JURY

France’s Laurent Cantet premiered his latest film The Workshop (L’Atelier) in Un Certain Regard at Cannes this year.

One of the most celebrated directors at work today, Cantet won the Palme d’Or in Cannes in 2008 and an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film for his now classic school-room drama The Class (Entre Les Murs).

His first feature Human Resources won the Cesar for best first feature and the European Film Award for discovery of the year in 1999, and, since then, his films have been fixtures at the world’s top film festivals. They include Time Out (2001), Heading South (2005), Foxfire: Confessions Of A Girl Gang (2012) and Return To Ithaca (2014).

The Workshop, which stars Marina Fois and newcomer Matthieu Lucci, is the story of a group of teenagers in a small coastal town in southern France who have been selected for a summer workshop with a famous Parisian novelist. Cantet co-wrote it with his frequent collaborator Robin Campillo.

Jessica Hausner’s debut short film Flora won the Leopard of Tomorrow at the Locarno Film Festival in 1996 and Inter-view, her graduation film from the Filmacademy Vienna, won the prix du jury of the Cinefondation at the Cannes Film Festival in 1999.

Her first feature film Lovely Rita had its world premiere in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2001 before being distributed in 20 territories. Her second feature Hotel was also selected for Un Certain Regard in 2004.

Her third feature Lourdes played in competition at Venice 2009 where it won the FIPRESCI prize and went on to wide international distribution and acclaim. Sylvie Testud won the best actress European Film Award for her performance in the film

Her fourth feature Amour Fou was again selected for Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2014.

Born in 1961 in Shanghai, Joan Chen began her film career at the age of 14. Her performance in Little Flower (1980) catapulted her to fame in China. Chen moved to the U.S. in 1981 and has since appeared in over eighty films and television shows, including Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (1987), David Lynch’s Twin Peaks(1990), Oliver Stone’s Heaven and Earth (1993), Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution, Jiang Wen’s The Sun Also Rises, HBO’sSerangoon Road, and Netflix’s Marco Polo.  Her memorable performances won her numerous honors, among which Best Actress Awards in the Taiwan Golden Horse for Red Rose, White Rose (1994) and The Home Song Stories (2009).

Chen’s directorial debut in 1997 was critically acclaimed and award winning Xiu Xiu: The Sent-down Girl. Her second effort behind the camera was Autumn in New York in 2000, starring Richard Gere and Wynona Ryder. This year, Chen wrote and directed her third feature film, based on a Chinese novel named English.

Chen has served as Juror at a number of International Film Festivals around the world, such as Berlin, Venice, Shanghai, San Sebastian, Hawaii, Antalya, and St. Petersberg. She was the President of the Jury at Golden Horse Awards in 2014.

Lawrence Osborne is a highly successful novelist and journalist born and raised in the UK who has lived a nomadic life around the world in Paris, New York, Mexico, Istanbul and Bangkok where he currently resides.

His first novel Ania Malina was published in 1986 and he has written travel books, essay collections and memoirs not to mention countless contributions to publications including The New York Times, Salon, The New Yorker and Newsweek.

His Morocco-set 2012 novel The Forgiven achieved huge acclaim and was named one of the best books of 2012 by The Economist and The Guardian while his 2014 novel The Ballad Of A Small Player – set in Macao – was named one of the year’s best by The New York Times and NPR in the US.

His subsequent novels Hunters In The Dark (2016) set in Cambodia and Beautiful Animals (2017) set on a Greek island cemented his position as one of the most popular novelists of our time.

The Forgiven, The Ballad Of A Small Player and Beautiful Animals have all been optioned for big screen adaptations.

Award-winning filmmaker, Royston Tan, is known for his distinctive knack for cinematic narrative, original directorial style and an innate ability to connect with his audience.

Besides his extensive list of short films, Tan has been recognised for his feature films such as 15 (2003), 4:30 (2006), 881 (2007), 12 Lotus (2008) and 3688 (2015), collecting over 80 international and local film awards for his works.