Neom’s Wayne Borg & Former EFM Head Dennis Ruh To Headline Final Cut In Venice Jury 

EXCLUSIVE: Neom managing director Wayne Borg, Monica Ciarli of Minerva Pictures, and former EFM head Dennis Ruh will serve on the jury of the Venice Film Festival’s work-in-progress event Final Cut In Venice. 

The Final Cut in Venice programme will run from September 1-3. The first two days are dedicated to the works-in-progress screenings. On the third day, one-on-one meetings are organized and the awards are presented in the afternoon. The jury will hand out a prize of €5,000 for the best film in post-production. 

The seven selected productions include four fiction features: Morad Mostafa’s Aisha Can’t Fly Away (Egypt), Nadim Tabet’s In This Darkness I See You (Lebanon), Mohamed Siam’s My Father’s Scent (Egypt), and Ique Langa’s The Prophet (Mozambique). 

The line-up also features docufictions Ancestral Visions of the Future by Mosotho director Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, and Your Daughter by Egyptian director Sara Shazli, and documentary Those Who Watch Over (Ceux qui veillent) by Karima Saidi. 

Final Cut in Venice was first launched in 2013. The programme supports projects from the African continent alongside filmmakers from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria.

Last year’s jury featured Bobby Allen (MUBI), Enrico Bufalini (Cinecittà), and Sarah Chazelle (The Party Film Sales). They handed the top prize to Carissa by Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar. 

Awarding the film, the jury said: “We remained fascinated by this journey from modernity to a return to traditions and the choices that one is led to make between the easier life of economic progress and the more harmonious one with nature.” 

The Venice Film Festival runs from 28 Aug to 7 Sept.