Posted by Larry Gleeson

The selection is complete for the members of the four Juries of the 74th Venice International Film Festival.

 

The Presidents of the four Juries are: 

Venezia 74 – Annette Bening 

Orizzonti – Gianni Amelio

Venice Virtual Reality – John Landis

Premio Venezia Opera Prima “Luigi De Laurentiis” – Benoît Jacquot

 

Stay tuned for more on this developing feature about the world’s oldest and by far one of the today’s most prestigious and glamorous film festivals!

 

 

The members of the International Jury of the Orizzonti section are:

· The Italian director Gianni Amelio (President of the Jury). He debuted in feature films with Colpire al cuore (1982), which participated In Competition in Venice, where he won the Golden Lion in 1998 with Così ridevano; he returned to Venice three more times. Other films of his include The Stolen Children (Grand Prize of the Jury in Cannes in  1992), Lamerica and The Keys to the House. This year, La tenerezza received the Silver Ribbon for Best Film.

· Rebecca Zlotowski is a French screenwriter and the director of three feature films. Her first movie,  Belle épine, was presented in 2010 in Cannes, where she returned in 2013 with Grand Central in Un Certain Regard. Planetarium, her 2016 film starring Natalie Portman, was presented Out of Competition in Venice.

· Rakhshan Banietemad is one of Iran’s most important filmmakers, the director of numerous documentaries and fiction films such as Under the Skin of the City and Our Times, fundamental works of Iranian cinema. In 1995, The Blue Veiled won the Bronze Leopard in Locarno, while Taleswon Best Screenplay at Venice 71.

· The American director Ami Canaan Mann. She has directed three feature films. She debuted in 2001 with Morning; in 2011 she presented Texas Killing Fields In Competition in Venice, where she returned three years later with Jackie & Ryan, selected for the Orizzonti section. She has directed episodes for several TV series such as Robbery Homicide Division and, most recently, Shots Fired and Sneaky Pete.

· The Irish-Scottish director, screenwriter and curator Mark Cousins. He has made many documentaries and is particularly famous for his monumental The Story of Film: An Odyssey, a 930-minute journey through the history of cinema. He has also made short films and experimental works, and is a university professor and essayist. He directed his first fiction film, Stockholm, My Love, in 2016.

· The Argentine screenwriter, architect and artistic curator Andrés Duprat. He wrote the screenplays of El artista (2008), El hombre de al lado(2010), Querida voy a comprar cigarrillos y vuelvo (2011) and El ciudadano ilustre (2016), all of which were directed by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat. El ciudadano ilustre allowed Oscar Martínez to winthe Coppa Volpi in Venice. Duprat is the curator of the Pavilion of Argentina at the 57^thInternational Art Exhibition of the Biennale di Venezia.

· The Belgian director and screenwriter Fien Troch. She debuted in feature films in 2005 with Someone Else’s Happiness, presented in Toronto, where she returned with her next film, Unspoken. Her most recent movie, Home, won Best Director in the Orizzonti section in Venice in 2016.

The Jury of the Orizzonti section will award the following prizes, with no ex-aequo permitted:

Orizzonti Award for Best Film; Orizzonti Award for Best Director; Special Orizzonti Jury Prize; Orizzonti Award for Best Actor; Orizzonti Awardfor Best Actress; Orizzonti Award for Best Screenplay; Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film.

 

(Sourced from the Biennale Cinema Press Office)

 

 

 

Posted by Larry Gleeson

John Landis, American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer who got his start in the mail room at 20th Century- Fox has been tabbed to be the President of the Venice Virtual Reality International Jury over the new competition for virtual reality (VR) films: Venice Virtual Reality.

Last year I witnessed the world premiere presentation of the first feature length VR film (Jesus VR). This year there will be up to 18 VR films in the Venice Virtual Reality competition at the newly constructed VR Theater inside the Palazzo del Casinò, Lido di Venezia. The competition will be held from August 31st through September 5th, 2017.

 

 

 

Stay tuned for more on Venice Virtual Reality!

