Renowned French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius, an Academy Award winner for his acclaimed film The Artist, will preside over the Jury of the Competition Programme – Feature Film of the 26th Sarajevo Film Festival, the festival announced.
After presenting his film The Search at the 20th Sarajevo Film Festival in 2014, Hazanavicius is back again for the 2020 Sarajevo Film Festival and with four other Jury members of the Competition Programme – Feature Film. These five will be deciding the winners of the Heart of Sarajevo Awards.
“Hazanavicius is an author known for his strong stylistic expression who always re-examines his relationship with film, its language, and history. Let’s remember that, in a new millennium, his film The Artist has made the whole world enjoy once again a supposedly outdated film format – silent film,” said Mirsad Purivatra, the Sarajevo Film Festival director.
As jury’s president of the 26th edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival, Hazanavicius joins the most acclaimed filmmakers who presided over the jury in previous editions: Mike Leigh (2004), Miki Manojlović (2005), Jasmila Žbanić (2006), Jeremy Irons (2007), Nuri Bilge Ceylan (2008), Mirjana Karanović (2009), Cristi Puiu (2010), Ari Folman (2011), Kornél Mundruczó (2012), Danis Tanović (2013), Béla Tarr (2014), Călin Peter Netzer (2015), Elia Suleiman (2016), Michel Franco (2017), Asghar Farhadi (2018), and Ruben Östlund (2019).
Michel Hazanavicius was born in 1967 in Paris, France. He attended art school and directed commercials and television projects after graduating. After his first short film Echec Au Capital and several collaborations on scripts, he shot his first feature in 1999, with the title Mes Amis. In 2006, he directed his second feature OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies and in 2009 OSS 17: Lost In Rio.
In 2011 he created The Artist, a black-and-white silent film, starring Bérénice Bejo and Jean Dujardin, which won five Oscars in 2012, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor for Dujardin, while Bejo was an Oscar nominee for Best Supporting Actress. The Artist was also awarded three Golden Globe Awards, seven BAFTA Awards, the Best Actor Award for Dujardin at Cannes in 2011 -where the film premiered-, and many other awards.
After The Artist (2011), Hazanavicius directed a segment for the sketch film The Players in 2012, then moved on to direct The Search (2014), which was in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and then Redoubtable (2017), which was also in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. His latest film is The Lost Prince (2020), his 7th feature film, starring Bérénice Bejo and Omar Sy.
The 26th Sarajevo Film Festival will be held from 14th to 21st of August 2020.
