South African helmer-producer Tebobo Mahlatsi will preside over the jury of the Venice Film Festival's Corto Cortissimo sidebar, dedicated to short films, where 17 entries from 15 countries are set to unspool.
A Johannesburg native, Mahlatsi won Venice's shorts prize in 1999 before becoming a writer-director with "Yizo Yizo," the gritty township-set TV drama that has been a big local draw.
A new short work by Mahlatsi titled "Meogo and the Stickfighter" will open the section Sept. 7, out of competition.
Rounding out the Venice shorts jury are Russian helmer Alexei Fedorchenko ("First People on the Moon") and Italo film editor Francesca Calvelli ("No Man's Land").
They will assign the Corto Cortissimo Lion, the UIP prize for European short and a Special Mention.
In related news, Venice will host an 18-pic retro of Russian musicals.
"The Secret History of Russian Cinema" showcases classics like Grigory Alexandrov's 1934 "Jolly Fellows" and his 1938 "Volga-Volga", and Ivan Pyryev's four films in the genre, such as "The Swineherd and the Shepherd" from 1941.
Venice director Marco Muller said that much of Soviet film history remains almost unknown in the West, and that this year's strand was a bid to address that. Venice fest runs Aug. 30-Sept. 9.
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