Portuguese film producer Paulo Branco will head the jury at the 64th Locarno International Film Festival, scheduled for August 3-13, at Piazza Grande, in the Swiss-Italian town of Locarno.
Branco will preside over a jury that includes French actor and director Louis Garrel (The Dreamers by Bernardo Bertolucci), German actress Sandra Hüller (Requiem by Hans-Christian Schmid), Swiss filmmaker Bettina Oberli (The Murder Farm) and Italian actress Jasmine Trinca (The Best of Youth by Marco Tullio Giordana).
Branco’s filmography includes more than 235 productions with directors such as Manoel de Oliveira, Wim Wenders, Sharunas Bartas, Alain Tanner, João César Monteiro, Raúl Ruiz and Michel Piccoli.
His productions include the world acclaimed “Francisca” by Manoel de Oliveira, 1981; “In the White City” by Alain Tanner, 1983; “Come and Go” by João César Monteiro, 2003; and “Mysteries of Lisbon” by Raoul Ruiz, 2010.
“Mysteries of Lisbon” is scheduled to open in New York City, on August 5, at Lincoln Center’s new Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, followed by a national roll out.
Paulo Branco was born in Lisbon in 1950. He has founded 3 production companies, Madragoa Films, Gemini Films, and Spider Pictures.
He was a member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1999 and the Venice Film Festival in 2006. Since 2007, he is the Director of the Estoril Film Festival. He has also appeared as an actor in 9 films.
Branco has received numerous international awards and distinctions namely the title of Knight of the Arts and Humanities of the French Republic, awarded by President Jacques Chirac in 2004; the Golden Horse
The leopard statuette, designed by local sculptor Remo Rossi is the Locarno Film Festival prize since 1968.
Award at the 2005 Taipé Film Festival; the Raimondo Rezzonico Award for Independent Producers at the 2002 Locarno International Film Festival; and the Best European Producer Award in 1999 by the European Parliament.
Throughout its 64 year history, the Locarno International Film Festival has occupied a unique position in the landscape of the major film festivals. Every August, around 180,000 cinema-goers, 1,100 journalists, and 3,400 professionals converge on the small Swiss-Italian town of Locarno, right in the heart of Europe, which becomes the world capital of auteur cinema for eleven days. Locarno will have about 20 features competing in the 2011 festival edition.
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