The renowned American filmmaker Alexander Payne will preside over the international jury of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, which will take place from August 27 to September 6. The director of The Holdovers, Sideways, Nebraska, Downsizing, and The Descendants will lead a jury composed of up to nine prominent figures from the worlds of film and culture, hailing from various countries, who will award the coveted Golden Lion for Best Film and the other official prizes.

Upon accepting the invitation, Payne stated: “It is an enormous honor and great joy to serve on the jury in Venice. Although, as a filmmaker, I have mixed feelings 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.”

For his part, the artistic director of the Venice Film Festival, Alberto Barbera, remarked: “Alexander Payne belongs to the small circle of filmmaker-cinephiles whose passion for cinema is fueled by a deep knowledge of films from the past and a curiosity about contemporary cinema, with no boundaries or barriers of any kind. These qualities, along with his experience as a screenwriter, make him the ideal candidate to preside over the Venice jury, which is tasked with evaluating works from around the world. I am grateful to Alexander for accepting my invitation, which seals an acquaintance that dates back to the time of his graduation short film at UCLA.”

Throughout his career, Payne’s films have received a total of 24 Oscar nominations, including four for Best Picture and three for Best Director. He has won twice for Best Adapted Screenplay, for Sideways (2004) and The Descendants (2011). His most recent film, The Holdovers (2023), earned the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Da’Vine Joy Randolph. Payne is currently preparing his next project, which will be shot in rural Denmark.