Chloe Zhao Joins Bong Joon Ho on Venice Film Festival Jury

Virginie Efira, Saverio Costanzo, Sarah Gadon, Alexander Nanau, Cynthia Erivo will also help select this year’s Golden Lion winner.

Chloe Zhao Courtesy of Universal

The Venice Film Festival has landed back-to-back Oscar winners for best film for its main jury.

Alongside the already-announced president Bong Joon Ho — who won in 2020 for Parasite — the festival has now revealed its full jury lineup, including Chloe Zhao — this year’s winner for Nomadland.

Also named in the team that will help select the top awards on the Lido is French actress Virginie Efira (recently seen in Paul Verhoeven’s taboo-breaking Cannes-bowing Benedetta), Italian director Saverio Costanzo (Hungry Hearts), Canadian actress and producer Sarah Gadon (Enemy), Romanian documentary maker Alexander Nanau (Oscar nominated this year for Collective) and British actress and singer-songwriter Cynthia Erivo (Widows, Harriet).

This “Venezia 78” jury will award the Venice main competition’s official prizes, including the Golden Lion for Best Film, Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize, Silver Lion for Best Director, Coppa Volpi for Best Actress, Coppa Volpi for Best Actor, Special Jury Prize, Award for Best Screenplay and the “Marcello Mastroianni” Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress.

Meanwhile, the jury for Venice’s Orizzonti sidebar competition has also been announced. Led by the Oscar-nominated Quo Vadis, Aida? director Jasmila Žbanić, who will serve as president, the lineup also includes Norwegian director and screenwriter Mona Fastvold (who presented The World to Come in Venice last year), Iranian filmmaker and critic Shahram Mokri (Careless Crime), MoMA curator Josh Siegel from the U.S. and Italian writer Nadia Terranova.

Finally, the festival has also unveiled the three-strong jury for its “Luigi De Laurentiis” award for debut film — the ‘Lion of the Future.’ Italian filmmaker Uberto Pasolini (Nowhere Special) will lead the team, which also includes Austrian critic and festival director Martin Schweighofer and Argentinian artist and director Amalia Ulman.

While the full Venice lineup hasn’t been unveiled yet, films already known to be heading to the Lido include Denis Villeneuve’s all-star sci-fi epic Dune and the Kristen Stewart-starring Princess Diana drama Spencer. As announced earlier this week, the festival will open on Sept 1 with Pedro Almodovar’s Madres Paralelas, starring Penelope Cruz.