Sam Mendes, the British director
of American Beauty and the last two Bond films, was named head
of the Venice Film festival jury on Wednesday. The decision was
taken by the Venice Biennale board chaired by Paolo Baratta on a
proposal from festival Director Alberto Barbera. The 73rd Venice
Film Festival suns from August 31 to September 10. Mendes, 50,
is best known for directing the comedy-drama film American
Beauty (1999), which earned him the Academy Award and Golden
Globe Award for Best Director, the crime film Road to Perdition
(2002), and the James Bond films Skyfall (2012) and Spectre
(2015). In 2000 Mendes was appointed a Commander of the Order of
the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for "services to drama"
and in the same year was awarded the Shakespeare Prize by the
Alfred Toepfer Foundation in Hamburg, Germany. In 2005, he
received a lifetime achievement award from the Directors Guild
of Great Britain.
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