American director, actor and producer [pictured] will be joined by Laura Amelia Guzmán, Stefania Rocca, Alice Rohrwacher and Tanya Seghatchian.

Matthew Modine has been announced as the president of the Best Debut and Second Film Award jury at the upcoming 7th Rome Film Festival, which runs Nov 9-17.

The American director, actor and producer will be joined on the jury by Dominican director, screenwriter and cinematographer Laura Amelia Guzmán, Italian actress, director and producer Stefania Rocca, Italian director Alice Rohrwacher and British producer and film critic Tanya Seghatchian.

They will award the Best Debut and Second Film Award to a debut or second film screened in any one of the competitive sections of the festival.

On the reasons behind extending the award, artistic director Marco Müller commented: “Offering new directors an opportunity means, on the one hand, taking into consideration the most noteworthy debuts and on the other, assessing whether style and originality is confirmed, something that only a second work can reveal. That is why we thought it important to extend our award to the Best Debut and Second Film.”

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