The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) just announced that non other than horror and thriller auteur Brian De Palma (Phantom of the Paradise, Carrie, Dressed to Kill) will sit on the jury for Platform, the program that champions directors’ cinema from around the world.
Joining De Palma on the 2016 Platform jury will be filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun and acclaimed actor Zhang Ziyi. Together, they will award a prize of $25,000 to the best Platform selection, to be announced at the Festival Awards Ceremony on September 18.
“We are honored to have De Palma, Haroun, and Zhang on the Platform Jury for the programme’s second year. Each one of them brings a breadth of expertise and experience in visionary filmmaking, artistic direction, and unprecedented, bold narratives,” said Piers Handling, Director and CEO of TIFF. “We are thankful to our esteemed jury for making the time to be here this September to celebrate our renewed commitment to artistically ambitious filmmaking with Platform.”
“Platform’s vision is championing aesthetic magnificence and De Palma, Zhang, and Haroun, have all either created or been a part of films that have inspired, revolutionized, and transformed the filmmaking industry,” said Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of the Toronto International Film Festival. “We are thrilled the jury members will be able to share their wealth of knowledge with this year’s Platform filmmakers who are creating groundbreaking narrative forms. We can’t wait for the jury to join us in Toronto and be a part of Platform’s history.”
Inspired by Jia Zhang-ke’s groundbreaking film of the same name, Platform shines the spotlight on 12 films of high artistic merit that demonstrate a strong directorial vision. The lineup was announced on August 11, 2016 and can be found on TIFF.net/platform.
The 41st Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 8 to 18, 2016.
