JURY ARCHIVE

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.

Pierpaolo Spollon was born in Padua, and he graduated as an actor at the Experimental Center of Cinematography. He becomes well-known to the public thanks above all to television series. Her first role dates back to 2009 when he starred in the Sky miniseries “Nel nome del male” directed by Alex Infascelli. He then made his debut at the cinema in 2010 in “Terraferma” by Emanuele Crialese in which he plays Stefano, and then he works in as many successful fiction such as “Una grande famiglia,”Grand Hotel”,” L’ allieva “,” La porta rossa and” Che Dio ci aiuti”, and in films such as the comedy” Che vuoi che sia” by Edoardo Leo. In 2020 he plays Michelangelo, in the television event “Leonardo” miniseries directed by Dan Percival and Alexis Sweet, and subsequently plays the young PhD student Riccardo Bonvegna in the first season of the successful “Doc – nelle tue mani.” In 2021 he obtained excellent recognitions for his interpretation of Nanni in “Blanca” and he is back among the protagonists of the second season of “Doc” alongside Luca Argentero. In the autumn it will be on television again with the third chapter of another beloved series, “La porta rossa”, in the role of Fil.

Tom Leeb is a French actor. He spent five years in New York studying cinema, dance, singing and theater. He appeared in the film “Avis de mistral”, with Jean Reno and Chloé Jouannet, in 2014. The same year, he formed a comic duet with the actor Kevin Levy and together they created their first show Kevin et Tom. The two comedians were the opening act of Gad Elmaleh at the Olympia then went on tour on Parisian stages.
At the cinema, Tom continues his journey in “Edmond” by Alexis Michalik, then in “Pourris gâtés” by Nicolas Cuche or again in “Cest la vie” by Julien Rambaldi. In the comedy, he landed a role in Dany Boon’s latest film on air on Netflix. Most recently, Tom landed one of the lead roles in the series “The Fighters” directed by Alexandre Laurent and available on Netflix this fall. Author and director, Tom made a short film for the Nikon festival which was a great success.

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.