If the last edition of the Cannes Film Festival was dominated by important and consolidated “cinema masters,” the red carpet at the 73rd Venice Film Festival will be taken over by marvelous authors.
Looking at the lineup recently presented in Rome, next year’s festival could be defined as the best of Alberto Barbera, Venice’s artistic director. If the key challenge is always to combine “cinema d’auteur” with the legitimate tastes of the general public, this “Mostra” will potentially bring a perfect balance to the lagoon city.
A closer look at the main competition, with six American films, reveals a strong comeback by the big American players in an edition that can be defined as Euro-Atlantic. On one side of the Atlantic Ocean, there is Malick, Larrain, Villeneuve, Ford and Chazelle. On the other side, there is Konchalovsky, Wenders, Kusturica, Brize and Ozon.
In between these two titanic armadas there will be a lonely Asian director, Filipino Lav Diaz (The Woman Who Left), making the 73rd with one of the smallest Asian representations in recent history. But next year’s festival will not only lack Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Iranian filmmakers. Africa, with its vibrant Magreb cinematography, will be also out of the picture.
Compared to the recent Berlin and Cannes festivals, the Venice selection goes into another direction – one that prefers films based on literature (novels and theatrical plays) and history over socio-political stories. The world’s immigration and economic crises have been forgotten, at least for now. Instead, there is a more intellectual approach based on the past as source of inspiration and detector of contemporary conflicts.
Venice has always been synonymous with innovation.
As for the film that will kick off the 73rd Venice International Film Festival, it’s “La La Land” by Damien Chazelle with Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, as well as two documentaries, Terrence Malick’s “Voyage of Time” and “Spira Mirabilis” by Italian directing duo Massimo D’Anolfi and Martina Parenti.
Meanwhile, among the futurist genres there will be 3D films “Les Beaux Jours D’Aranjuez” by Wim Wenders and a UFO story “Arrival” by Denis Villeneuve, another big risk taken by the festival’s art director Barbera.
Another unmissable film will be the TV series episodes of “The Young Pope” by the Italian Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino with a stellar cast starring Jude Law, Diane Keaton and Cecile de France. Italy will have several films in competition, such as “Piuma” (Feather) and “Questi Giorni” (These Days). The younger generations will be the protagonists of contemporary stories about the difficulties of growing up.
The “European” surprise could come from “Brimstone,” a western thriller film conceived, written and directed by the Dutch film-maker Martin Koolhoven and starring Dakota Fanning, Guy Pearce, Kit Harington and Carice van Houten. It is a triumphant tale of powerful womanhood and resistance against a violent past that refuses to fade. Just like at the Cannes this year, the red carpet in Venice is expected, for the joy of paparazzi and fans, to be one of the best ever, with a stunning Natalie Portman together with Emma Stone, Alicia Vikander and the Italian star Monica Bellucci.
Just as impressive will be the “battalion” of male stars such as Jude Law, Mel Gibson, Michael Fassbender, James Franco, Jim Carrey, Keanu Reeves, Jake Gyllenhaal, Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt.
As for the international jury that will be awarding the golden lions, its president will be British director Sam Mendes. Also on the jury will be American artist, singer, director and writer Laurie Anderson, British actress Gemma Arterton, Italian magistrate, writer, playwright and screenwriter Giancarlo De Cataldo, German actress Nina Hoss, French actress Chiara Mastroianni, American director Joshua Oppenheimer, Venezuelan Golden Lion director Lorenzo Vigas and the Chinese actress, director and singer Zhao Wei.
The Venice International Film Festival runs August 30 through September 10th, 2016. For more information on ticketing click here.
In Zero Days Gibney has upped the ante from previous works with heightened production values utilizing CGI and textual overlays to convey the genesis of a new era and a medium of espionage at the …
Dedicated to the great director Luigi Comencini (1916 – 2007) on the centennial of his birth, the Pre-opening event of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival will be held on Tuesday August 30th at the Sala Darsena (Palazzo del Cinema) on the Lido.
Featured will be the screening of Comencini’s masterpiece Tutti a casa (Everybody Go Home, Italy/France, 1960) in the copy digitallyrestored by Filmauro and CSC – Cineteca Nazionale di Roma, starring Alberto Sordi, Serge Reggiani, Carla Gravina and Eduardo De Filippo, produced by Dino De Laurentiis, with screenplay by Age and Scarpelli, winner at the time of two David di Donatello awards and one Nastro d’argento.
The restored version will be presented in its world premiere screening, remastered in 4K on the basis of the original negatives provided by Filmauro. The digital processing was performed in the laboratories of Cinecittà Digital Factory in Rome. The transfer to 35mm film was done in the laboratories of Augustus Color in Rome.
The 73rd Venice International Film Festival will take place on the Lido from August 31st to September 10th 2016, directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by the Biennale chaired by Paolo Baratta.
Tutti a casa by Luigi Comencini is one of the most famous and successful examples of what made the “commedia all’italiana” immortal: the blend of comedy and drama, of real and grotesque, of courage and determination to survive. Comencini, with the autobiographical complicity of the two great screenwriters Age and Scarpelli and the bitter laughs provoked by the remarkable performance of Alberto Sordi, tells the story of the chaos that ensued on September 8th 1943, when Badoglio signed the armistice and the soldiers loyal to the King and Mussolini were abandoned to their own destinies, to face many dangers alone. In the film, Alberto Sordi, on the phone under German gunfire, asks his superiors: “Colonel, Sir, this is Lieutenant Innocenzi, something amazing just happened, the Germans have become allies of the Americans. What are we supposed to do?”
Tutti a casa is a film “on the road” across the ruins and confusion reigning in Italy at that time, when the soldiers had no one to give them orders and one after another they decided to head back home: tutti a casa, everybody go home. In the story, Second Lieutenant Alberto Innocenzi (Sordi), who is used to obeying and not answering back, is abandoned by his soldiers and flees from north to south with his friend, the Neapolitan military engineer Ceccarelli (Serge Reggiani). He runs into German soldiers eager for retaliation who shoot at them, witnesses the odyssey of an Jewish girl attempting to escape (for whom a young Venetian soldier gives his life), meets an American prisoner hiding in an attic, is united with his father (Eduardo De Filippo) who wants to send him back to the Fascist army, until the final redemption during the 4 days of Naples. At the time Comencini stated: “On the 8th of September, people were abandoned to themselves, and that is what I wanted to describe”. The film was a box office hit, bringing in over a billion lire in ticket sales.
