18/07/2025 - The Orizzonti international jury chair will be Titane director Julia Ducournau, while presiding over the “Luigi De Laurentiis” jury is Aftersun helmer Charlotte Wells

l-r: Julia Ducournau (© Fabrizio de Gennaro for Cineuropa - fadege.it, @fadege.it) and Charlotte Wells

French writer-director Julia Ducournau and Scottish helmer Charlotte Wells will, respectively, chair the international jury for the Orizzonti section and the jury for the “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film at the Venice Film Festival (27 August-6 September).

Ducournau rose to prominence with her short film Junior, which won an award in the Cannes Critics’ Week in 2011. Her feature debut, Raw [+see also:
film review
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interview: Julia Ducournau
film profile], was presented in the Cannes Critics’ Week in 2016 and scooped the FIPRESCI Award. The movie took part in myriad international festivals, including Sundance and Toronto, and picked up a slew of prizes. In 2021, her sophomore feature, Titane [+see also:
film review
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interview: Julia Ducournau, Vincent Li…
film profile], was unveiled at Cannes, where it snagged none other than the Palme d'Or. The film garnered acclaim from critics, was screened at major festivals and secured a huge number of nominations, including for the BAFTAs and the Césars. Both movies were distributed all around the world. Her third outing, Alpha [+see also:
film review
film profile], was premiered in competition at this year’s Cannes.

Other names announced for the Orizzonti jury are Italian director and video artist Yuri Ancarani, who was included by the New York Times among the emerging directors to watch in 2017 and who helmed the 2021 feature Atlantide [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Yuri Ancarani
interview: Yuri Ancarani and Marco Ale…
film profile], which was presented at Venice, in the Orizzonti section; Argentinian film critic Fernando Enrique Juan Lima, who has served on the juries of many festivals, such as Turin, Beijing, Shanghai, Chicago, San Sebastián and Tallinn Black Nights; Australian director Shannon Murphy, who was in competition at Venice with her feature debut, Babyteeth, in 2021 and was BAFTA-nominated for Best Director; and US artist and director RaMell Ross, whose documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening scooped the Special Jury Award for Creative Vision at Sundance and the Peabody Award, in addition to being in the running for the Oscars and the Emmys.

Charlotte Wells, the chair of the “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film jury, rose to fame with her feature debut, Aftersun [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which was premiered in the Cannes Critics’ Week. Paul Mescal was Oscar-nominated for his performance in the flick. Wells will be backed up by French-Tunisian director-producer Erige Sehiri, who in 2022 wrote, directed and produced her feature debut, Under the Fig Trees [+see also:
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interview: Erige Sehiri
film profile], which was unveiled in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and was selected to represent Tunisia at the 2023 Academy Awards; and Silvio Soldini, an Italian writer-director best known for The Peaceful Air of the West, Bread and Tulips, Emma [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] and the recent title The Tasters [+see also:
film review
interview: Silvio Soldini
film profile].

(Translated from Italian)