Italian comedy director Mario Monicelli will head the main jury at the upcoming Venice Film Festival, with other members including German cinematographer Michael Ballhaus and American producer Monty Montgomery, organizers have said.
Italian actor Stefano Accorsi, Chinese director Ann Hui, French writer-director Pierre Jolivet and Spanish actress Assumpta Serna make up the rest of the main Venice jury. The Upstream jury for more experimental films will be headed by French historian Laure Adler.
The 88-year-old Monicelli had his greatest successes from the 1950s to '70s, with notable movies including the classic 1958 heist comedy Big Deal on Madonna Street, and 1959's The Great War, which won Venice's Golden Lion award that year.
Ballhaus gained recognition for work such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder's The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979), then moved to the United States in the 1980s. Since then, he has filmed dozens of pictures, among them director Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas and Gangs of New York.
Montgomery has worked on several David Lynch productions, including as associate producer of television's Twin Peaks, and producer of his film Wild at Heart.
{{/usCountry}}Montgomery has worked on several David Lynch productions, including as associate producer of television's Twin Peaks, and producer of his film Wild at Heart.
{{/usCountry}}The 60th Venice Film Festival runs from Aug. 27-Sept. 6. The Venice 60 jury will hand out a Golden Lion for best film as well as several Silver Lions.