Luigi Comencini (1916-2007) who was awarded a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 1987 by the Biennale di Venezia, is considered one of the greatest masters of Italian-style comedy, as well as “the children’s director“. Among his comedies, his first masterpiece was Pane, amore e fantasia (Bread, Love and Dreams, 1953), with Gina Lollobrigida and Vittorio De Sica, winner of the Silver Bear in Berlin, the prototype for what is known “neorealismo rosa” and one of the highest-grossing films in the history of Italian cinema, followed over the years by other hit comedies such as Pane, amore e gelosia (Bread, Love and Jealousy, 1954), Mariti in città (Husbands in the City, 1957), Lo scopone scientifico (The Scientific Cardplayer, 1957) and Mio Dio, come sono caduta in basso! (Till Marriage Do Us Part, 1974).
Comencini addressed the theme of childhood early on in 1946 with Bambini in città, his first short documentary (which won an award in Venice and a Nastro d’argento), while Proibito rubare (Hey Boy, 1948), set among the street children in Naples, was his first feature-length film. His significant production of films on the theme of “childhood” continued with La finestra sul Luna Park (The Window to Luna Park, 1956), Incompreso (Misunderstood, 1966, in competition at Cannes and winner of a David di Donatello), Voltati Eugenio (1980, presented at the Venice Film Festival), Un ragazzo di Calabria (A Boy from Calabria, 1987, in competition in Venice) and Marcellino pane e vino (1991) his last film directed with his daughter Francesca. Also worthy of note are his versions of two classics of children’s literature, such as Le avventure di Pinocchio (The Adventures of Pinocchio, 1972) and Cuore (1984).
A co-founder in 1935 with Alberto Lattuada and Mario Ferrari of the Cineteca italiana di Milano, Comencini directed a total of forty feature-length films, without counting his documentaries, screenplays, and investigative reports for Rai television. He experimented with many genres other than comedy, such as murder mysteries (La donna della domenica, The Sunday Woman, 1975), melodrama (Incompreso, 1966), literary films (La ragazza di Bube, 1963), period films (Infanzia, vocazione e prime esperienze di Giacomo Casanova veneziano, 1974), film-operas (La Bohème, 1987), but also experimented with more particular films (Cercasi Gesù, 1982, winner of a Nastro d’argento). In an interview he granted in the early 1980s, Comencini declared that he was willing to defend ten of his films, that “would never have seen the light of day if I had not made other flawed films, wholly or in part. But I have never made a film in bad faith”.
In the context of the 73rd Venice Film Festival, an important new project titled Venice Production Bridge has been introduced to ensure continuity, but also to surpass and fine-tune the Venice Film Market first held in 2012.
The Venice Production Bridge will take place from September 1 to 5 on the third floor of the Excelsior Hotel of the Lido di Venezia. It will join and reinforce the Industry Office, which will continue to work, as it has in past years, throughout the entire Venice Film Festival, offering many services to its guests (August 31 to September 10).
The new Venice Production Bridge is established to foster the development and production of international and European projects across a range of audio-visual forms.
This is the direction also pursued by the Venice Film Market, which since its very first edition has served as a light market, featuring programmes such as the Venice Gap-Financing Market and Final Cut in Venice, with the aim of helping to complete films and works in progress. The new Venice Production Bridge will also build on the experience of the Biennale College – Cinema, an innovative workshop for the development and production of micro-budget feature films, which over a four-year period has led to the production of 13 films that have earned prestigious international results and acknowledgments.
The image of the bridge expresses perfectly well the philosophy of this new Venetian market. The idea consists in building an opportunity of encountering and networking for all the professionals involved in production. Indeed the producers but also the multiple categories of financiers who are participating in the creation of the necessary financial package to create a film. Distributors, sales agents, banks, private and public investment funds, regions and film commissions, broadcasters, video aggregators and Internet platforms, are also, in their own way, contributing in financing, buying or co-producing a film.
The Venice Production Bridge will also focus on one of the major new trends in contemporary production, which is the co-existence of a diversity of platforms fostered by the digital revolution: television series, web-series and, above all, the new frontier represented by VR/Virtual Reality, which are currently attracting major investment and the most advanced technological research. The Venice Production Bridge intends to attract industry professionals active in these fields.
The 2-day Venice Gap-Financing Market event (September 2-3, 2016) will take place during the forthcoming 73rd Venice Film Festival and will offer the 40 selected European and International projects, the opportunity to close their international financing.
The Venice Gap Financing Market presents 40 projects from around the world in the final stages of development and funding, divided as follows: 25 projects for feature-length fiction films and feature documentaries, 15 projects for Virtual Reality & Interactive, Web Series and TV Series.
The two-day Venice Gap Financing Market is thus setting up one-to-one meetings between the teams (producer and director) of the 40 projects and top industry decision-makers (producers, private and public financiers, banks, distributors, sales agents, TV Commissioners, Internet and video Platforms, Institutions, post-production companies…).
