ROME, May 8, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - French actress Isabelle Huppert, best known for 
her role as a sado-masochist in "The Piano Teacher", will lead the jury at 
this year's Venice Film Festival, organisers announced Wednesday.

The 81st edition of the prestigious festival will take place from August 28 
through September 7 on the beach-lined Lido island.

"There is a long and beautiful history between the Festival and I," said 
Huppert, who has won Venice's Coppa Volpi for best actress twice, for Claude 
Chabrol's "Story of Women" and "La Ceremonie", in 1988 and 1995 respectively.

"Becoming a privileged spectator is an honour. More than ever, cinema is a 
promise. The promise to escape, to disrupt, to surprise, to take a good look 
at the world, united in the differences of our tastes and ideas," the 71-
year-old said.

Last year, the festival's top Golden Lion prize went to Greek director Yorgos 
Lanthimos's "Poor Things", a feminist reworking of Frankenstein.

The 2023 jury was led by US director Damien Chazelle, best known for the 
Oscar-winning "La La Land".