Mexican Del Toro to head Venice Film Festival jury
The winner of last year’s Golden Lion for ‘The Shape of Water’, Guillermo Del Toro will preside over the jury of the 75th Venice Film Festival.
The Mexican director, who is considered a front-runner at the upcoming Academy Awards in March, said, “To serve as president in Venice is an immense honor and responsibility that I accept with respect and gratitude.
“Venice is a window to world cinema and the opportunity to celebrate its power and cultural relevance.”
‘The Shape of Water’, Del Toro’s ode to the horror films of his youth, has picked up a leading 13 Oscar nominations. It had its world premiere on the Lido last year and was awarded Venice’s top prize by a panel of jury headed by Annette Bening. Last month, Del Toro won a Golden Globe for best director, Variety reported.
In addition to ‘The Shape of Water’, Del Toro’s celebrated filmography of fantastical pictures also includes ‘The Devil’s Backbone’, ‘Hellboy’, ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’, ‘Pacific Rim’, and ‘Crimson Peak’.
Last year’s Venice jury president, Bening, was the first woman to head the collective in roughly a decade. Under her, the jury presented Del Toro with Venice’s Golden Lion at the tail end of a competition that also premiered Martin Mcdonagh’s ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing’, Missouri ahead of its fruitful awards season run. The 2016 iteration screened films like ‘La La Land’, ‘Arrival’, ‘Jackie’, and ‘Nocturnal Animals’ — all of which would go on to either win or be nominated for Academy Awards.
Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera praised Del Toro as someone who “personifies generosity, a love for movies past or future, and a passion for the kind of cinema that can spark emotions, affect people and, at the same time, make them reflect”.
“By virtue of his lively imagination, uncommon sensitivity and his trust in the power of images, he has brought to life a fantastic universe in which love and fear can coexist, and to treasure diversity is a fundamental value,” Barbera said. “He will be a genial, inquisitive and enthusiastic president.”
Del Toro attended Venice more than 20 years ago, in 1997, with his first English-language feature, ‘Mimic’, which was screened in the Midnight section dedicated to genre films. He returned to the Lido in 2006 as a member of the panel of jury for the Luigi de Laurentiis Venice Award, which is given to a debut work screening at the fest.
The 75th Venice Film Festival is scheduled to run from August 29 to September 8.