Venezia 83 completes its International Jury

La Biennale di Venezia has announced the full composition of the International Jury for the Venezia 83 Competition, the main section of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, scheduled in Venice between September 2 and September 12, 2026.

The jury will be chaired by Maggie Gyllenhaal, whose appointment as President was announced on April 23. The newly confirmed members are Tunisian director and screenwriter Kaouther Ben Hania, British composer and artist Daniel Blumberg, Italian and American professor Francesco Casetti, French director and screenwriter Xavier Giannoli, Afghan filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat, and Hong Kong director and producer Johnnie To.

The decision was made by the Board of Directors of La Biennale di Venezia, following the recommendation of the Festival’s Artistic Director, Alberto Barbera.

A jury built around cinema, music and film thought

The 2026 Competition jury brings together artists whose work reflects different relationships with cinema: directing, acting, screenwriting, composition, production and critical theory.

Kaouther Ben Hania has built a filmography that moves between fiction and documentary, often examining power, injustice and the vulnerability of individuals within oppressive systems. Her most recent film, The Voice of Hind Rajab, was presented in Competition at Venice, where it won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Her previous work, Four Daughters, won L’Œil d’Or at Cannes and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature, while The Man Who Sold His Skin was nominated for Best International Feature Film.

Daniel Blumberg joins the jury after a period of major international recognition as a composer. Based in London, his practice crosses songwriting, improvisation, drawing and sound. His scores include The Brutalist by Brady Corbet, Below The Clouds by Gianfranco Rosi, and The Testament of Ann Lee by Mona Fastvold. In 2025, he won both the Academy Award and the BAFTA for his music for The Brutalist. Blumberg is also active as a visual artist, with work exhibited in institutions and galleries including Triennale di Milano, ICA London, Kunsthal Rotterdam and KW Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin.

Festival experience and academic authority

The presence of Francesco Casetti adds a major scholarly perspective to the jury. Sterling Professor of Humanities and Film and Media Studies at Yale University, Casetti has also taught and held visiting positions in Europe and the United States. His books include Inside the Gaze, Theories of Cinema 1945-1990, Eye of the Century, The Lumière Galaxy and Screening Fears: On Protective Media. His work has been central to contemporary film and media studies, with particular attention to spectatorship, screen culture and the transformations of the cinematic experience.

French filmmaker Xavier Giannoli has a long-standing connection with international festivals. Born in Paris, he first gained recognition with L’Interview, winner of the Palme d’Or for short film at Cannes in 1998. His feature films include Marguerite and Lost Illusions, which won the César Award for Best Film in 2022. He also wrote and directed Of Money and Blood for Canal+, presented at the Venice Film Festival in 2023. His latest film is Les Rayons et les ombres.

Afghan cinema and Hong Kong genre mastery

Shahrbanoo Sadat, born in 1991 and currently based in Hamburg after the fall of Kabul in 2021, is developing a five-part film cycle inspired by the unpublished autobiographical manuscript of her collaborator Anwar Hashimi. The first chapter, Wolf and Sheep, premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2016, where it received the Art Cinema Award. The second, The Orphanage, also screened at Directors’ Fortnight in 2019. The third, No Good Men, opened the Berlinale in 2026. Sadat’s cinema foregrounds Afghan stories, gender, memory and representation through a clearly feminist perspective.

Completing the jury is Johnnie To, one of the defining figures of Hong Kong cinema. Known internationally for his work in action and crime cinema, To has built a filmography marked by narrative precision, dramatic tension and rigorous visual composition. He previously served on the Venice jury in 2008. Four of his films premiered at the festival: Throw Down, Exiled, Mad Detective (co-directed with Ka-Fai Wai), and Life Without Principle.

The awards

The International Jury of Venezia 83 will assign the official Competition awards, with no joint prizes allowed. The prizes are the Golden Lion for Best Film, the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, the Silver Lion for Best Director, the Coppa Volpi for Best Actress, the Coppa Volpi for Best Actor, the Special Jury Prize, the Award for Best Screenplay, and the “Marcello Mastroianni” Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress.