IFFI-2008 - International Film Festival of India

COMPETITION
JURY
IFFI-2008
Peter Ho-Sun Chan
(Chairman)
Peter Ho-Sun Chan co-founded the United Filmmakers
Organization (UFO) in Hong Kong in the early 1990s,
and produced a solid track record of box office and
critical hits. Chan has made an indelible mark on both
sides of the Pacific with his Hong Kong comedy-dramas
Alan and Eric: Between Hello and Goodbye; Tom, Dick
& Harry and He's a Women, She's a Man. His
commercially and critically acclaimed Comrades:
Almost a Love Story was named one of the Ten Best
Movies of 1997 by Time Magazine and swept a recordbreaking
nine Hong Kong Film Awards. In 1998, he was
voted one of the Top Ten Helmers to watch by Variety.
Chan also directed the romantic comedy The Love Letter
for Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks SKG in 1999. Chan
furthered his vision for international collaborations by
establishing his own company, Applause Pictures Ltd, in
year 2000. The films produced include: Jan Dara
(Thailand-Hong Kong), One Fine Spring Day (Japan-
Korea-Hong Kong), The Eye (Singapore-Thailand-Hong
Kong), Three (Thailand-Korea-Hong Kong), Golden
Chicken and its sequel Golden Chicken 2, The Eye 2
(Thailand-Singapore-Hong Kong), Three…Extremes
(Japan-Korea-Hong Kong), The Eye Infinity and McDull,
The Alumni (Hong Kong-China). In 2005, Chan widened
his range by embarking on Hong Kong-China coproductions.
Perhaps Love, his first collaboration with
film professionals on the Mainland, became one of the
best-selling Chinese films in China, Hong Kong and
Taiwan that year, picking up 29 honors at nine awards
ceremonies. It was also selected as Hong Kong's entry to
the 78th Annual Academy Awards in the Best Foreign
Language Film category. In 2007, Chan produced Derek
Yee's Protégé and directed The Warlords. The two films
took the top two spots as the highest grossing coproductions
of the year both in Hong Kong and China.
Marco Mueller
(Member)
Born in Rome in 1953, Marco Mueller is a Sinologist and
anthropologist turned film critic who contributed to various European
periodicals and dailies in Italy, France, Switzerland and Netherlands. A
film-historian, author, editor or contributor of books about Asian cinema
and theatre, he has served as festival director at Turin "Electric shadows"
during 1979-82, Pesaro Film Festival/Mostra Internazionale del Nuovo
Cinema during 982-89, Rotterdam Film Festival during 1989-91;
Locarno Film Festival during 1991-2000 and consultant for Venice Film
Festival during 1981-92. He has also curated retrospectives and theme
programmes for festivals in Italy and other European countries, during
1982-91. In his various capacities as Head of the Hubert Bals Fund in
Rotterdam, of the "Fondazione Montecinemaverità" Film Fund in
Lugano, and of the "Fondazione Officina Cinema Sud Est" in Bologna -
all of which he initiated - he has co-financed over 200 films from Eastern
Europe and Asia, Africa, Americas. Head of the Film & Video
Department of Benetton's Fabrica through 1998-2002, he has also
produced, co-produced and co-financed films for Fabrica Cinema, the
production unit he has created in 1997. Among his credits as a producer
are: Chinese director Zhang Yuan's Seventeen Years -- Guo nian hui jia
(Best Director Award at the 1999 Venice Film Festival); Iranian director
Samira Makhmalbaf's second feature Blackboards -- Takhté siah
(Special Jury Award at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, Unesco "Year of
the Culture Peace Award"); the debut-film of the first Bosnian New
Wave auteur, Danis Tanovic's No Man's Land (Best Script Award at the
2001 Cannes Film Festival, Academy Award for Best Foreign Language
film); Brazilian Laís Bodanzky's Brainstorm" -- Bicho de Sete Cabeças
(Youth Jury Award at the 2001 Locarno Film Festival, 17 different
awards at the Brazilian festivals of Brasília, Recife and Gramado); Secret
Ballot -- Raye makhfi (Best Director Award at the 2001 Venice Film
Festival); and Iranian director Babak Payami's Angel on the Right --
Fararishtay kifti rost (2002 Cannes Film Festival, "Un Certain Régard",
FIPRESCI Award at the 2002 London Film Festival, Special Jury Prize
at 2002 Tokyo Filmex). He is currently the CEO of "Downtown
Pictures" in Bologna (Italy), the independent company he has created
with several Itallian and Swiss "business angels" to foster production of
films by new directors. In 2004, he was appointed artistic director of the
Venice International Film Festival.
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