08/08/2019

Brazilian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz to serve as president of the jury

Brazilian film director Karim Aïnouz will be serving as president of the 28 Times Cinema jury that is assigning the GdA Director's Award for the sixth year in a row. A regular on the European festival circuit, Aïnouz recently earned kudos at Cannes for his seventh feature film, A Vida Invisível de Eurídice Gusmão (The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao), winner of the award for best film in Un Certain Regard 2019.

Aïnouz made his debut on the Croisette with his film Madame Sata in 2002, while his Praia do Futuro (Futuro Beach) premiered at the Berlinale in 2014. Venice Film Festival audiences will be familiar with his films O Céu de Suely (Love for Sale) and Viajo Porque Preciso, Volto Porque te Amo (I Travel because I have to, I come back because I love you), the latter co-directed with Marcelo Gomes, and both selected for the Orizzonti section in 2006 and 2009 respectively.

Karim Aïnouz trained as an architect and filmmaker in Brazil and New York. Today he lives and works in Berlin and mediates between the European cultural scene and that of Brazil. In the spirit of this role, and with a filmography that includes TV series (Alice, thirteen episodes for HBO Latin America), documentaries and short films, not to mention art installations in the United States and Brazil, Aïnouz will be heading a jury of twenty-eight young cinephiles, each from one of the twenty-eight countries in the European Union, and all in charge of selecting this year's winner from among the eleven films in competition.

Previous jury presidents include filmmakers of the caliber of Laurent Cantet, Bruce LaBruce and Samira Makhmalbaf, among others, and most recently Jonas Carpignano in 2018. "The decision to tap Ainouz to head our jury," Giorgio Gosetti, Giornate's Artistic Director explained, "is further proof of Giornate's keen interest in showcasing the talent behind contemporary cinema, which is global and inclusive. With his Brazilian soul and his Berliner persona, Karim epitomizes this generation of filmmakers, wide-ranging in their scope and attentive viewers of films as well, both important values that they are sure to convey to their 28 young colleagues."

28 Times Cinema turns ten this year. Once again, Giornate degli Autori, the European Parliament's Lux Film Prize and Europa Cinemas, in collaboration with Cineuropa, join forces to bring twenty-eight young film aficionados from all the EU member states to Venice, to select the winner of the GdA Director's Award. All the jury sessions will be moderated by Karel Och, Artistic Director of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, who will be conducting the deliberations and guiding Karim Aïnouz and his young colleagues as they choose this year's winner of the award, with its cash prize of €20,000, to be split between the filmmaker and the international distributor.