BERLIN — The Fribourg Intl. Film Festival has announced this year’s five-member international jury, which includes Indian filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, French director Nicolas Philibert, Swiss helmer Oliver Paulus, Peruvian film restorer Norma Rivera Valdivia and Argentine actor/producer Martina Gusman.
Gusman also produced and stars in Pablo Trapero’s Argentine drama “Leonera,” which opens the fest on March 14.
Trapero, whose film “Mundo Grua” won several awards in Fribourg in 2000, will attend the Swiss premiere of his sixth feature film, which screened in competition last year in Cannes.
Gusman has worked with Trapero since 2001 when she joined his production company, Sargentina.
Gopalakrishnan, who most recently directed 2007’s “Four Women” and last year’s “Oru Pennum Randaanum,” has played a leading role in Indian cinema since the 1970s. The Indian government presented Gopalakrishnan with the country’s highest award for his body of work in 2005.
Philibert started out as an assistant director, working with the likes of Rene Allio, Alain Tanner and Claude Goretta, before going on to win critical acclaim in 2002 for “Etre et avoir,” a documentary about a small school in rural France.
Paulus explored cross-cultural love in 2003’s “Wenn der Richtige kommt” and romance in a retirement home in 2007’s “Wir werden uns wiederseh'n” before turning to India for inspiration in last year’s Swiss Bollywood comedy “Tandori Love.”
Rivera Valdivia headed the Lima Film Archive before taking over the general co-ordination of the Peruvian Filmoteca de la Pontificia Universidad Catolica in 2004. He also played a key role in organizing the Homage to Francisco Lombardi retrospective, which will screen at the Fribourg fest.
The Fribourg fest’s grand prize, the Regard d’Or, is endowed with CHF 30,000 ($24,421), which will be awarded on March 21.
Contact Ed Meza at
ed.meza@mannaa.de