Oliver Stone to Head Zurich Film Festival Jury

Click here to read the full article.

Oliver Stone will serve as the jury president of the international competition at this year’s Zurich Film Festival, it was announced Thursday. The Oscar-winning filmmaker will also present his Showtime documentary series “The Putin Interviews” and the restored version of his 1991 film “The Doors” at the festival.

“Oliver Stone is an edgy Hollywood auteur who continues to create epoch-making masterpieces and manages to broach explosive issues with brilliance,” said festival co-directors Nadja Schildknecht and Karl Spoerri. “We are delighted that [he] has accepted our invitation.”

More from Variety

• Twenty-Five Years Later, Oliver Stone's 'Natural Born Killers' Is, More than Ever, the Spectacle of Our Time (Column)

• Meet the Military Adviser Who Helped Bring Realism to 'Platoon' and 'Saving Private Ryan'

• Zurich Film Festival Co-Founders to Step Down

The international competition jury also comprises Colombian filmmaker Ciro Guerra, Italian director Laura Bispuri, German actor Sebastian Koch, and Swiss producer Tiziana Soudani.

Double Oscar-winning documentary producer Simon Chinn (“Man On Wire,” “Searching for Sugar Man”) has been tapped to chair the festival’s documentary film competition. German producer Thomas Kufus heads the Focus Competition, which is for Swiss, German or Austrian productions from a director making his or her first, second or third feature.

Stone received the festival’s special tribute award in its third year, where he became the first major Hollywood filmmaker to attend the festival and has since become a strong supporter. His belated “Wall Street” sequel, “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” played as the closing film in 2010, and two years later his “Savages” opened the festival’s 8th edition. Stone’s most recent film, “Snowden,” received a gala premiere during the 12th edition in 2016.

“Stone has been a friend of our festival for 12 years now,” said Schildknecht and Spoerri. “He has also been an invaluable advocate for the Zurich Film Festival in Los Angeles. We are doubly thrilled that he is doing us the honor of returning for our last year as its operations directors.”

The 15th edition of the Zurich Film Festival runs Sept. 26-Oct. 6. The festival’s program for 2019 will be announced Sept. 12.

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.