– Valérie Donzelli will preside over the international Orizzonti jury, while Carolina Cavalli will chair the “Luigi De Laurentiis” Best First Film jury
Director Valérie Donzelli (© 2025 Fabrizio de Gennaro for Cineuropa – fadege.it, @fadege.it) and Carolina Cavalli (© 2022 Fabrizio de Gennaro for Cineuropa – fadege.it, @fadege.it)
After unveiling the International Competition jury chaired by Maggie Gyllenhaal (read our news), the 83rd Venice International Film Festival (running 2 – 19 September) has now announced the members of its Orizzonti and First Film juries.
Chaired by French director, actress and screenwriter Valérie Donzelli, the international Orizzonti jury will also include US distributor Peter Becker, Hong Kong–American director Elizabeth Lo, Mexican filmmaker and screenwriter David Pablos and Italian actress Barbara Ronchi.
Together with Audrey Diwan, Valérie Donzelli (known for Declaration of War and Marguerite & Julien) previously won the Best Adaptation César for Just the Two of Us, and in 2025 she was selected to compete in Venice with At Work, which picked up the Screenplay Award. Peter Becker is the president of the Criterion Collection and of Janus Films, which was the first distribution company to bring international art-house cinema to US audiences. Hong Kong–American director Elizabeth Lo screened in Venice’s Orizzonti section thanks to her second film, Mistress Dispeller, while Mexican director David Pablos presented his debut feature, La vida después, in the Orizzonti line-up and his second, The Chosen Ones, in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section, with his most recent film, En el camino, winning him the Orizzonti Award for Best Film. Barbara Ronchi, for her part, bagged a David di Donatello Award for Giulia Steigerwalt’s Settembre and has been nominated a further four times, most recently via Elisa by Leonardo Di Costanzo, with the latter performance bagging her the Italian Golden Globe.
The jury behind the “Luigi De Laurentiis” Award for Best First Film, meanwhile, will be chaired by Italian screenwriter and director Carolina Cavalli, who’ll be joined by British-Nigerian director Akinola Davies Jr. and US producer Ted Hope.
For the record, Carolina Cavalli made her debut with Amanda, which was selected in Venice and Toronto. She co-wrote Fremont (which triumphed in the Independent Spirit Awards’ John Cassavetes category) together with the film’s director, Babak Jalali, and last year saw her presenting her second feature-length directorial effort, The Kidnapping of Arabella, in Venice’s Orizzonti section, where it won Benedetta Porcaroli the Best Actress trophy. Akinola Davies Jr. is known for his feature film debut, My Father’s Shadow, which screened last year in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section, nabbing a Golden Camera Special Mention. Last but not least, Ted Hope has produced over 70 films and spearheaded Amazon’s entry into film production.
(Translated from Italian)
