Each year, the jury of the Venice Film Festival is chaired by an internationally recognized personality of cinema.
From 1935 to 1939, senator and entrepreneur Giuseppe Volpi, founder of the Festival, held the office of president of the jury. Volpi, together with journalist Mario Gromo holds the record of acting as Jury President for 5 times.
The first foreign president of the jury was Scottish documentarian John Grierson. The first woman who held the office of president of the jury was screenwriter Suso Cecchi d'Amico.
In 1992, two people held the office of president of the jury together: actor Dennis Hopper and director Jiří Menzel.
From 1940 to 1942 the Festivals are considered as not disputed, while from 1943 to 1945 the Festival wasn't organized due to World War II. From 1969 to 1972 and in 1979 the Festival was not competitive, while from 1973 to 1978 the Festival was not organized.
Main competition jury presidents
Year President Profession 1935 Giuseppe Volpi Producer 1936 1937 1938 1939 1947 Vinicio Marinucci Journalist, Filmmaker 1948 Luigi Chiarini 1949 Mario Gromo Journalist 1950 1951 1952 1953 Eugenio Montale Poet 1954 Ignazio Silone 1955 Mario Gromo Journalist 1956 John Grierson Documentarian 1957 René Clair Filmmaker 1958 Jean Grémillon 1959 Luigi Chiarini Journalist, Filmmaker 1960 Marcel Achard Screenwriter 1961 Filippo Sacchi Journalist 1962 Luigi Chiarini Journalist, Filmmaker 1963 Arturo Lanocita Journalist 1964 Mario Soldati Filmmaker 1965 Carlo Bo Poet 1966 Giorgio Bassani 1967 Alberto Moravia 1968 Guido Piovene Journalist 1980 Suso Cecchi d'Amico Screenwriter 1981 Italo Calvino Poet 1982 Marcel Carné Filmmaker 1983 Bernardo Bertolucci 1984 Michelangelo Antonioni 1985 Krzysztof Zanussi 1986 Alain Robbe-Grillet 1987 Irene Papas Actress 1988 Sergio Leone Filmmaker 1989 Andrei Smirnov Actor 1990 Gore Vidal Poet, Screenwriter 1991 Gian Luigi Rondi Journalist 1992 Dennis Hopper Actor, Director Jiří MenzelFilmmaker 1993 Peter Weir 1994 David Lynch 1995 Jorge Semprún Poet 1996 Roman Polanski Filmmaker 1997 Jane Campion 1998 Ettore Scola 1999 Emir Kusturica 2000 Miloš Forman 2001 Nanni Moretti Actor and Filmmaker 2002 Gong Li Actress 2003 Mario Monicelli Filmmaker 2004 John Boorman 2005 Dante Ferretti Production Designer 2006 Catherine Deneuve Actress 2007 Zhang Yimou Filmmaker 2008 Wim Wenders 2009 Ang Lee 2010 Quentin Tarantino 2011 Darren Aronofsky 2012 Michael Mann 2013 Bernardo Bertolucci 2014 Alexandre Desplat Composer 2015 Alfonso Cuarón Filmmaker 2016 Sam Mendes 2017 Annette Bening Actress 2018 Guillermo del Toro Filmmaker 2019 Lucrecia Martel 2020 Cate Blanchett Actress 2021 Bong Joon-ho Filmmaker 2022 Julianne Moore Actress 2023 Damien Chazelle Filmmaker 2024 Isabelle Huppert Actress 2025 Alexander Payne Filmmaker 2026 Maggie Gyllenhaal Actress and Filmmaker
Multiple time presidents
The following individuals served as president of the jury two or more times:
Times President 5 Mario Gromo Giuseppe Volpi 3 Luigi Chiarini 2 Bernardo Bertolucci
See also List of Berlin International Film Festival jury presidents List of Cannes Film Festival jury presidents