Posted by Larry Gleeson

The 74th Venice International Film Festival has announced Annette Bening will serve as the President of the Venezia 74 Jury for this year’s festival.

Other Jury members include:

· The Hungarian director and screenwriter Ildikó Enyedi; she won the Golden Camera for Best Debut Film at Cannes for My Twentieth Century; the movie was included on the list of the 12 best Hungarian films of all time. She participated In Competition in Venice in 1994 with Magic Hunter and in Locarno in 1999 with Simon the Magician. Her most recent film, On Body and Soul, won the Golden Bear in Berlin in 2017.

· The director, producer and screenwriter Michel Franco.Born and raised in Mexico he has made five feature films, four of which were presented in Cannes. Después de Lucía and Las hijas de Abril won Best Film and the Special Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard, respectively. Chronic, presented In Competition, won Best Screenplay. He produced Desde allá by Lorenzo Vigas, which won the Golden Lion in Venice in 2015.

· The British actress Rebecca Hall; she spends her time between Great Britain and the United States, where she has worked with directors such as Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg and Woody Allen, thanks to whom she was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. She has also appeared in The Town, A Promise and Iron Man 3. She received critical acclaim and major international awards for her performance in Christine.

· The actress Anna Mouglalis is an iconic figure of French art house cinema. At a very young age, she appeared in La captive (2000) by Chantal Akerman. She became famous in Italy thanks to her role in Romanzo criminale (2005) by Michele Placido. She spends her time between Italy and France, making art house films with directors such as Arnaud Desplechin, Mario Martone and Philippe Garrel, and she is in the cast of Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque), a protagonist at the 2011 César awards.

· The Anglo-Australian film critic David Stratton; he directed the Sydney Film Festival for almost twenty years and has been a member of the jury at major film festivals all over the world, including Venice, Cannes and Berlin. Stratton collaborated with Variety for twenty years and he has produced and hosted important television programs about cinema.

· The actress Jasmine Trinca; she is one of the most important Italian actresses of her generation. She has appeared in films by important directors such as Nanni Moretti, Marco Tullio Giordana, Michele Placido and Taviani brothers. In 2009, she won the Marcello Mastroianni Award in Venice for The Big Dream and in 2017 she was awarded Best Actress in Un Certain Regard at Cannes for Fortunata. She has also won two Silver Ribbons.

· The English director and screenwriter Edgar Wright; he is the director of the iconic “Three Flavours Cornetto” Trilogy, starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, started with Shaun of the Dead (2004), which revitalized genre parodies. In 2010, he directed Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, an original experiment overlapping film and comics. At the moment, his film Baby Driver is receiving acclaim in the American theaters and it will be released in Italy on September 7^th.

· The director, producer and screenwriter Yonfan; world traveler, active across China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, he has written, directed and produced all thirteen of his own movies, including Breaking the Willow (2003) and Prince of Tears (2009), both of which were presented in Venice, the latter film in Competition; he also participated in the project Venezia 70 – Future Reloaded. He has worked with the top Hong Kong stars, including Maggie Cheung, Chow Yung-fat and Daniel Wu, who became well-known for his role in Bishonen.

The Venezia 74 Jury will award the following prizes: Golden Lion for Best Film; Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize; Silver Lion for Best Director; Coppa Volpi for Best Actor; Coppa Volpi for Best Actress; Award for Best Screenplay; the Special Jury Prize and “Marcello Mastroianni” Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress.

(Source: Biennale Press Office)

 

 

Posted by Larry Gleeson

The 74th Venice International Film Festival, directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by La Biennale di Venezia, will run at Venice Lido from August 30th to September 9th, 2017.

The aim of the Festival is to raise awareness and promote the various aspects of international cinema in all its forms: as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and dialogue. The Festival also organizes retrospectives and tributes to major figures as a contribution towards a better understanding of the history of cinema.

The line-up of the next Festival will be announced during the official press conference to take place in Rome on 27th July (at Cinema Moderno, Piazza della Republica, 11:00 am).

(Sourced from labiennale.org)