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French composer Alexandre Desplat to head Italy's iconic Venice International Film Festival Jury


Le sigh. Sexy Alexandre Desplat - the six-time Oscar nominated French composer - will head up the main competition jury at this year's 71st Venice International Film Festival running August 27 through September 6.

According to Alberto Barbera, the artistic director of the Venice fest - 

“Alexandre Desplat is not only one of the greatest composers of film scores today, but an ardent cinĂ©phile, whose extraordinary artistic sensitivity is sustained by a profound knowledge of cinema, its history and its language.” 
What an honor for Desplat who, as the fest president teased, is "Not an actor. Not a director." It's the first time in the event's history - the world's oldest film festival - that a composer has been selected to serve as president of its main jury. Of course Desplat is no ordinary composer. 

I'm a bit of a Desplat groupie but not because of his Gallic good looks; the 52-year-old has earned Oscar nominations for his gorgeous musical scores in six films: The Queen, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The King’s Speech, Argo, and Philomena.




Desplat has collaborated with some of today's most notable directors ranging from Terrence Malick and Stephen Frears to George Clooney, David Fincher, Ben Affleck, and Wes Anderson. He's composing the score for the upcoming Angelina Jolie directed movie, Unbroken, based on the book by Sea Biscuit writer, Laura Hillenbrand and composed the score for Roman Polanski's Venus in Fur Here's a look back at one of my more popular Desplat posts.  It includes a fan created playlist linking several of Desplat's compositions. 

The nine-person Venice Film Festival jury hands out eight awards on the festival’s final night, including its most prestigious honors: the Golden Lion for Best Film, the Silver Lion for Best Director, acting prizes, and two jury prizes.

Sample some Desplat now with the score for The Grand Budapest Hotel. Enjoy!



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Source [The Hollywood Reporter]