Isabelle Huppert will be the president of the international jury of the 81st Venice International Film Festival, which takes place August 28 – September 7, 2024, the Board of Directors of the Biennale di Venezia announced Wednesday.
The French actress will preside over the jury that awards the Golden Lion for best film, a Silver Lion for grand jury prize and another Silver Lion for best director, as well as five other official awards.
Huppert is one of France’s most celebrated actors, known for her daring choices and peerless ability to bring emotional depth to austere, often disconcerting characters. She has worked with many prominent filmmakers from around the world over her five-decade career, during which she has amassed a treasure trove of awards.
She has won five Venice film festival prizes, including the Volpi Cup for best actress in 1988 for “Story of Women” (shared with Shirley MacLaine for “Madame Sousatzka”) and again in 1995 for “La Cerémonie,” both directed by Claude Chabrol, with whom she has made eight films. In 2005, the Venice Film Festival presented Huppert with a special Golden Lion for her overall work in Patrice Chéreau’s “Gabrielle.”
Huppert won best actress in Cannes twice, for the 1978 Chabrol collaboration “Violette,” and in 2001 for Michael Haneke’s “The Piano.” She has been nominated for 16 César Awards—the most of any actress, ever—and won for “La Cerémonie” and Paul Verhoeven’s “Elle,” which also earned her an Academy Award nomination for best actress in 2017.
Among her many films in English are Michael Cimino’s “Heaven’s Gate,” Curtis Hanson’s “The Bedroom Window,” Hal Hartley’s “Amateur,” David O. Russell’s “I Heart Huckabees” and Neil Jordan’s “Greta.” Always one to surprise, in 2010, she guest-starred in NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”
In a statement, Huppert said: “There is a long and beautiful history between the Festival and I [sic]. Becoming a privileged spectator is an honor. More than ever, cinema is a promise. The promise to escape, to disrupt, to surprise, to take a good look at the world, united in the differences of our tastes and ideas.”
The names of other members of the jury will be announced in the coming weeks.
