AMSTERDAM Gucci Group and the 65th Venice Film Festival today announced that visual artist Julian Schnabel, photographer and visual artist Isaac Julien, musician Adam Yauch, visual artist Steve McQueen are nominees for the third annual Gucci Group Award. The award ceremony will be held during the festival at Venice’s Palazzo Grassi on September 1, 2008.

Members of the 2008 Gucci Group Award Selection Committee include Marco Müller, Artistic Director of the Venice Film Festival, Franca Sozzani, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Italy, the artist Jeff Koons and Stefano Pilati, Creative Director of Yves Saint Laurent.

Each year, the Gucci Group Award is bestowed to an internationally-acclaimed artist who has made a remarkable contribution to a film in any capacity within the past 18 months, as a director, actor, screenwriter, set designer, or costume designer. Each member of the Selection Committee nominated one artist, and together the Committee will determine the winner of the award.

Past Gucci Group Awards recipients include artist Julian Schnabel for his third film as a Director “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (2007) and Australian musician Nick Cave for his screenplay “The Proposition” (2006).

“Creativity is our lifeblood” said Robert Polet, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Gucci Group. “The Gucci Group recognizes that talent and creative vision expressed in one medium often lead to significant contributions in other artistic endeavors. This Award crystallizes the Group’s long-term goal of fostering originality and inventiveness in the arts”

“The Gucci Group Award at the Venice Film Festival honours the multi-talented genius and innovation of artists who waltz on the thin line between visual arts and films, music and films, literature and films,” said Marco Müller, Director of the 65th Venice Film Festival. “We have chosen the most original international artists, who, through broad creative metamorphosis, continue to challenge our hearts and minds.”

The winner of the third annual Gucci Group Award will be announced on September 1, 2008 during the ceremony at Palazzo Grassi in Venice at 7:00 p.m.