THE JURY
21st MONTREAL WORLD FILM FESTIVAL
August 22 - September 2 1997

Montreal, August 11, 1997 - The seven members of the jury of the 21st Montreal World Film Festival were announced today by Dani�le Cauchard, Vice-president, and Serge Losique, President.

The seven members are: Quebec director Claude Fournier, American critic Michael Wilmington, Spanish producer and director Gerardo Herrero, Russian screenwriter and director Sergei Bodrov, Indian director Shyam Benegal, Italian screenwriter and director Giovanna Gagliardo and Brasilian director Luiz Carlos Barreto.

Claude Fournier's directorial debut, DEUX FEMMES EN OR (1970), was one of the all-time box-office hits of Quebec cinema. He has since directed THE TIN FLUTE (adapted from the novel by Gabrielle Roy, 1982), LES TISSERANDS DU POUVOIR a feature and a TV mini-series, 1986) and most recently J'EN SUIS! (1997). As a screenwriter, he has adapted Arlette Cousture's novel, CES ENFANTS D'AILLEURS, for television. He is also the author of two collections of poems, one novel ("Les tisserands du pouvoir") and one essay ("Ren� L�vesque, portrait d'un homme seul").

Former Vice-president of the Los Angeles Film Critics' Association, Michael Wilmington has been chief film critic for the Chicago Tribune since 1993. He has taught at UCLA, the University of Southern California and Cal Arts, and currently teaches at the University of Chicago. He was co-author, with Joseph McBride, of the book "John Ford", published in 1973, and has contributed extensively to such film journals as Film Comment, Sight and Sound, Film Quarterly, L.A. Style, L.A. Weekly and Milwaukee Magazine.

Gerardo Herrero studied law and worked as an attorney before he became interested in filmmaking. He has since directed AL ACECHO (1987), DESV�O AL PARA�SO (1994), MAL�NA ES UN NOMBRE DE TANGO (1996) and COMANCHE TERRITORY (1997), presented this year at the Montreal World Film Festival in the Hors Concours section. He has also produced films by Spanish directors and has participated in several international co-productions. He was the producer of FALLEN FROM HEAVEN (Caidos Del Cielo), directed by Francisco Lombardi, winner of the Grand Prize of the Americas at the WFF in 1990.

Born in Khabarovsk, Russia, Sergei Bodrov studied screenwriting and worked as a journalist and won numerous literary prizes. After a lengthy career as a screenwriter, he directed NON-PROFESSIONALS (1987), FREEDOM IS PARADISE (Grand Prize of the Americas at the 1989 Montreal World Film Festival), THE GAMBLER (1990), I WANTED TO SEE ANGELS (1992), WHITE KING, RED QUEEN (1992) and PRISONER OF THE MOUNTAINS (Felix for best European script, 1996).

After studies in economy and a career in advertising, Indian director Shyam Benegal turned to television before directing some twenty films among which NISHANT (1975), JUNOON (1978), ANTARNAAD (1981), TRIKAAL (1985), SURAJ KA SATVAN GHODA (1992), THE MAKING OF THE MAHATMA (1995, presented at the Montreal World Film Festival in 1996) and SARDARI BEGUM (1997) presented this year at the WFF in the Cinema of Today section.

Giovanna Gagliardo, from Italy, began her career as a journalist before switching to screenwriting. She wrote all the scripts of Hungarian director Miklos Jancs�'s Italian films. She has served as a member of the Film Commission for the Italian Ministry of Culture, and has also directed several films, MATERNALE (1978), LA VIA DEGLI SPECCHI (1982) and CALDO SUFFOCANTE (1990).

Brasilian Luiz Carlos Barreto worked as a photographer, reporter and movie director (THIS IS PELE, 1974) before becoming one of the key producers of Brazilian Cinema Novo. Along with many films by Glauber Rocha, Carlos Diegues and Nelson Pereira dos Santos, he produced most of the films by his sons F�bio (INDIA, THE DAUGHTER OF THE SON, O QUATRILHO) and Bruno (DO�a flor and her two husbands, amor bandido and O QUE � ISSO, COMPANHEIRO?). O QUE � ISSO, COMPANHEIRO will be presented at the Festival in the Hors Concours section.