Paul Schrader joins Macau film festival jury

"First Reformed" director Paul Schrader has joined the jury of the third edition of Macau Film Festival jury.

The festival will be held from December 8-14.

Chinese director Chen Kaige will chair the event's jury, while Nicholas Cage and Hong Kong star Aaron Kwok are onboard as talent ambassadors, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

Joining the previously announced jury president Chen Kaige will be Schrader along with Hong Kong filmmaker Mabel Cheung, Indian actress Tillotama Shome and Australian producer Paul Currie.

The international strand is the Macau festival's main competition section. It is dedicated exclusively to films by first- and second-time filmmakers and awards a prize of $60,000 for best feature.

Schrader's lengthy and now legendary career includes the screenwriting credits for several classic films from Martin Scorsese including "Taxi Driver", "Raging Bull", and "The Last Temptation of Christ".

His diverse and idiosyncratic work as a director includes "Blue Collar", "American Gigolo", "Cat People", "Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters" and "The Canyons" among others.

Schrader's most recent film "First Reformed", starring Ethan Hawke, will be included in the Macau festival's lineup this year.

Other industry ambassadors will include South Korean filmmaker Kim Yong-Hwa, India's Shekhar Kapur and Chinese director Xue Xiaolu.

Some additions have also been made this year. A showcase called "New Chinese Cinema" will feature a selection of four to six films representing the programming team's picks of the best new Chinese-language cinema of 2018.

The fest is also adding a "For All the Family" strand, which will screen a small collection of family-film favourites from around the world.

--IANS

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