Zhang Yimou to Chair Jury of Film Festival

　　The 50th anniversary in 1982 saw a prestigious International Jury formed entirely of film directors, and the same formula has been adopted for the 75th anniversary of the 64th Venice Film Festival. Invited to chair it is the filmmaker who, in the whole history of the Festival, has won most major awards, making a place for himself amongst the protagonists of cinema world-wide: the Chinese director, Zhang Yimou. The decision was made by the Biennale di Venezia, which approved the proposal made by Marco Müller, director of the 64th Venice Film Festival. The festival will run from August 29 to September 8.

　　Zhang Yimou has been present four times in competition in the Venice Film Festival - in 1991 with Raise the Red Lantern (Da hong deng long gao gao gua), in 1992 with The Story of Qiu Ju (Qiu Ju da guan si), in 1997 with Keep Cool (You hua hao hao shuo) and in 1999 with Not One Less (Yi ge dou bu neng shao). He has won two Golden Lions, in 1992 and 1999, one Silver Lion in 1991, and one Coppa Volpi for best female star (Gong Li, in 1992 for The Story of Qiu Ju). Zhang is the only director in the world to have won all the most important awards in the Venice Film Festival in less than ten years.