French filmmakerClaude Zidi will head the eight-person international jury at the 28thMontreal World Film Festival, August 26 to September 6. The director of suchfilms as Les Ripoux, LesSous-doues and their sequels as well as AsterixEt Obelix, Zidi hasworked with the pantheon of France's onscreen talent, including GerardDepardieu, Philippe Noiret, Daniel Auteuil, Thierry Lhermitte, ChristopherLambert, Josiane Balasko and Stephane Audran. He began his career as acinematographer and screenwriter before making the move to direction.

Joining him onthe jury will be Montreal-based producer Denise Robert, whose companyCinemaginaire produced the Oscar-winning The Barbarian Invasions; American filmmaker Jerry Schatzberg,whose career has spanned several decades from the 1970s Al Pacino-starrer PanicIn Needle Park to TheDay The Ponies Come Back,which screened at Montreal in 2000; Czech animator Bretislav Pojar; Indianfilmmaker Goutam Ghose; veteran Mexican actress Diana Bracho, who creditsinclude Y Tu Mama Tambien; Italian actress Anita Caprioli, who has appeared in Gabrielle Salvatores' Denti and Franco Zeffirelli's Tea WithMussolini; and Spanishfilmmaker Jamie Camino, director of such films as Los Ninos De Rusia and Luces Y Sombras.