl (Costa Brava, Lebanon); Italian filmmaker Antonio Piazza, who recently co-directed Sicilian Letters (Iddu) with Fabio Grassadonia; and South African producer Steven Markovitz, a key figure in the development of independent African cinema whose producing credits include Rafiki, Tug of War and Omen.
The Swatch First Feature Award, recognising the best debut feature in the official selection, will be decided by Matthieu Darras, director of TATINO and former programmer for Cannes, Venice, San Sebastián and TorinoFilmLab; Sung Moon, programmer at the Jeonju International Film Festival and former member of the Korean Film Council; and Swiss-Peruvian filmmaker Klaudia Reynicke, whose film Reinas won the UBS Audience Award at Locarno and was selected as Switzerland’s submission for the Academy Awards.
The jury for the Pardo for Change, the festival’s award honouring films addressing environmental, ethical and sociocultural issues, is composed of independent war reporter, writer and playwright Gianluca Grossi; Somali-Austrian filmmaker Mo Harawe, whose debut feature The Village Next to Paradise premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard; and Seta Thakur, Director of Communications and Social Innovation at the Wyss Academy for Nature.
Finally, the festival has also announced the jury for the Locarno Kids Screenings, which will present the Locarno Kids Award la Mobiliare. For the first time, thirteen young jurors aged between 11 and 15 will evaluate the seven films competing in the new section dedicated to children’s feature films, selecting the winning filmmaker after taking part in daily meetings with film-industry professionals throughout the festival.
