Venice International Film Festival

The 57th Venice Film Festival has not one, but two juries to award its prizes. This year, both teams are led by directors who left Europe for the Americas. Czech-born Milos Forman (now an American filmmaker) is the President of the International Jury, while Egyptian born Atom Egoyan (who now resides in Canada) is President of the Luigi de Laurentis Sidebar Jury. The International Jury will present the following prizes: The Golden Lion for Best Feature Film, The Jury Grand Prize, Best Director, Best Screenplay, The Coppa Volpi for Best Actor, The Coppa Volpi for Best Actress, The Marcello Mastroianni Prize to the Best New Actor or Actress, and The Gold Medal of the Presidency of the Senate. The Opera Prima "Luigi De Laurentiis" sidebar jury will award a $100,000 prize to be equally divided between the director and producer of the festival's best first film. In addition, the director will receive 20,000 meters of film from Kodak.

The International Jury
Milos Forman Director (President) Jury President Milos Forman was born Tomas Jan Forman in Czechoslovakia in 1932. He became an orphan at a young age, after his parents died in the concentration camp Auschwitz. He studied filmmaking at the School of Cinema in Prague, before leaving the country in 1968 when it was invaded. Forman soon made a reputation for himself in the US, making Taking Off (1971) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), which went on to win five Oscars. He also made the movie musical Hair (1979), Amadeus (1984), which won nine oscars, The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) and Man on the Moon (1999) staring Jim Carrey. He also had a role as a priest in Edward Norton's film Keeping the Faith (2000).
Tahar Ben Jelloun Writer Tahar Ben Jelloun was born in Fez in 1944. He began writing in 1965 as a philosophy student to protest against a syllabus change. He was then sent to an army disciplinary camp for 18 months, where he was treated so badly that he began to write secretly in protest. This led to his first collection of poetry, Complete Poems. He soon fled to France and published Solitaire (1976) and Sacred Night (1985), which won the Prix Goncourt. Mr. Jelloun recently published Racism Explained to My Daughter, which has been a success across Europe in many languages.
Giuseppe Bertolucci Director Giuseppe Bertolucci (younger brother of Bernardo) was born in Parma, Italy in 1947. He is the director of 17 feature films, including Dolce rumore della vita (1999), Probably Love (1998), Pratone del casiliono (1996) and Troppo Sole (1994).
Claude Chabrol Director French filmmaker Claude Chabrol was born in France in 1930 and is credited with creating the "New Wave" cinema movement. He has directed more than 70 features, including 1969's La Femme Infidele and a 1991 remake of Madame Bovary.
Jennifer Jason Leigh Actress American actress Jennifer Jason Leigh was born in Los Angeles in 1962 and appeared in her first film at the age of 9. She dropped out of high school to take a starring role in the film Eyes of a Stranger. Soon after she appeared in Fast Times at Ridgemont High in 1982, which was her first major film role. She will be seen next in The Quickie from director Sergei Bodrov.
Andreas Kilb Critic Andreas Kilb is a film reviewer with the German newspaper Die Zeit who has also contributed to the Swiss journal Theater Heute.
Samira Makhmalbaf Director Iranian filmmaker Samira Makhmalbaf was born in Tehran in 1980. Her second feature film, Blackboards, won the Jury Prize at this year's Cannes when she was just 20 years old.

The Opera Prima "Luigi De Laurentiis" sidebar Jury
Atom Egoyan, Director (President) Atom Egoyan was born in 1960 in Egypt to Armenian parents. He originally planned to become a playwright but became hooked on filmmaking after making his first short film. He has accumulated many prizes on the festival circuit including a Forum of New Cinema award at Berlin in 1988 for Family Viewing, the FIPRESCI for Exotica in 1994 (also won Best Canadian Feature at Toronto), and then went on to win the Palme d'Or and FIPRESCI at Cannes 97 for The Sweet Hereafter. His 1999 film Felicia's Journey won four Genies at the Canadian Film Awards. He is married to Arsine Khanjian and the couple now resides in Canada.
Mimmo Calopresti, Director Mimmo Calopresti was born in Italy in 1955. His film, I Prefer the Sound of the Sea, was screened at this year's Cannes. Noted film awards, the Crystal Globe at Karlovy Vary for La Parola amore esiste in 1998.
Bill Krohn, Critic Bill Krohn has been the Hollywood correspondent for the French magazine "Cahiers du cinema" for more than 20 years. He is also co-producer/writer/director of the 1993 documentary It's all true: based on an unfinished film by Orson Welles.
Chiara Mastroianni, Actress Chiara Mastroianni was born in 1972 to actors Marcello Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve. She appeared in her first film, Ma Saison Preferee in 1993 and has since acted in 18 films, including Robert Altman's Pret a Porter and Don't Forget You're Going to Die by Xavier Beauvois.
Peter Mullan, Director -Actor Scottish actor Peter Mullan has appeared in 16 feature films, including Ordinary Decent Criminal (opposite Kevin Spacey), Braveheart, My Name is Joe (for which he won the Best Actor prize at Cannes in 1998). As a director, his film Orphans won the Grand Prize at the 1999 Paris Film Festival.