Venice 2025: Alexander Payne announced as jury president
Director Alexander Payne has been announced as the jury president for this year’s Venice Film Festival, which is set to run for ten days in August and September.
When the news was revealed on April 28th, the filmmaker said: “It’s an enormous honour and joy to serve on the jury at Venice. Although I share a filmmaker’s ambivalence about comparing films against one another, I revere the Venice Film Festival’s nearly 100-year history of loudly celebrating film as an art form. I couldn’t be more excited.”
Payne comes off the back of a prolific turn as director of the critically acclaimed film The Holdovers, which won big throughout the 2024 awards season, including with an Oscar for ‘Best Supporting Actress’ for its star Da’Vine Joy Randolph.
He is also behind other iconic films, including 2004’s Sideways and 2013’s Nebraska, which have lauded him as one of Hollywood’s finest directors spanning the genres of drama and comedy.
As part of his role at the Venice Film Festival, Payne will oversee the international jury that awards its most prestigious prizes, culminating in the Golden Lion for ‘Best Film’.
The festival’s director, Alberto Barbera, noted: “Alexander Payne belongs to the small circle of filmmakers-cinephiles whose passion for cinema is fuelled by knowledge of films of the past and curiosity about contemporary cinema, without boundaries or barriers of any kind.”
He added: “These qualities – along with his experience as a screenwriter – make him an ideal candidate to preside over the work of the Venice Jury, which is called upon to evaluate films from around the world.”
Payne assumes the role of president following on from French actress Isabelle Huppert, who took charge of the jury last year.
The Venice Film Festival will take place from August 27th to September 6th, 2025.
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