President ofJury of Monte-Carlo FilmFestival 2026. Fausto Brizzi is one of the writers who have helped define contemporary Italian comedy. Before establishing himself as a director, he built a long career as a screenwriter, writing numerous popular hits, including Natale sul Nilo, Natale in India and Natale a Miami. In 2006, he made his directorial debut with Notte prima degli esami, a box-office and cultural phenomenon that earned him the David di Donatello Award for Best New Director. This was followed by films such as Ex, Maschi contro femmine and Femmine contro maschi, in which humour meets stories of relationships and generations. Alongside his film career, Brizzi has also built a successful literary career: he is the author of novels translated in more than 30 countries, such as Cento giorni di felicità and Se mi vuoi bene.

Vanessa Incontrada is one of the most beloved figures in Italian show business, admired for her extraordinary versatility and authenticity. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated a rare all-round talent, always managing to be credible and engaging in every role she plays. A talented actress, she moves effortlessly between comedy and drama, bringing intense and realistic characters to life on screen. At the same time, as a television presenter, she wins over audiences with her spontaneity, empathy and stage presence. Nor is her comic side to be overlooked, thanks to which she manages to entertain with intelligence and light-heartedness. Vanessa Incontrada works successfully in both film and television, where she stars in numerous highly popular drama series, proving time and again that she is a well-rounded professional who is much loved by the public.

Paul Belmondo, son of Jean-Paul Belmondo and Élodie Constant, first built a career as a racing driver. We saw him compete in Formula One in the early 1990s. He took part in the Paris–Dakar Rally ten times and competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans ten times. Paul Belmondo then turned to acting. He has appeared in several films and television productions, including Claude Lelouch's Itineraries d’un enfant gâté and Djamel Bensalah's Beur sur la ville. His TV work includes Commissaire Moulin with Yves Rénier, La Victoire au bout du bâton with André Ferréol, Médecin chef à la Santé (directed by Yves Rénier), and the series Demain nous appartient. Later on, he also performed in theatre in contemporary and popular comedies, such as Plus vraie que Nature with Delphine Depardieu, Ma mère est un Panda with Valérie Mairesse, Boeing Boeing by Marc Camoletti, and Papasss with Christian Vadim. In 2016, Paul co-directed a wonderful documentary about his father Jean-Paul Belmondo’s film career, accompanying him to the main locations where his films were shot. Alongside his acting, he also comments on motor racing on television, while remaining active in the world of the performing arts. He is currently touring theatres across France, Belgium and Switzerland until 2028 with no fewer than three plays: Le Complexe des Inséparables with Alexandra Vandernoot, Tout sauf lui with Rebecca Hampton, and Amour et Cigarette with Christian Vadim. And we shouldn’t forget his involvement in the splendid exhibition 'Belmondo le Magnifique', which retraces his father’s entire career, currently at the Cinémathèque Française in Paris until 31 January 2027

Yvonne Sciò is an Italian actress, director, and producer with an international career spanning Italy, France, Spain, and the United States. She has acted in around 45 films and appeared in American television series such as The Nanny, La Femme Nikita, and Boy Meets World. On the big screen, she has worked with directors including Carlo Verdone, the Taviani brothers, and Pupi Avati, among others. As a director and producer, she created Roxanne Lowit Magic Moments and Seven Women, documentaries broadcast on Sky Arte and Rai Storia and sold in over 70 countries. In 2024, she received the Premio America. WOMENESS, her third project as a director and producer, is dedicated to extraordinary women and will soon be broadcast on Rai networks

Born in Ontario, Canada, two-time Oscar winner Paul Haggis became the first screenwriter in Academy history to write back-to-back Best Picture Winners, with Million Dollar Baby (2004) and Crash (2005). In total, Paul has been nominated for 5 Academy Awards, for writing, directing and producing. He has received awards and praise for many of his screenplays, including Casino Royale and Letters From Iwo Jima. Before moving into film, Paul wrote, directed and produced many highly acclaimed television shows, such as “thirtysomething” (for which he won two Emmys) and “The Tracey Ullman Show.” He created the acclaimed, if short-lived, CBS series “EZ Streets,” which the New York Times cited as one of the most influential shows of all time, noting that without it “there would be no Sopranos.” Most recently Paul directed David Simon’s limited series Show Me A Hero for HBO, starring Oscar Isaac. As the founder of Artists for Peace and Justice (APJ), www.apjnow.org, Paul is committed to providing education, healthcare, and dignity to the poorest children of Haiti. Creating The Academy for Peace and Justice in 2010, over 3,500 children a year now receive a high school education that was never available to them before.