25 SELECTED PROJECTS
– Films: 18 projects (9 from Europe and 9 from outside of Europe) for feature-length fiction films from around the world that need to complete their funding package with minority shares in the co-production, having at least 70% of the funding in place
– Documentaries: 7 projects (6 from Europe and 1 from outside of Europe) for narrative or creative documentaries (to be presented like the films)
FICTION
Europe
1 – “Alien Food” by Giorgio Cugno (Italy, Denmark, France)
2 – “Birth” by Jessica Krummacher (Germany, Turkey)
3 – “Funan, the new people” by Denis Do (France, Luxembourg, Belgium)
4 – “God Exists, Her Name is Petrunija” by Teona Sturgar Mitevska (Macedonia)
5 – “Luxembourg” by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy (Germany, Ukraine, France, Norway)
6- “The Intruder” by Leonardo Di Costanzo (Italy, Switzerland, France)
7 – “The Nature of Time” by Karim Moussaoui (France)
8 – “The Song of Scorpions” by Anup Singh (Switzerland)
9 – “Touch Me Not” by Adina Pintilie (Romania, France, Bulgaria)
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Outside of Europe
10 – “A Worthy Companion” by Carlos & Jason Sanchez (Canada)
11 – “Brief Story from the Green Planet” by Santiago Loza (Argentina, Germany)
12 – “Dolores” by Gonzalo Tobal (Argentina, France, Spain)
13 – “Let it be Morning” by Eran Kolirin (Israel, France)
14 – “Lily and the Dragonflies” by René Guerra (Brazil, Denmark)
15 – “Los Perros” by Marcela Said (Chile, Germany, Argentina)
16 – “Sollers Point” by Matt Porterfield (USA, France)
17 – “The Seen and Unseen” by Kamila Andini (Indonesia)
18 – “Wajib” by Annemarie Jacir (Palestine, France, Germany, Norway, Denmark)
DOCUMENTARIES
Europe
19 – “Apolonia, Apolonia” by Lea Glob (Denmark)
20 – “Cain, Abel and the Cowgirl” by Dina Salah Amer (UK, France, USA)
21 – “Gold Mine” by Ben Russell (France)
22 – ‘’Latifa’’ by Olivier Peyon and Cyril Brody (France)
23 – “The Real Estate” by Axel Petersén and Måns Månsson (Sweden, Denmark)
24 – “Tierra del mal” by Daniele Incalcaterra and Fausta Quattrini (Italy, Argentina)
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Outside of Europe
25 – “Impeachment” by Petra Costa (Brazil)
15 VIRTUAL REALITY & INTERACTIVE, WEB SERIES AND TV SERIES PROJECTS
– TV Series and Web series: 7 projects
– Virtual Reality and Interactive Projects: 8 projects for short to medium-length artistic-narrative films to be produced as virtual reality experiences
1 – ‘’Ashes to Ashes’’ (Netherlands) VR
Submarine Channel
2 – ‘‘Exode’’ by Gabo Arora (USA) VR
Un/Verse, Lightshed
3 – ‘’Nomads’’ (Canada) VR
Felix & Paul Studios
4 – ‘’Our baby’’ by Simon Bouisson (France) VR
La Générale de production
5 – ‘’The Future of Forever: Welcome to the Other Side’ by Annna Brezezinska (Poland) VR
Unlimited Film Operations
6 – ‘‘Trinity’’ by Patrick Boivin (Canada) VR
Unlimited Vr
7 – ‘‘Oh Moscow’’ by Sally Potter (UK) Interactive/Multimedia Experience
Adventure Pictures
8 – ‘’The Boy in the Book’’ by Fernando De Jesus (UK) Interactive/Web series
CYOD Ltd., Thinking Violets
9 – ‘‘Difficult Second Coming’’ by Dylan Edwards (UK) Web series
Electric Sandbox
10 – ‘’Music on the road’’ by Benoit Pergent (France) Web series
Les Films du Poisson
11 – ‘‘Referees’’ by Giampiero Judica (Italy) Web series
3Zero2 SpA
12 – ‘‘Aurora’’ (Italy) TV series
Publispei Srl
13 – ‘‘Bullfinch’’ (Germany) TV series
Zentropa Hamburg GmbH
14 – ‘’Nemesi’’ (Italy) TV series
Indigo Film
15 – ‘‘School Of Champions’’ by Clemens Aufderklamm (Germany, Switzerland) TV series
Catpics Ltd
A tailor-made initiative of this kind requests a real confidentiality for the producers and the partners already in place and a first Project line-up will therefore be sent to selected potential financiers and professionals in order to allow them to register to this co-production market.
The Book of Projects detailing each film project is sent to the registered professionals in July 2016 to entitle them to request 30-minute one-to-one meeting with the producers of the selected projects. The Venice Gap-Financing Market will set up these meetings in accordance with the availability of the participants and meetings slots. Each participant will receive a personalised meeting schedule a few days before the event.
FINAL CUT IN VENICE
The Venice Production Bridge will again organize the 4th edition of its workshop program, the Final Cut in Venice which will take place from September 3 to 5 in collaboration with Laser Film, Mactari Mixing Auditorium, Titra Film, Sub-Tu Ltd, Sub-Ti ACCESS Srl, Rai Cinema, Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), Festival International du Film d’Amiens, Festival International de Films de Fribourg, MAD Solutions, Institut Français.
The Festival’s purpose is to provide concrete assistance in the completion of films from Africa and from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria; and to offer producers and directors an opportunity to present films still in the production phase to international film professionals and distributors in order to facilitate post-production and promote co-production partnerships and market access.
The workshop consists in three days of activities, in which the working copies of a maximum of the six selected films are screened to producers, buyers, distributors and film festival programmers. Networking, encounters and meetings will allow directors and producers to interact directly with the workshop participants.
The workshop will conclude with the awarding of prizes, in kind or in cash, for the financial support of the films in their post-production phase:
. € 15,000 for the color correction of a feature-length film offered by Laser Film (Rome) for up to 50 hours of work (technician included);
. Up to € 15,000 for the sound mixing offered by Mactari Mixing Auditorium (Paris);
. Up to € 10,000 for digital color correction, for the production of a DCP master and French or English subtitles, offered by Titra Film (Paris)
. Up to € 7,000 for the production of the DCP master and Italian or English subtitles, offered by Sub-Ti Ltd. (London);
. Up to € 7,000 for the accessible contents of the film for audiences with sensory disabilities: subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired and audio description for the blind and visually impaired, with audio subtitles, in Italian or English, offered by SUB-TI ACCESS Srl (Turin)
(the SDH file and the audio described soundtrack for DCP will be provided)
. € 5,000 for the purchase of two-year broadcasting rights by Rai Cinema;
. € 5,000 offered by the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) to an African or Arabian film from a member-country of La Francophonie
. A 35mm print (without subtitles) or the participation in the production costs of a DCP (€ 1,500), offered by the Festival International du Film d’Amiens;
. A 35mm print (without subtitles) or the participation in the production costs of a DCP (€ 1,500), offered by the Festival International de Films de Fribourg;
. Marketing and distribution in the Arab World for one Arab project is offered by MAD Solutions (except for projects already attached to MAD Solutions).
The 6 Selected projects of FINAL CUT IN VENICE 2016 are:
– ‘Felicity’ by Alain Gomis (France, Senegal, Belgium)
– ‘Ghost Hunting’ by Raed Andoni (Palestine, France, Switzerland)
– ‘Obscure’ by Soudade Kaadan (Syria, Lebanon)
– ‘Poisonous Roses’ by Ahmed Fawzi Saleh (Egypt, France, Qatar)
– ‘One of these days’ by Nadim Tabet (Lebanon)
– ‘The Wound’ by John Trengove (South Africa, Germany, Netherlands, France)
The Venice Production Bridge is also launching a new initiative this year with the Book Adaptation Rights Area. This two-day event (September 2 and 3) allows International renowned Publishers to propose the adaptation rights of their new titles as well as their libraries (novels, series, graphic novels, essays…) to International top producers in a dedicated area within the VPB.
