Bernardo Bertolucci To Chair Venice Fest Jury; Prize Rules Outlined After 2012 Scandal
While most folks are focused on next week’s Cannes Film Festival, that’s not stopping the Venice Film Festival from churning out the announcements. Last week, the fest said it would honor William Friedkin with a Lifetime Achievement Golden Lion and today it’s set Bernardo Bertolucci as jury president for the 70th anniversary run. This is the second time Bertolucci will head the panel; his first was back in 1983. Bertolucci has been to Venice several times with his own movies including 1962′s The Grim Reaper, 1968′s Partner, 1970′s The Spider’s Strategum, 1979′s Luna and 2003′s The Dreamers. His 2012 film, Me And You, screened out of competition in Cannes.
Following some controversy on awards night in Venice last year, the festival today outlined the rules for competition prizes. Last year Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix shared an acting Volpi Cup for The Master, which also took the directing Silver Lion, making for an unprecedented three prizes. At the time, it was understood that the jury originally wanted to give the top prize Golden Lion to The Master, but the panel was hampered by rules that didn’t allow for one film to be too heavily weighted and the Golden Lion went to Kim Ki-duk’s highly-regarded Pieta. Today, the fest clarified its position, saying there will be no joint winners, with the exceptions of the two acting Volpi Cups and the Marcello Mastroianni award for best newcomer. It also noted that individual films “may receive no more than one of the awards” in the regulations. But, “in exceptional cases and after consultation with the festival director, the Jury may confer the Coppa Volpi and Marcello Mastroianni awards to actors or actresses featured in films which have won the Silver Lion, the Grand Jury Prize, the Special Jury Prize or the Award for Best Screenplay.” Venice runs from August 28-September 7.
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