Clara Ponsot trained at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, where she graduated in 2012. She began her career in cinema in 2008, in the film “La possibilité d’une île” by Michel Houellebecq. Later, we find her in “Des gens qui s’embrassent” by Danièle Thompsom, and in “Les infidèles” alongside Gilles Lellouche and Jean Dujardin. In 2013 she received an award for best performance at the Italian Film Festival of Bastia for her role in “Cosimo and Nicole”. In 2021 she is on the poster of “La bataille du rail”, alongside Pierre Lottin, and she acts alongside François Créton in “Les héroïques” by Maxime Roy, movie selected in competition for the Caméra d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival 2021. In the theater she plays Shakespeare with Mélanie Leray, and Marivaux with Laurent Laffargue, treading prestigious stages such as the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris or the Théâtre de la Criée. In 2018 she performed an onstage monologue which she adapted at the Théâtre du Lucernaire, directed by Marie Montegani. She also plays and directs at the La Pampa Festival, of which she was co-director. The same year she starred in the short film “Des gens bien”, nominated for César 2021, which she wrote together with Maxime Roy. We will soon find her alongside Penelope Cruz in “L’immensity”, by Emmanuele Crialese, in “Waiting for Dalì” by David Pujol, as well as in “Come pecore in mezzo ai lupi” by Lyda Patitucci.

Spanish actress born in Barcelona, with a solid trajectory across film, television, and theatre. She is internationally recognized for her role as one of the protagonists in the four seasons of “Valeria” (Netflix) and for her work in “El Inmortal” (Movistar+), whose latest season she has just finished filming as a lead. She continues to deepen her theatrical work in Madrid, embracing independent projects that pursue authenticity and artistic risk. Expanding her career internationally, Teresa joins the Monte-Carlo Festival jury as a passionate advocate for bold storytelling, fresh talent, and the evolving landscape of contemporary audiovisual art.

An American actor, director, and producer based between Italy and the United States, Daniel McVicar has appeared in over twenty-five films across Europe and beyond. His credits include The Fourth Planet (Russia), One Way Ticket to the Moon (Poland), and the Italian feature The Thief of Falling Stars, presented at the Taormina Film Festival. Moving easily between comedy and drama, he has collaborated with leading European directors and performs in multiple languages. Earlier in his career, he appeared in the long-running series Beautiful and today continues to focus on international film projects.

President of the Jury of the Monte-Carlo Film Festival 2025. Claudia Gerini became famous thanks to the films Viaggi di nozze (1995) and Sono pazzo di Iris Blond (1996), both directed by Carlo Verdone. In 2006, she worked with Giuseppe Tornatore in the film La sconosciuta, and in 2008, she returned to collaborate with Carlo Verdone in Grande, grosso e... Verdone. The following year, she returned to theaters with Diverso da chi? by Umberto Carteni, for which she won a Ciak d’Oro and received a David di Donatello nomination for Best Actress. In 2013, she starred in Amiche da morire by Giorgia Farina, winning the Super Ciak d’Oro. In 2014, she appeared in Tutta colpa di Freud by Paolo Genovese and Maldamore by Angelo Longoni; for these performances, she received the Silver Ribbon for Best Supporting Actress. Among her many projects in 2017, she was part of the cast of the musical comedy Ammore e malavita by the Manetti Bros, for which she won the David di Donatello for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, she starred in the Netflix series Suburra. In 2022, she presented her directorial debut Tapirulàn, in which she also starred. In 2023, she appeared in L’ordine del tempo by L. Cavani. Among her various projects in 2024, she is on the big screen with Il Corpo by Vincenzo Alfieri, Sara by Carmine Elia (Netflix series), and E se mio padre by Sole Tonnini.

Honorary President of Jury of Monte-Carlo Film Festival 2025. Franco Nero, a leading actor in international cinema, was born in Parma. The role as Abel in John Houston’s film The Bible (1964) marked a crucial point in his career. A few months later he had his big break with the internationally acclaimed cult-classic Spaghetti-Western, Django. The following year Joshua Logan cast him in the film version of Camelot, opposite Vanessa Redgrave, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe award. Nero has appeared in more than 200 movies around the world and has worked with Europe’s top directors, such as Luis Bunuel, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Claude Chabrol, Sergei Bondarciuk, Michael Cacoyannis, Elio Petri, Marco Bellocchio, just to mention a few. In the United States he has been seen in successful mini-series such as The Pirate, The Last Days of Pompei, Young Catherine, The Painted Lady and movies such as The Legend of Valentino, 21 Hours to Munich, The Versace Murder, Die Hard 2, and recently Letters to Juliet, Django Unchained, John Wick 2. At the beginning of the 80’s, he also began producing, writing and directing. He has received many awards and in 1992 for his artistic merits a knighthood of the Italian Republic was bestowed on him by the President of Italy. In 2011 he was honoured by Brunel University of London with the honorary degree of doctor of Letters honoris causa and in Toronto with a star on the walk of fame.