Venice names global jury as Gyllenhaal presides over autumn festival

Variety reported on Monday that the Venice Film Festival's competition jury for its September edition will be led by Gyllenhaal alongside Hong Kong director Johnnie To, Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania and Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat. The announcement comes as the Lido prepares for its eighty-third edition, one of three major European festivals where international cinema competes for prestige and distribution deals that shape the autumn film calendar.

The composition reflects a deliberate geographic spread: To brings decades of experience in Hong Kong action cinema and genre work; Ben Hania's films have centred on women's experiences in North Africa and the diaspora; Sadat's work has documented Afghan life through the Taliban's return to power. Together, the panel represents a departure from previous years' rosters, which have often weighted European and American voices more heavily. The festival's choice of Gyllenhaal as president signals confidence in her recent turn toward independent cinema and art-house projects.

Venice's jury selections matter beyond the Venetian lagoon. The festival's Golden Lion, Silver Lion and Bronze Lion awards carry significant weight in the international film market, influencing which films secure distribution in North America and Europe and which directors gain the momentum to fund future projects. A jury that includes voices from Asia, the Middle East and Africa typically produces winners that broaden the festival's reach and challenge the dominance of European and American narratives in global cinema discourse.

For Italian cinema, the jury composition presents both opportunity and challenge. Italian filmmakers competing in the main section will face judges with diverse aesthetic traditions and priorities. Ben Hania and Sadat, in particular, have championed intimate, character-driven narratives often rooted in specific cultural contexts—work that may resonate differently with juries shaped by different film histories than those dominated by critics trained in European modernism. The festival runs from 27 August to 6 September.