The 15 invited publishers of the Book Adaptation Rights Area are:
– Andrew Nurnberg Associates (United Kingdom)
– De Agostini (Italy)
– De Bezige Bij (Netherlands)
– Diogenes (Switzerland)
– Elisabeth Ruge Agentur (Germany)
– Flammarion (France)
– Gallimard (France)
– Glénat (France)
– Lannoo (Belgium)
– Les Éditions de l’Homme Sans Nom (France)
– Média-Participations (France)
– Oetinger Filmrechte-Agentur (Germany)
– Place des Editeurs (France)
– Planeta (Spain)
– Ullstein Buchverlage (Germany)
European Film Forum events – Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 September
In the framework of the European Film Forum, the European Commission organises two workshops on access to finance (3 September from 3:00 pm to 5:15 pm – Sala Stucchi) and on the future of cinemas (4 September from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm – Spazio Incontri). The first event will be the occasion to discuss the new guarantee facility for the cultural and creative sector recently launched with the European Investment Fund (press release), as well as new modes of investments. The second event, which will be opened by European Commissioner Oettinger, in charge of the Digital Economy and Society, will focus on how cinemas can fully reap the benefits of digital technologies. The Venice International Film Festival is also an opportunity to celebrate the 25thanniversary of the Creative Europe MEDIA programme (press release) and to discuss the recent update of EU audiovisual rules (press release) as well as the upcoming proposals on the modernisation of EU copyright rules to be presented in the autumn. Next initiatives will aim at further increasing the circulation of European works across borders and supporting the audiovisual sector.
Finally, the Venice Production Bridge offers all traditional services such as the Industry Club, to support networking among the participants, the Digital Video Library, an Exhibition Area, VPB Market Screenings, a Business Centre, equipped with secretarial services, computers, copy machines, Internet access and Wi-Fi, and numerous international panels and networking events with some of them in partnership with the European Producers Club.
The selection is complete for the members of the three international Juries (Venezia 73, Orizzonti, “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for Best Debut Film) of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival (31 August-10 September 2016), directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by the Biennale di Venezia chaired by Paolo Baratta.
Venezia 73
The personalities convened as members of the Jury for the Venezia 73 Competition, in addition to the president, director Sam Mendes, are:
American artist, singer, director and writer Laurie Anderson, one of the most important and courageous exponents of the creative avant-garde in America today. She is renowned for her vocal and multimedia performances, which cross-pollinate art, theatre and experimental music. In 2015 she directed Heart of a Dog, screenedin Competition in Venice, which won unanimous critical acclaim around the world.
British actress Gemma Arterton moved into the limelight in 2008 when she appeared as a Bond Girl in the film Quantum of Solace by Marc Forster. In 2009 she won the Empire Award for Best Newcomer. The star of Tamara Drewe (2010) by Stephen Frears and of Byzantium (2012) by Neil Jordan, she has also appeared in major productions such as Prince of Persia (2010) by Mike Newell.
the Italian magistrate, writer, playwright and screenwriter Giancarlo De Cataldo,author of the best-selling novel Romanzo criminale (2002) which inspired the film by Michele Placido (2005) and the television series by Stefano Sollima (2008). He is a two-time winner of the David di Donatello for the screenplays of Romanzo criminale, and of Noi credevamo (2010) by Mario Martone (which also won a Nastro d’argento for the screenplay).
German actress Nina Hoss, who works in both film and the theatre, won the Silver Bear as Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival in 2007 with Yella (2007) by Christian Petzold, a director with whom she has worked many times: in Jerichow (2008), screened in Competition in Venice, and in the recent Phoenix (2014), a performance for which she won many important international awards.
French actress Chiara Mastroianni, a famous star of European auteur films, who acted alongside her mother Catherine Deneuve at a very young age in Ma maison préférée by André Téchiné (1993, nominated at the César awards for Most Promising Actress). In 2010 she won the Excellence Award at the Locarno Film Festival. In 2014 she participated in the Venice International Film Festival with two films in Competition, Trois Coeurs by Benoît Jacquot and La Rançon de la gloire by Xavier Beauvois.
American director Joshua Oppenheimer, who attracted international attention with his two documentaries, both nominated for an Oscar, The Act of Killing (2012) and The Look of Silence (2014), the latter in Competition at the Venice Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize. Since then, the film has won 70 awards, including the Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary.
Venezuelan director Lorenzo Vigas, who won the Golden Lion for Best Film at last year’s Venice International Film Festival with his debut film Desde allà, the first Latin-American director to win the most important prize on the Lido. The film was later screened at many international festivals and won many awards.
Chinese actress, director and singer Zhao Wei, who rose to international fame in the films of Stephen Chow, Ann Hui, He Ping, John Woo and Johnnie To. For her role in Dearest (2014) by Peter Chan, screened Out of Competition at the Venice Film Festival, she won Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards. In 2013 she made her debut as a director with So Young, the highest-grossing film ever in China for a female director.
The Jury will award the following official prizes to the feature films in Competition:
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; “Marcello Mastroianni” Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress; Award for Best Screenplay; and the SpecialJury Prize.
Orizzonti
The members of the international Jury of the Orizzonti section, in addition to its president, French director Robert Guédiguian, are:
American film critic and historian Jim Hoberman, long the “senior critic” of the “Village Voice” in New York, who writes a column in “The New York Times”, and is one of the most influential voices in international film criticism. A teacher and exhibition curator, he has been a member of international juries and of the selection committee for the New York Film Festival. He has written thirteen books on cinema.
Egyptian actress Nelly Karim, who won the Best Actress Award at the Cairo International Film Festival in 2004 for My Soulmate by Khaled Youssef. In 2012, her performance in Cairo 678 by Mohamed Diab, won her the Best Actress Award at the Arab Film Festival. She took part in the penultimate film by Youssef Chahine, Alexandria…New York (2004). Nelly Karim was the main actress of Clash (2016) by Mohamed Diab, which was in Cannes in Official Competition in Un Certain Regard.
Italian actress Valentina Lodovini, one of the most important actresses in Italian cinema in recent years, starting with her role as the star of La giusta distanza (2007) by Carlo Mazzacurati. Winner of the David di Donatello in 2010 for Benvenuti al Sud by Luca Miniero, in 2011 she starred in Cosedell’altro mondo by Francesco Patierno, presented at the Venice Film Festival.
The Korean actress and director Moon So-ri has set a milestone in Korean film history with her passionate acting in Lee Chang-dong’s Oasis which earned her the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Emerging Actress at the 2002 Venice Film Festival, for the first time as a Korean actress.
Spanish film critic and scholar José Maria (Chema) Prado, the long-standing director (since 1989) of the Filmoteca Española in Madrid. He has been a member of the jury at many international film festivals, including Cannes and Locarno, and has collaborated with the San Sebastian Festival. In 2015 he won the Premio Fénix por la Contribución a la Cultura Cinematográfica de Iberoamérica.
Indian director Chaitanya Tamhane, whose debut feature film, Court (2014), premiered at the 71st Venice Film Festival, where it won the Lion of the Future award and the Orizzonti award for Best film. Since then, the film has gone on to win 32 international awards, and it was India’s official entry to the Oscars. He has recently been selected for the Rolex Mentor-Protégé Arts Initiative under the mentorship of Alfonso Cuarón.
