The organizers of the upcoming 40th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) announced on Wednesday that Chinese film director Jia Zhangke will lead the event's inaugural injury, known as Platform.
Platform, the three-person international jury, is a new feature kicking off this year aimed at showcasing the works of directors across the globe.
Completing the jury is France's Claire Denis and Poland's Agnieszka Holland.
"We have a long history with Zhangke, Claire and Agnieszka. They are master filmmakers with unique voices that we have championed throughout the years, both at the Festival and in our year-round programming," Piers Handling, TIFF CEO and director, remarked.
"We are honored to welcome them back to Toronto on our 40th anniversary as we celebrate our renewed commitment to artistically ambitious filmmaking with Platform," Piers added.
"Platform is our new home for original, personal filmmaking and this is our dream jury. We are thankful to these visionary filmmakers for making the time to join us this September. We can't wait for the conversations they'll have about the Platform films," TIFF artistic director Cameron Bailey shared.
Platform is inspired by Jia's 2000 groundbreaking film. It will feature up to 12 films that show strong directorial skills. The final list of movies included will be revealed in the coming weeks. The best title in this section will win a prize of $20,000.
Jia, who hails from Shanxi Province's Fenyang, graduated from the Beijing Film Academy. His directorial debut is the feature "Xiao Wu" (1997).
All the subsequent film of Jia, such as "Platform" (2000), "Wuyong "(2007), and "A Touch of Sin" (2013), which won the Best Screenplay Award in Cannes Film Fest, have all been screened at the TIFF.
Jia's latest film is "Mountains May Depart" (2015).
In 2010, he was awarded by the TIFF as one of the "directors of the decade."