The selection has been made for the members of the International Jury of “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film at the 69th Venice International Film Festival (29 August – 8 September 2012), with Indian director and producer Shekhar Kapur as president.

 

The decision was made by the Board of Directors of the Venice Biennale chaired by Paolo Baratta, upon the recommendation of the Director of the Venice Film Festival Alberto Barbera.

 

Alongside Shekhar Kapur, the members of the “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film Jury will be:

 

The international Jury of the “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film will select – no shared awards permitted – among all the debut feature-length films in the various competitive sections of the Venice Film Festival (Official Selection and Independent Parallel Sections), the winner of the Lion of the Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film, along with the 100,000 USD offered by Aurelio and Luigi De Laurentiis’ Filmauro, to be divided equally between the director and the producer.

 

In recent years this award has been presented to: Le grand voyage by Ismael Ferroukhi (2004), 13 - Tzameti by Gela Babluani (2005), Khadak by Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth (2006), La zona by Rodrigo Plá (2007), Mid-August Lunch (Pranzo di ferragosto)byGianni Di Gregorio (2008) Clash (Engkwentro) by Pepe Diokno (2009), and Majority (Cogunluk) by Seren Yuce (2010), La-Bas by Guido Lombardi (2011).

 

Born in Paris, Michel Demopoulos studies cinema, literature and linguistics in France.

He starts working in 1976 as a film and television critic for the daily paper Avghi and for various publications. He becomes editor and later director of the prestigious film magazine Synchronos Kinimatographos (1975-1982). He directs in 1975 the film L’Autre Scene (The Other Stage), a documentary-essay on the shooting of Theo Angelopoulos’ Travelling Players. From 1981 to 1991, he is the director of acquisitions for the Greek Public Channel ERT and programmes the channel’s weekly cine-club. Curator of the biggest retrospective on Greek Cinema ever (100 movies) at the Centre Pompidou (Paris) in 1995 and he published the book Le cinema grec (cinema/pluriel, Paris, 1995). Director of the International Thessaloniki Film Festival from 1991 to 2005. He has published several books on film directors (Robert Bresson, Luis Bunuel, Claude Chabrol, Jean-Daniel Pollet….) and has organized retrospectives and film weeks on Greek cinema and Theo Angelopoulos all over the world. He is on the Board of the Media Program “Europa-Cinemas”. From 2006 to 2011, has worked as programmer and executive consultant for fiction and co-production for the state TV ERT (Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation).

 

Isabella Ferrari made her acting debut in 1981 as Selvaggia in the Carlo Vanzina film Sapore di mare. Over the years she has has worked in Italy and abroad with acclaimed filmmakers such as Jacques Doillon, Dino Risi, Gillo Pontecorvo, and Marco Tullio Giordana. In 1990, she earned a Silver Ribbon nomination for her performance in the Francesco Nuti film Willy Signori, e vengo da lontano. In 1995, she was awarded the Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival as Best Supporting Performer in the Ettore Scola film Romanzo di un giovane povero starring Alberto Sordi. The same year, she earned a Golden Globes nomination as Best Actress for her performance in Cronaca di un amore violato. She returned to Venice in 1996 with Escoriandol, a film directed by Antonio Rezza presented in the Settimana del Cinema italiano section, and again in 1998 with the Marco Turco film Vite in sospeso, Prospettive section, and in 2000 with Holy Tongue (La lingua del Santo) by Carlo Mazzacurati, in competition. She also appeared in the Renato De Maria film Amatemi (2004) and The Goodbye Kiss (Arrivederci amore ciao, 2006) directed by Michele Soavi which earned her a double nomination at the David di Donatello Awards and the Silver Ribbon Awards. In 2008 she was in Venice with two films in the in competition section, starring in Pappi Corsicato’s Il seme della discordia and Ferzan Ozpetek’s A perfect Day (Un giorno perfetto, 2008) for which she garnered the Pasinetti Award and, once again, a nomination for a Silver Ribbon as Best Actress. Her more recent appearances include Ferzan Ozpetek’s Saturn in Opposition (Saturno contro, 2006), Antonello Grimaldi’s Quiet Chaos (Caos calmo, 2008), Enzo Monteleone’s 2009 film Due partite, and Paolo Franchi’s E la chiamano estate (2012). Her performances in Quiet Chaos and Due partite earned her a David di Donatello Award nomination as well as Silver Ribbon nomination. On television, among her many appearances, she is best known for her role in Renato De Maria’s Distretto di Polizia, and Andrea Porporati’s Storie di Laura. Earlier TV appearances include shows by Francesco Massaro, Luigi Perelli, Gianluigi Calderone. As a stage actress, her credits include Cristina Comencini’s 2006 play Due partite, Il catalogo (L'aide memoire), written by Jean-Claude Carrière and directed by Valerio Binasco in 2011, in which she played opposite Ennio Fantastichini, and Anestesia totale by and with Marco Travaglio, directed by Stefania De Santis.