The Jury will award the following prizes, with no ex-aequo awards permitted:
Orizzonti Award for Best Film; Orizzonti Award for Best Director; Special Orizzonti Jury Prize; Orizzonti Award for Best Actor or Actress; Orizzonti Award for Best Screenplay; Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film; Venice Short Film Nomination for the European Film Awards 2016.
“Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film – Lion of the Future
The members of the international Jury ofthe “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film – Lion of the Future, in addition to its president, Italian actor Kim Rossi Stuart, are:
Spanish producer Rosa Bosch, former Deputy Director of the London Film Festival/National Film Theatre. As a producer, she has worked with directors such as Wim Wenders, Guillermo Del Toro, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, and Gus Van Sant. In 2003 she became co-managing director of HBO Films in London. She now runs the Havana-based production company CubanStar, which has recently worked for HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, House of Lies, Vanity Fair/Annie Leibovitz, and Chanel.
American actor and director Brady Corbet won the “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film – Lion of the Future at the 2015 Venice Film Festival and the Orizzonti Award for Best Director. Previously he had been one of America’s most interesting young actors, as the star, among others, of Mysterious Skin (2004) by Gregg Araki, presented at the Venice Film Festival.
Spanish actress Pilar López de Ayala, one of the most highly considered and beloved Iberian stars, won the Silver Shell at the San Sebastian Film Festival and the Goya Prize for her performance as Queen Juana de Castilla in Mad Love (2001) by Vicente Aranda. She was the star of The Strange Case of Angelica (2010) by Manoel de Oliveira, presented in the Un certain regard section of the Cannes Film Festival.
French film critic Serge Toubiana, one of the most important film scholars of his generation, critic for Cahiers du cinéma from 1974 to 2000 (and its director for many years), director of the Cinémathèque Française from 2003 through January 2016. He is the author of many books and documentaries. With Kent Jones, he co-authored the documentary Hitchcock Truffaut (2015).
The Jury will award, with no ex-aequo awards permitted, the Lion of the Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film to one of the debut feature-length films selected from the various competition sections of the Venice Film Festival (Official Selection and Independent and Parallel Sidebars). It comes with a cash prize of 100,000 USD donated by Filmauro di Aurelio e Luigi De Laurentiis, to be divided equally between the director and the producer.
Biographies
Venezia73
Laurie Anderson
Laurie Anderson is one of America’s most renowned – and daring- creative pioneers. As writer, director, visual artist and vocalist she has created groundbreaking works that span the worlds of art, theater, and experimental music. In 2002, Anderson was appointed the first artist-in-residence of NASA which culminated in her 2004 touring solo performance The End of the Moon. In 2007 she received the prestigious Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize for her outstanding contribution to the arts. In 2011 her exhibition of all new work titled Forty-Nine Days In the Bardo opened at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia. That same year she was awarded with the Pratt Institute’s Honorary Legends Award. She has recently finished residencies at both CAP in UCLA in Los Angeles and EMPAC in Troy New York. In 2015 her film Heart of a Dog was chosen in Competition at the 2015 Venice and as an official selection of theToronto Film Festivals and her exhibition Habeas Corpus opened at the Park Avenue Armory to wide critical acclaim. Anderson lives in New York City.
Gemma Arterton
Beautiful English actress Gemma Arterton is well known for her stage and screen presence. After gaining an award for Best Supporting Actress for Kent, she gained a full scholarship to RADA where she took lead roles in productions such as An Ideal Husband, Titus Andronicus and The Beggar’s Opera. In 2008, Gemma starred as iconic Bond Girl Strawberry Fields in Quantum of Solace, directed by Marc Forster. Her other film credits include Guy Ritchie’s gangster film RocknRolla. In 2010 she played the lead female role in Disney’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time directed by Mike Newell. In 2012 she starred in the title role in Tamara Drewe directed by award-winning director Stephen Frears. In 2013, Gemma starred in four feature films; Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters by Tommy Wirkola, Song for Marion by Paul Andrew Williams, in Neil Jordan’s Byzantium and in the Brad Furman thriller Runner, Runner. September 2014 saw Gemma play the title lead in Gemma Bovery directed by Anne Fontaine and starring Fabrice Luchini. The film premiered at Toronto Film Festival.
Giancarlo De Cataldo
Giancarlo De Cataldo was born in Taranto but has lived in Rome since 1978, where he is a Judge for the Court of Assizes of Appeal. He is a writer, translator, playwright and screenwriter. He writes for the daily newspaper Repubblica and Espresso newsmagazine. His works include Romanzo criminale (Einaudi, Stile Libero, 2002) which inspired a film directed by Michele Placido and two television series for Sky directed by Stefano Sollima; Cocaina (Einaudi Stilelibero 2013, with Carlo Lucarelli and Gianrico Carofiglio) and Suburra (Einaudi, Stilelibero, 2013), written with Carlo Bonini, and adapted by Stefano Sollima for the eponymous film. His novels have been translated into French, Spanish, German, English, Dutch. With Mario Marton, he wrote the screenplay for Noi credevamo, presented in Competition at the Venice Film Festival in 2010. He won the David di Donatello for Best Screenplay twice (Romanzo Criminale and Noi credevamo), and the Nastro d’argento for Best Screenplay (Noi credevamo).
Nina Hoss
Known for her extensive career in both theatre and film, Nina Hoss won the Silver Bear at the 2007 Berlinale for her performance in Christian Petzold’s Yella and returned to the festival in 2011 as one of their jurors. A year later she collaborated with Petzold again in the multi-award winning film Barbara, a role for which she received international acclaim. In 2014 she returned to Schaubuehne Berlin where she worked with Thomas Ostermeier and was on screen in Anton Corbijn’s A Most Wanted Man with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Christian Petzold’s Phoenix, for which she was rewarded the Golden Space Needle as best actress at Seattle International Film Festival in 2015 and as well the Toronto film critics award in the same category. Recently she played in the US hit series Homeland. This year she worked under Volker Schlöndorff with Stellan Skarsgard in Return to Montauk. Nina Hoss lives in Berlin.
