A PRESTIGIOUS INTERNATIONAL JURY AND AN ARGENTINEAN OPENING FILM

23d Fribourg International Film Festival

The five members of the International Jury of the 23d Fribourg International Film Festival have finally been announced: film directors Adoor Gopalakrishnan (India), Nicolas Philibert (France) and Oliver Paulus (Switzerland), film restorator Norma Rivera Valdivia (Peru), and actor/producer Martina Gusman (Argentina), who plays the main role in Pablo Trapero's Argentinean contribution Leonera, which shall open the festival.  Adoor Gopalakrishnan was born in the State of Kerala, India, in 1941. Since the Seventies, he has been one of the main figures of Indian cinema. His films have garnered numerous awards, both in India and abroad. In 2005, the Indian government rewarded his body of work with the country's highest film award.
Martina Gusman was born in Buenos Aires in 1978. She graduated in Combined Arts from the University of Buenos Aires and took a degree in acting at the Carlos Gandolfo school. From 1998 to 2000 she worked in advertising film production. In 2001 she started working with Pablo Trapero in his film production company, Sargentina.
Oliver Paulus was born in Dornach, Switzerland, in 1969. He studied directing and scriptwriting at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg. His feature films Wenn der Richtige kommt and Wir werden uns wieder seh'n have both earned him international awards. His latest film, the Swiss Bollywood comedy Tandoori Love, was released in Switzerland last January.
Nicolas Philibert was born in Nancy, France, in 1951, and has worked in cinema since the age of 18. He started out as an assistant director, notably working for René Allio, Alain Tanner and Claude Goretta. Nicolas Philibert won massive critical acclaim in 2002 with Etre et avoir, which portrays a class in a primary school.
Norma Rivera Valdivia was born in 1949 in Arequipa, Peru. After having headed the Lima Film Archive, the film restorator took over the general coordination of the Peruvian Filmoteca de la Pontificia Universidad Católica in 2004. Norma Rivera Valdivia has played a key role in organising the Hommage à Francisco Lombardi retrospective, which shall be screened at the FIFF in March.
The Regard d'Or, the Grand Prize of the Fribourg International Film Festival, is endowed with 30.000 Swiss francs and will be awarded on March 21, 2009.
Leonera, by Pablo Trapero, to which Jury member Martina Gusman contributed both as a producer and leading actress, was part of last year's nominees for the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival and will open the 23rd Fribourg International Filmfestival on March 14, 2009. Pablo Trapero, whose film Mundo Grúa was rewarded with several FIFF-awards in 2000, will attend the Swiss premiere of his sixth feature film.
The detailed programme of the 23e edition of the FIFF, especially the 14 full-length feature films and documentaries selected for the international competition will be presented during the press conference on March 3, 2009, in Fribourg.

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