Nadine Labaki, Elsa Zylberstein Join Jury for Industry-Leading Impact Award at Venice Film Festival (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.comManori Ravindran Executive Editor of International The Venice Film Festival is rolling out a juried impact award that will mark the first time a major film festival has awarded a prize focused solely on impact.
Impact campaigns are crafted around documentaries and some narrative films that have strong social or political messages that can inspire action among audiences and the industry at large.
While the field has been around for the last decade, Venice’s Collateral Impact Award, which was created in partnership with ThinkFilm Impact Production, is the first time an impact-specific award is being presented at an A-list festival. “This is an industry first — it’s not been seen anywhere,” ThinkFilm Impact Production founder and CEO Danielle Turkov Wilson told Variety. “I’ve been working at Cannes at the industry level for years, but to see something like this at the competition level is wonderful.” Venice organizers said the award will honor a film in the official selection that “has the greatest potential to unlock human potential and have a transformative impact on society.” “At a time when the film industry is reckoning with its own practices and ethics, this impact award is key to re-centering on the intrinsic value of people and drawing attention to issues that get left unnoticed,” added organizers.
The award will be decided by a jury comprised of French César-winning actor and producer Elsa Zylberstein (“I’ve Loved You So Long”), Mexican actor and Oscar nominee Yalitza Aparicio (“Roma”), Lebanese actor, director and activist Nadine Labaki (“Costa Brava Lebanon”), British-Nigerian screenwriter Misan Sagay (“Belle”) and famed Italian director Stefano Savona (“Samouni Road,” “The Walls of Bergamo”).
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