Hugo Weaving, Sydney film fest jury head

SYDNEY, Australia – Australian actor Hugo Weaving, best known for his roles in “The Matrix” and “The Lord of the Rings,” will head the jury for June’s Sydney Film Festival, organizers said Wednesday, May 8.

Weaving, who stars in murder movie “Mystery Road” which opens the festival on June 5, will lead the panel judging the 12 films in the official competition which includes productions from Europe, India, and Canada.

The only Australian entry in the running for the nation’s richest cash award for film is “The Rocket,” a story about a 10-year-old boy living in Laos which last month won the grand jury prize at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Watch the trailer of ‘The Rocket’ here:

Also up for the Aus$60,000 (US$61,000) prize is acclaimed Romanian production “Child’s Pose,” “Stories We Tell” by Canadian filmmaker Sarah Polley, and “Only God Forgives,” a French-Danish collaboration starring Ryan Gosling.

“Having keenly attended the SFF for many years, always with the eyes of a somewhat excited and hungry child, it will be a great pleasure and honor for me to take up the position of jury president,” Weaving said.

The festival, which runs from June 5 to 16, will screen 190 films, 33 of which are Australian, and will include 19 world premieres.

Festival director Nashen Moodley said the city’s 60th film festival would feature the best of British noir, a good splattering of horror “and some downright weird works that are bound to become future cult classics.” – Rappler.com