Renowned Lebanese filmmaker and actress Nadine Labaki has been announced as a jury member for both the 80th Venice International Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
The Venice International Film Festival is set take to take place from Aug. 30 to Sept. 9, where the Capernaum director will be joined by French Cesar-winning actor and producer Elsa Zylberstein, Mexican actor and Oscar nominee Yalitza Aparicio, British-Nigerian screenwriter Misan Sagay, and renowned Italian director Stefano Savona for the Industry-Leading Impact Award.
According to Variety, this is the first time an impact-specific award is being presented at an A-list festival. The award is dedicated to documentaires and some narrative films that have an impactful social or political message that can ignite change among audiences and amongst the industry at large. Venice organizers said the award will honor a film in the official selection that “has the greatest potential to unlock human potential and have a transformative impact on society.”
The jury will assess the films’ artistic creativity and uniqueness; their relevance and need in the global political climate; their potential to challenge audience perspectives on issues presented; and their potential to inspire audiences to take action.
As for TIFF, which is taking place between Sept. 7 to 17, Labaki will be joining filmmaker Barry Jenkins, who will serve as chair, and last year’s Platform Prize-winning filmmaker Anthony Shim on the Platform Prize voting panel. Platform is TIFF’s competitive programme that celebrates bold directorial visions. The films selected for this year’s programme come from 12 countries across three continents, all of which will be making their World Premiere at the 10-day long film festival.
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“I am delighted to announce that we have an international dream jury with acclaimed filmmakers Barry Jenkins, Nadine Labaki, and Anthony Shim as jury members for the Platform programme at Tiff,” said Anita Lee, chief programming officer at TIFF.
The movies screening as part of the 2023 programme are eligible for the Platform Prize, as well as an award of $14,900.
Labaki, being the exquisite director that she is, made history by being the first Arab woman to win a major prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018 with the Jury Prize for Capernaum. The film went on to be nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2019 Oscars, making her the first Lebanese filmmaker to be nominated for an Academy Award.
