Tarantino to head jury in Venice

Cult director Quentin Tarantino has received a very special honor. At the upcoming Venice Film Festival in September 2010, he will serve as head of the jury, which gets to choose the best entries. A few years ago, appointing Tarantino to head this committee would probably still have been considered a scandal. After all, the film festival is one of the most important events for more discerning cinephiles. But it was not least his collaborations with respected actors and his consistent box-office success around the world that earned the filmmaker this prestigious job.

In Venice, Tarantino will certainly not be a newcomer to the ranks of jury heads. The American had already presided over the awards at Cannes, where the Palme d’Or is presented. For many years, Hollywood found it very difficult to gain a foothold in Venice with its films. The city built on stilts had devoted its film festival entirely to auteur cinema. For a long time, film greats such as Wim Wenders dominated events in the capital of good taste and sophisticated films. Perhaps it was Tarantino’s playful approach to the different genres, which he enjoys linking together in unusual ways, that made the difference. His latest work, “Inglourious Basterds,” therefore received not only positive reviews, although Christoph Waltz—also no stranger in Venice—was able to win an Oscar in Hollywood for his performance.