Chiara Mastroianni
Chiara Mastroianni is a French actress born in Paris in 1972. She was offered her first role in 1993 by André Techine in Ma saison préférée (a film that won her a nomination for a César award as Most Promising Actress. She then worked with Arnaud Desplechin in Comment je me suis disputé (ma vie sexuelle), followed by Xavier Beauvois in N’oublie pas que tu vas mourir (winner of the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival), Raoul Ruiz in Trois vies et une seule mort (selected for the Official Competition of the Cannes Film Festival in 1996), Robert Altman in Prêt-à-porter”, Laetitia Masson in “À vendre, and Nowhere by Gregg Araki. She worked again with Raoul Ruiz in Le temps retrouvé (selected for the Official Competition of the Cannes Film Festival), Manoel de Oliveira in La Lettre (a modern adaptation of La princesse de Clèves, and winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes in 1998); with Francesca Comencini in Zeno: Le parole di mio padre (selected for the Un certain regard section at the Cannes Film Festival in 2001), Delphine Gleize in Carnages (selected for the Un certain regard section at the Cannes Film Festival); with Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi in Il est plus facile pour un chameau. In 2007, she worked with Arnaud Desplechin again in Un conte de Noël, selected for the Official Competition of the Cannes Film Festival; with Marjane Satrapi in Persepolis which won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2007 and the César award for Best First Feature Film; with Christophe Honoré in Les chansons d’amour (selected for the Official Competition of the Cannes Film Festival), in Non ma fille tu n’iras pas danser (nominated for the César award for Best Actress, and for the Globe de crystal) and in Bien-Aimés, presented in the Official Competition of the Cannes Film Festival in 2010. In 2013, Chiara starred in Les salauds directed by Claire Denis, ( in the “un certain regard” section at Cannes) and in 2013 in Trois coeurs by Benoit Jacquot (presented in Competition at the Venice International Film Festival). She is currently starring in Good luck Algeria.
Joshua Oppenheimer
Born in 1974, USA, his debut feature film, The Act of Killing (2014 Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary), was named Film of the Year in the 2013 by the Guardian and the Sight and Sound Film Poll, and won 72 international awards, including a European Film Award, a BAFTA, an Asia Pacific Screen Award, a Berlinale Audience Award. His second film, The Look of Silence (2016 Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary), premiered at the 71st Venice Film Festival, where it won five awards, including the Grand Jury Prize, the international critics award (FIPRESCI Prize) and the European film critics award (FEDEORA Prize). Since then, The Look of Silence has received 70 international awards, including an Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary, an International Documentary Association Award for Best Documentary. In 2015, Joshua Oppenheimer received a MacArthur Fellowship.
Lorenzo Vigas
In 2015, the Venezuelan filmmaker Lorenzo Vigas, became the first Latin-American to receive the Golden Lion for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival, for his directorial debut Desde allá (From Afar). After graduating in biology in 1994, and while doing a master in molecular biology, he decided to move to New York and enroll in filmmaking workshops at New York University. Subsequently, he worked in Caracas directing the documentary TV series Expedición, produced by RCTV, and also directing institutional documentaries for the production company Cinesa. In 2004, he premiered at Cannes’s International Critics Week, his short film Los Elefantes Nunca Olvidan (Elephants never forget), the first part of the trilogy that delves into the father figure in Latin America. Currently, he is working in the last part of the trilogy, the feature film La caja, to be filmed in Mexico during 2017.
Zhao Wei
One of Asia’s most coveted actresses, director and singer, Zhao Wei burst into international limelight with Stephen Chow’s Shaolin Soccer (2001), He Ping’s Warriors of Heaven and Heart (2004), John Woo’s Red Clift (2009) and Johnnie To’s Three (2016). She has also worked with filmmakers like Ann Hui, Zhang Yuan, Doze Niu and Wu’ersan. Her performance in Peter Chan’s Dearest (2014)- shown out of competition at 71st Venice Film Festival – won Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2015. In 2013, Zhao released her directorial debut So Young was a critical hit and commercial success. It set the record of the highest grossing film by a female director in China. She recently finished primary shooting for her second directorial feature.
Orizzonti
Jim Hoberman
J. Hoberman is a New York City-based author and cultural critic. He began reviewing films for The Village Voice in 1978, initially specializing in avant-garde cinema, and continued for 33 years, succeeding Andrew Sarris as senior film critic in 1988. Since leaving the Voice, Hoberman has written on art and cinema for Artforum, The New York Review of Books, and Film Comment, among other publications; he also has a regular column in The New York Times. He has lectured widely, and taught cinema history at the Cooper Union in New York, where he was the Gelb Professor of Humanities, as well as courses in cinema studies at New York University, Harvard University and Columbia University. He has served on juries at the Berlin, Jerusalem, Naples, and Rotterdam film festivals, as well as the selection committee for the New York Film Festival. Several of his essays were anthologized in the Library of America collection, American Movie Critics.
Nelly Karim
Born in Alexandria, from an Egyptian father and a Russian mother, Nelly Karim started out as a ballet dancer, trained at the Academy of Arts in Cairo, before she became a model and an actress. She has played in about 25 films and television series, including Youssef Chahine’s second to last film, Alexandria…New York (2004). She was awarded the Best My soulmate Actress prize at the Cairo International Film Festival for Khaled Youssef’s. She was one of the heroines in Mohamed Diab’s Cairo 678 (2012), and together with her partners on screen Bushra and Hajed El Sebai, she won the Jury Grand Prize at the 2011 Asian Pacific Screen Awards. For her role in Cairo 678 she has also received the Award for best actress at Arab Film Festival in 2012. Nelly Karim was the main actress of Clash (2016) by Mohamed Diab, which was in Cannes in Official Competition in Un Certain Regard.
Valentina Lodovini
Valentina Lodovini is an Italian actress. A student of Nicolaj Karpov, she earned her diploma at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, and made her debut as an actress in 2006 in the film The Family Friend (L’Amico di famiglia) by Paolo Sorrentino. She has worked with Italian directors such as Carlo Mazzucurati, Francesca Comencini, Daniele Vicari and Marco Risi. Her commitment to independent cinema took her to the Sundance Film Festival in 2008 with the film Good Morning Heartache (Riprendimi); she also worked beside Shirley MacLaine and Malcolm McDowell in the television production Coco Chanel by Christian Duguay. In 2010 she starred in the comedy box-office hit Benvenuti al Sud and won the David di Donatello for her performance. In 2008 she won the Guglielmo Biraghi prize for her performance in the film The Right Distance (La giusta distanza).She participated in the Venice International Film Festival in 2011 in the Controcampo Italiano section as the star of the film Things from Another World (Cose dell’altro mondo) by Francesco Patierno.
Moon So-ri
Moon So-ri is a representative actress in the Korea’s movie circles. After debuted in Lee Chang-dong’s acclaimed movie Peppermint Candy in 1999, Moon has set a milestone in the Korean film history with her passionate acting in Lee Chang-dong’s Oasis which earned her the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Emerging Actor or Actress at the 2002 Venice Film Festival, for the first time as a Korean actress. Moon has been described as a towering presence in the domestic film domain which received such praises as ‘Not a single work of Moon has disappointed the public and critics.’ In addition to building an impressive filmography as an actress, Moon has turned into a movie director, actively pursuing her career in various areas of the film world.