 

Born in Rockville Centre, New York, Matt Reeves is an American film writer, director and producer. He first gained industry attention in 1992 with his award-winning short, Mr. Petrified Forrest, after graduating from the University of Southern California's prestigious School of Cinema. He got his professional start in Hollywood that same year when a screenplay he penned in college with classmate Richard Hatem was purchased by Warner Bros., and subsequently turned into Under Siege 2: Dark Territory. Reeves made his feature directorial debut with the 1996 dark comedy, The Pallbearer, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, David Schwimmer and Barbara Hershey. He developed the screenplay with co-writer Jason Katims through Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Institute, and the film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. In 1999, Reeves co-wrote and co-produced James Gray’s critically acclaimed feature, The Yards, starring Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix and Charlize Theron; the film was selected for official competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. Reeves was also one of the creators of the popular U.S. television series Felicity, starring Golden Globe Award-winning actress Keri Russell. Reeves served as executive producer with partner and co-creator, J.J. Abrams. He frequently directed episodes during the show’s four-season run, including the 1998 pilot for the WB television network. He returned to feature films in 2008 as the director of the acclaimed sci-fi horror hit, Cloverfield. The film, which was made for less than $25 million, set a U.S. domestic record for a January release, and went on to gross more than $170 million worldwide. His next film, Let Me In, which he wrote and directed, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2010. The film was based on the acclaimed Swedish novel and film, Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in, 2008) by writer John Ajvide Lindqvist, and director Tomas Alfredson. According to Metacritic, Let Me In was one of the ten best-reviewed wide release films of 2010, and the best reviewed film of the year in the horror category.  After Toronto, the film went on to be screened at many film festivals, both in the U.S. and abroad, receiving numerous accolades and awards. The prestigious National Board of Review included it in the Top Ten Independent Films of 2010.

Reeves is currently writing a film to direct for Universal Pictures, based on the cult classic Ray Nelson short story, 8 O'Clock in the Morning. He is also developing The Twilight Zone for Warner Bros., This Dark Endeavor for Lionsgate-Summit, and The Passage for Fox 2000. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son.

A huge name on the club-house scene, pioneer of the French Touch, Bob Sinclar’s career really took off in the 1990s. From a soul and hip-hop background, he has never limited himself to just house and techno, making him one the most eclectic artists in his profession. Now a world-famous DJ and star of clubs around the globe, he has crafted a host of successful remixes and released hit after hit, including The Beat Goes On, What A Wonderful World, World Hold On, Love Generation and Rock This Party. 

The name Bob Sinclar, as many correctly guess, is in fact the alias of one Christophe Le Friant. Originally known as Chris ‘Le French Kiss’, it was after watching Philippe de Broca’s French spy movie Le Magnifique that the artist known as Bob Sinclar was born. He quickly rose to fame on the back of his 1998 co-production with Thomas Bangaltar, the Jane Fonda sampling Gym Tonic. Released as part of his first album Paradise this funked-up, pumping, vocal house track caught the world’s imagination and even though the sample was later deemed illegal, to this day the track still remains a stand-out piece of work any house fan worth their salt can instantly conjure up.

With all that production behind him, Bob Sinclar has equally and easily carved out a reputation as one of the most talented DJs anywhere on the planet. From the States to South America, Europe, Asia and down under in Australia, the demand for Bob’s smooth disco-tinged house sets is unwavering. His flair for blending vocals, instrumentals and rhythms into one soaring, euphoric house set still sets dance floors on fire wherever he touches down.

Bob Sinclar has always been hopelessly nostalgic. Even now, as a DJ and producer of worldwide renown, the star of clubs all over the planet, he has never ceased to be that curious adolescent transported by music, building his universe from rhythms that take him to another place.