Thai Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul To Head Venice's Orizzonti Jury

COLOGNE, Germany - Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, whose last feature, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes last year, will head up the jury for the Venice Film Festival's Orizzonti (Horizons) sidebar. The section focuses on cutting edge cinema and films made in non-standard formats. Weerasethakul is no stranger to Venice, having competed in the festival's main section with his Syndromes and a Century in 2006.

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Italian filmmaker Carlo Mazzacurati, whose La Passione was in Venice competition last year, has been named president of the jury judging the Luigi De Laurentiis Award, also called the 'Lion of the Future' prize, given in Venice for the best debut film. The winner, which is selected from debut features from across all Venice sections, comes with $100,000 in prize money, divided equally between a film's director and producer.

Fellow Italian Roberta Torre will head up the jury for Venice's Italian cinema showcase, the Controcampo Italiano section, whose winner receives a $57,000 prize in the form of film stock from Kodak.  Torre won the Lion of the Future prize in 1997 with her debut feature Tano Da Morire and her latest, Lost Kisses, opened the Controcampo section last year.

Darren Aronofsky, whose Black Swan opened Venice last year and whose film The Wrestler won Venice's Golden Lion in 2008, will be president of the main competition jury in Venice this year. The full Venice line-up will be announced in Rome July 28. The 68th Venice International Film Festival runs August 31-Sept. 10.