Josè Maria (Chema) Prado
After earning his degree in interior architecture, and collaborating with specialized film magazines, he began to work for the Filmoteca Española as director of programming through 1987, the year in which he was appointed Deputy Director. In 1989 he was appointed Director of the Filmoteca, a position he would hold through 2016. From 1993 to 1999, he was a member of the executive committee of the International Federation of Film Archives. He was a consultant to the San Sebastian Film Festival, and has been a member of the jury in many film festivals, including Cannes, Sundance, Valladolid, Locarno, Los Angeles, Montpellier, Guadalajara, La Havana, Miami and Venice. He was named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres of the French Republic in 1995, Gold Medalist of the Accademia Gallega dell’Audiovisivo in 2004, and was honoured with a medal for Civil Merit in 2011. Since 1993 he has dedicated himself to artistic photography, and regularly exhibits his work.
Chaitanya Tamhane
Born in Mumbai in 1987, Chaitanya Tamhane is an English literature graduate from Mithibai College of Arts. Six Strands (2010), his first fictional short film was screened at various international film festivals including Rotterdam International Film Festival, Clermont- Ferrand International Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Slamdance, and many others. Chaitanya’s debut feature film, Court (2014), premiered at the 71st Venice Film Festival, where it won the Lion of the Future award and the Orizzonti award for Best film. Since then, the film has gone on to win 32 international awards at various prestigious film festivals as well as India’s National Award for Best Feature Film. It was India’s official entry to the Oscars. In 2016, Chaitanya was featured in Forbes Asia’s list of 300 young achievers under the age of 30. He has recently been selected for the Rolex Mentor-Protégé Arts Initiative under the mentorship of Alfonso Cuarón.
“Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film – Lion of the Future
Rosa Bosch
Deputy Director of the London Film Festival/National Film Theatre where she remained for 10 years, Rosa moved to the industry side as co-founder of the Mexican company Tequila Gang. During this time she was involved with Buena Vista Social Club by Wim Wenders, El Espinazo del Diablo (The Devil’s Backbone) by Guillermo del Toro, Lost in la Mancha by Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe, and Amores Perros by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. In 2003, she established and was Co-Managing Director of HBO Films in London, where she handled Elephant (double winner of the Palme d’Or and Best Director at Cannes) amongst others. Rosa is a member of the European Film Academy and BAFTA. She now runs the Havana-based production company CubanStar which develops new content and provides film services on the island, recently for HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, House of Lies, Vanity Fair/Annie Leibovitz and Chanel.
Brady Corbet
Writer/Director/Actor Brady Corbet began his career at age eleven, acting in acclaimed films such as Thirteen (2003), Mysterious Skin (2004), Funny Games (2007), Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011), Simon Killer (2012), Clouds Of Sils Maria (2014), and Melancholia (2011). Corbet’s television acting credits include 24, Law & Order and The King of Queens. He presented his writing and directorial debut, the short film Protect Me and You at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009. The film was shot by legendary cinematographer Darius Khondji, and recognized for “Honorable Mention in Short Filmmaking.” In 2015, Corbet made his feature directorial debut with the visionary film The Childhood of a Leader, which was lauded at the Venice Film Festival with the Orizzonti Best Director and Luigi De Laurentiis Lion of the Future awards. He currently resides in New York City.
Pilar López de Ayala
One of the most valued and loved Spanish actresses, Pilar has participated in films that have enjoyed recognition in important film festivals with some of the most renowned independent directors on the international scene, such as José Luis Guerín (In the City of Sylvia), Golden Lion Nominated Venice Film Festival; Manoel de Oliveira (The Strange case of Angelica) Nominated Un Certain Regard Cannes Film Festival, and for which the Cahiers du Cinéma France valued Pilar´s role as one of the top ones of that year; or Raya Martin (Buenas Noches, España). Mad Love, by Vicente Aranda, led her to win the Silver Shell of San Sebastian International Film Festival and the Goya Award for Best Leading Actress for her performance as Queen Joanna of Castile. She has repeatedly been Goya Award nominated but has also earned numerous international awards, as the New York Film Critics Circle Award Best Supporting Actress in Obaba (Montxo Armendáriz), French Raimu de la Comédie Award New Actress in Comme les Autres (Vincent Garenq), or Best Actress Award Toulouse Film Festival in Hand in Globe (Josetxo San Mateo). Her recent works include Night Has Settled (Steve Clark), Jury Prize and Festival Prize Award Winner at the International Soho Film Festival.
Serge Toubiana
Born in Sousse in Tunisia in 1949, Serge Toubiana was a critic for the Cahiers du Cinema from 1974 to 2000, during which the magazine reached the height of its circulation. From 1993 to 1995 he was a General Delegate for the Premier siècle du cinéma association, the purpose of which was to organize the Centennial of the birth of Cinema in France. From 2003 to 2016 he was director of the Cinémathèque française, and from 2014 to 2015 he was president of the Commission d’avance sur recettes at the Centre National du Cinéma. He is the author and co-author of many books on the history of cinema and on illustrious exponents of French cinema and others. His many works include the documentary François Truffaut, Portraits volés (with Michel Pascal, 1993), the biography François Truffaut (Gallimard, 1996, with Antoine de Baecque), Amos Gitai, exils et territoires (Cahiers du Cinéma, 1999), Isabelle Huppert, Une vie pour jouer (MK2 TV/Arte, 2001), the series of 10 documentaries Chaplin aujourd’hui (MK2 TV, 2003).
La Biennale di Venezia will pay a Special Tribute to U.S. producer Chris Meledandri, the Academy Award®-nominated founder and CEO of Illumination Entertainment, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development of the field of animated films.
Meledandri will be presented on Monday, September 5th 2016, at 3 pm, at the Sala Giardino in the Lido, during the 73rd Venice International Film Festival. In addition to receiving this prestigious tribute, Meledandri will participate in an exclusive festival “In Conversation” event, culminating in a presentation of footage from the forthcoming Illumination Entertainment movie SING (2017).
Here’s a peak at the film’s Official Trailer:
The tribute will begin with the Italian Public Premiere of Illumination Entertainment’s THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS (2016) at the Sala Giardino on September 4th at 9:00 pm.
Here’s a look at the film’s Official Teaser Trailer:
THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS opens in theaters in Italy on October 6, 2016.
