On July 11, the 71st Locarno International Film Festival (https://www.locarnofestival.ch/pardo/festival-del-film-locarno/home.html) officially announced the jury list, with Chinese director Jia Zhangke as the chairman of the jury of the main competition unit of this film festival.
Locarno International Film Festival is one of the oldest large-scale international film festivals in the history of the world film industry, together with Cannes, Venice and Berlin, known as the "four major film festivals in Europe", known as the "Prince of Film Festivals". As an international A-category film festival and an official Swiss film festival, it has a profound impact on the industry.
The jury of this year's Locarno International Film Festival is composed of five people from the film and cultural circles, in addition to the chairman jia Zhangke, the jury also includes French director Emmanuel Cary ("Beard", "Return to the Iron Window"), American director Sean Baker ("Florida Paradise", "Orange"), Italian director Tiza Corvi ("Mysterious Universe", "Shining Day") and Italian actress Isabella Lagonese ("Sea Purple", "Our Life").
Born in 1970 in Fenyang, Shanxi Province, China, Jia Zhangke has been a film director since 1995 and has served as a jury member at international film festivals on several occasions. In 2007, Jia Zhangke served as the chairman of the jury of the short film and film cornerstone section of the 60th Cannes International Film Festival, and in the same year, he was appointed as the jury member of the main competition section of the 60th Locarno International Film Festival.
In 2011 he was Chairman of the Jury of the Horizon Section of the Venice International Film Festival and in 2014 he was a jury member of the Main Competition Section of the 67th Cannes International Film Festival. In 2016, Jia Zhangke also served as a jury member of the main competition section of the San Sebastian International Film Festival.
As a screenwriter and director, many films written and directed by Jia Zhangke have won awards at major international film festivals, including the Golden Lion Award for Best Film at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival ("The Good Man of the Three Gorges") and the Best Screenplay Award at the 66th Cannes International Film Festival ("Destiny of Heaven"). In 2013, Jia Zhangke was elected as one of the world's top 100 thinkers of the American "Diplomatic Magazine", and in 2015, he won the "Golden Carriage Award" for lifetime achievement in the "Director's Fortnight" section of the Cannes Film Festival.
In 2015, he was selected as one of the "Top 10 Asian Directors of All Time" by the Busan International Film Festival. In 2018, its latest film work "Children of the Jianghu" was shortlisted for the main competition unit of the Cannes International Film Festival, the film tells a love story spanning 17 years, and the violent and moving story between the heroine Qiaoqiao and her "big brother" lover Bin Ge was well received by global audiences after its premiere in Cannes, and the film has been scheduled for national release on September 21 this year.
It is reported that this year's Locarno International Film Festival will be held from August 1 to 11, 2018.