Montreal World Film Festival

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Billie August 

Norwegian director Billie August (the winner of two Cannes Palme d'or prizes for the PELLE THE CONQUEROR in 1987 and THE BEST INTENTIONS in 1992) is the President of the Jury at this year's Montreal World Film Festival (running from August 26 to September 6).

The famed director and his jury colleagues will determine the Grand Prix des Ameriques, the  Festival's most prestigious award, as well as winners for Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay.

Joining August are the following distinguished jurors:

Irene Bignardi: Milan-born Irene Bignardi studied at Stanford University on a Fulbright Fellowship before beginning her career as a journalist and film critic at Repubblica when the Italian daily was founded in 1976. In the 1980s she wrote film reviews for the magazine L’Espresso. She became director of the International Film Noir Festival of Cattolica before assisting Gillo Pontecorvo at the Venice Festival for its Venice Days section. She directed the Locarno Festival from 2001 to 2005. She was named Commander of the Italian Republic, the country’s highest civilian honour.

Anne-Marie Cadieux: Star of stage, screen and television, Anne-Marie Cadieux made her auspicious film debut in Robert Lepage’s The Confessional, for which she won the 1996 prix Luce-Guilbault for new actors at the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois, along with a nomination at the Genie Awards. She followed that with another Genie nomination in Lepage’s Nô and a Prix Jutra for her role in Charles Binamé’s Le coeur au poing. Most recently she appeared in Jacob Tierney’s The Trotsky, and she will again be on local screens this fall in Tierney’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce as well as Voyez comme ils dansent by Claude Miller.

Marwan Hamed: Marwan Hamed apprenticed as assistant director to several veteran Egyptian filmmakers -- Sherif Arafa, Samir Seif, Khairy Beshara, etc. -- before establishing his own reputation directing commercials. In 2001 he directed his first big screen film, a short drama, Lilly, which won prizes at Carthage and other festivals. He has also directed two short documentaries as well as several fiction shorts. The Yacoubian Building, his 2005 feature debut, became one of the all-time Egyptian box office hits. He directed Ibrahim Labyad in 2007.

Igor Minaev: Born in Kharkhov, Ukraine, Igor Minaiev graduated from the Karpenko-Kary National theatre school in Kiev and worked in the Odessa film studios. When perestroika swept over the USSR, Minaiev emigrated to France where he taught and worked as a theatre director. His first film, Cold Mars (1987), was selected for the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. He directed Isabelle Huppert in The Flood in 1994, then Moon Meadows (2002) and Far From Sunset Boulevard (2005). A talented visual artist as well, Minaev teaches at FEMIS, the Paris film school.

Édouard Molinaro: French film director, actor, and screenwriter, Édouard Molinaro is best known for his comedies with Louis de Funès (Oscar, etc.), My Uncle Benjamin (with Jacques Brel and Claude Jade), Dracula and Son (with Christopher Lee), and the Academy Award-nominated La Cage aux Folles (with Michel Serrault and Ugo Tognazzi). In 1992 he directed a star-studded cast in Le Souper and, in 1996, Fabrice Luchini in the title role of Beaumarchais the Scoundrel. He has worked extensively in French television as well. In 1996 he was awarded the Prix René Clair by the Académie française for his career achievements.

Lijung Tang: Lijung Tang graduated in law from the East China Normal University and has an EMBA degree from the Anitai College of Economics and Management. She has directed the Shanghai Festivals of Film and Television since 2006. It is under her stewardship that these events have become among the most important in the Asia and Pacific regions. 

Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Dailies Editor