Farhadi will judge alongside Swiss director Petra Volpe and producer Daniel Dreifuss.
Iranian film director Asghar Farhadi will preside over the jury for the International Feature Film Competition at this year’s Zurich Film Festival.
The festival will run from September 22 to October 2, 2022.
He will be joined by Swiss director and screenwriter Petra Biondina Volpe (The Divine Order) and producer Daniel Marc Dreifuss (All Quiet on the Western Front).
The acclaimed producer Christine Vachon (Boys Don’t Cry) will head the festival’s Focus Competition sidebar.
The festival’s Documentary Film Competition will be headed by Alexander Nanau, Atanas Georgiev, Joelle Bertossa, Nina Numankadić, and Sushmit Ghosh.
Farhadi made his directorial debut with Dance in the Dust (2003) and Beautiful City (2004). About Elly (2009) won the Silver Bear for Best Director in Berlin. His film A Separation (2011) became a sensation. It got critical acclaim inside and outside of Iran; it was awarded many prizes, among them the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, making him the first Iranian filmmaker ever to win an Oscar. Back in Iran, Farhadi made The Salesman, awarded Best Screenplay and Best Actor for Shahab Hosseini in Cannes (2016). The film also brought the second Oscar for Iran in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Farhadi’s last film, A Hero, in Competition at the Festival de Cannes last year, was awarded Grand Prix.
Christian Jungen, artistic director of the Zurich Film Festival, said: “We are delighted that the two-time Academy Award-winning Asghar Farhadi is returning to the ZFF to preside over the Feature Film Competition jury. The producer Christine Vachon and the documentary filmmaking master Alexander Nanau are also no strangers to the ZFF. Our competitions are committed to promoting new talent, so it’s an encouragement to all participants that the juries are presided over by such inspiring greats of international auteur cinema.”
They will each present a Golden Eye endowed with a CHF 25’000 cash prize during the Award Night at Zurich Opera House on October 1, 2022.
Sally El Hosaini’s latest The Swimmers will open the festival.
