CHINESE film director Jia Zhangke will head the inaugural Platform jury at the upcoming 40th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), organizers of the event announced Wednesday.

    The three-person international Platform jury is a new program at this year’s TIFF to champion works from around the world. In addition to Jia, the jury also includes Claire Denis of France and Agnieszka Holland of Poland. A prize of 25,000 Canadian dollars (about US$20,000) will be awarded to the best film in the section at the Sept. 20 award ceremony.

    “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,” said TIFF director and CEO Piers Handling. “We are honored to welcome them back to Toronto for our 40th anniversary as we celebrate our renewed commitment to artistically ambitious filmmaking with Platform.”

    “Platform is our new home for original, personal filmmaking, and this is our dream jury,” said Cameron Bailey, artistic director of the film festival. “We are thankful to these visionary filmmakers for taking the time to join us this September. We can’t wait for the conversations they’ll have about the Platform films.”

    Inspired by Jia Zhangke’s groundbreaking film in 2000, Platform will shine the spotlight on up to 12 films of high artistic merit that demonstrate a strong directorial vision. The film lineup will be announced in the coming weeks, according to the organizers.

    Jia was born in Fenyang, North China’s Shanxi Province, and studied at the Beijing Film Academy. He made his directorial debut with the feature “Xiao Wu” (1997). His subsequent films have all been screened at Toronto, including the documentaries “Dong” (2006), “Wuyong” (2007), and “I Wish I Knew” (2010), and the features “Platform” (2000), “Unknown Pleasures” (2002), “The World” (2004), “Still Life” (2006), and “A Touch of Sin” (2013), which won the Best Screenplay Award at Cannes, France. “Mountains May Depart” (2015) is his latest film.

    Jia’s films have been seen as a reflection of a changing China. TIFF Cinematheque presented in 2005 a retrospective of Jia’s work entitled “Unknown Pleasures: The Films of Jia Zhangke.” He was honored the “directors of the decade” award by the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010.

    Founded in 1976, the TIFF is now one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world and is considered a launching pad for many studios to begin Oscar buzz for their films.

    Last week, the festival announced some of its 40th-anniversary programming, including an array of free public screenings of fest faves taking place throughout the summer and an art exhibition featuring archival photography.

    Running from Sept. 8 to April 3, 2016, the exhibition, called “In Love with the Stars,” will feature three archival collections from the Film Reference Library and a free screening of “Vertigo,” with a live performance by the Toronto Symphony of Bernard Herrmann’s score, on September 20.

    The 40th annual Toronto International Film Festival runs from Sept. 10 to 20.(SD-Agencies)