Festival Director Alberto Barbera comments:
“Chris Meledandri has revolutionized our way of understanding and making animated film with his more than excellent achievements, both in terms of quality and box office, thanks to careful and skilfully-targeted investments. Under his leadership, Illumination Entertainment has grown into one of the most dynamic and innovative creative hubs in the world of animation in a matter of years. This tribute from the Festival wishes to spotlight the artist’s extraordinary contribution, leading to worldwide hits such as Despicable Me and Minions, both of which changed our relationship with cartoons forever”.
Chris Meledandri, the Academy Award®-nominated founder and CEO of Illumination Entertainment, is responsible for the hugely successful Despicable Me, Ice Age and animated Dr. Seuss franchises, which have collectively grossed close to $6 billion worldwide. Meledandri has built Illumination Entertainment into one of the entertainment industry’s leading producers of all-audience event films.
Illumination Entertainment, which has an exclusive financing and distribution partnership with Universal Pictures, is the creator of the hugely successful Despicable Me franchise, which includes Minions, the second-highest-grossing animated film of all time, as well as the Academy Award®-nominated film for Best Animated Feature Film Despicable Me 2. In all, Illumination Entertainment’s films, which also include Hop (2011) and Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (2012), have grossed more than $3.5 billion in worldwide box-office revenues and feature some of the world’s most renowned talent.
Upcoming Illumination Entertainment films include Sing (2016), Despicable Me 3 (2017) and Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2018).
Meledandri also oversees Illumination Entertainment’s creation of content for marketing campaigns, mobile platforms, consumer goods, social media and theme parks such as Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem in 3D at Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood, ensuring the same high level of quality he brings to his feature productions. The company’s first mobile game, “Despicable Me: Minion Rush,” has been downloaded more than 750 million times.
Prior to Illumination Entertainment, Meledandri was a senior executive at 20th Century Fox. He became the founding president of 20th Century Fox Animation, where he created original material with the birth of the Ice Age franchise and also shepherded existing brands into the feature space, including The Simpsons and the Dr. Seuss library (Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!).
Meledandri has received numerous awards for his work with Illumination Entertainment including the Producers Guild of America’s 2014 Visionary Award as well as being named to Vanity Fair’s “New Establishment” list and by The Hollywood Reporter as one of the “most powerful people in entertainment” on The THR 100 list.
THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS– For their fifth fully-animated feature-film collaboration, Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures present The Secret Life of Pets, a comedy about the lives our pets lead after we leave for work or school each day. The Secret Life of Pets opens in theaters October 6th 2016.
SING – Set in a world like ours but entirely inhabited by animals, a dapper Koala who presides over a once-grand theater that has fallen on hard times. Buster is an eternal optimist—okay, maybe a bit of a scoundrel—who loves his theater above all and will do anything to preserve it. Now facing the crumbling of his life’s ambition, he has one final chance to restore his fading jewel to its former glory by producing the world’s greatest singing competition. In theaters January 26th 2017.
ROME — The Venice Film Festival revealed a star-filled line-up for its 73rd annual edition on Thursday, featuring top Hollywood names and auteur directors in a wide selection of U.S. and international movies.
The world’s oldest film festival will open with Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land”, starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling in a musical romantic comedy-drama about a jazz pianist who falls in love with an aspiring actress in Los Angeles.
Twenty movies will compete for the Venice Film Festival’s top prize, the Golden Lion, organizers said this week in announcing the festival’s lineup.
Among them are “The Light Between Oceans,” a drama starring Alicia Vikander, Michael Fassbender and Rachel Weisz; the thriller “Nocturnal Animals,” from the fashion designer Tom Ford; “Les Beaux Jours d’Aranjuez,” by the “Wings of Desire” director Wim Wenders; and Terrence Malick’s latest venture, “Voyage of Time.” “La La Land,” a musical starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, by the “Whiplash” writer and director Damien Chazelle, opens the festival on Aug. 31.
The two most recent winners of the Oscar for best picture, “Spotlight” and “Birdman,” had their world premieres in Venice.
Alongside the competition lineup, the festival includes screenings of recent major releases as well as “Orizzonti,” a secondary competition dedicated to the “latest aesthetic and expressive trends in international cinema.” Movies that will be screened out of competition include the Austrian director Ulrich Seidl’s “Safari” and Mel Gibson’s World War II epic “Hacksaw Ridge.”
The British director Sam Mendes (“American Beauty,” “Skyfall”) will be the president of the festival’s jury.
Last year, the little-known Venezuelan movie “From Afar” was a surprise winner of the main competition’s top prize.
We won’t linger more than necessary over routine questions such as the usefulness of film festivals in the face of the ongoing changes in the demand and offering of works, how they are viewed, how they are produced, etc.
Our recognition of everything that is evolving around us and could influence this demand finds us primarily involved in adopting initiatives which can help address the changes.
All the while holding fast to a number of principles regarding our mission as a cultural institution and maintaining a number of organizational formulas. A certain stability in operating methods encourages rather than hinders the transit of innovations and the aggregation of extra initiatives.
As in other art forms, in film, too, great attention must be paid to the quality and the vitality of the works, above and beyond their genre.
Only through courageous choices and the ability to take risks can a “cultural” function be performed. We will be useful as long as we know how to be fairly unpredictable.
It is no paradox that, as long as we remain faithful to these principles and maintain this specificity, we will also be able to preserve and reinforce our ability to overcome strong international competition and attract quality productions which consider participation in our Festival a way to obtain added value for their commercial launch. The most recent editions of the Festival have shown this very clearly, and this year’s Festival in particular.
The three main innovations of this new phase are: the inauguration of a “new screening room” which is also a new section; increased commitment to the “Biennale College” (an instrument to foster film development from the initial project to the completed production, and whose results have already proven to be more than gratifying); the launch of the “Venice Production Bridge,” a new instrument which can lead to the complete financing of fully planned works.
These innovations mark both our receptiveness toward a greater range of works and genres, and the intensification of our contribution to those energies which conceive, construct and make films. These work commitments go well beyond the actual days of the Festival.
The hole has been covered over! To the municipal authorities, our gratitude for the promptness with which they dealt with the issue, once the knots created by controversy and dispute had been untangled. We finally have a new open-air space which allows us to redraw the map of the Citadel of Cinema; we can integrate traditional programs with new initiatives.
We will continue to oversee the decentralization of the festival’s films to other Italian cities, and of the Italian films to our cultural institutes abroad.
We thank everyone, from Alberto Barbera and his collaborators to everyone at the Biennale who helps organize the Festival and develop our program.
Our thanks to the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism , the local authorities, our sponsors and the members of the press who, starting tomorrow, will work with and at the Festival. And to the city of Venice, whose many initiatives help foster greater hospitality and more heartfelt participation.
P.S. Yesterday marked the beginning of the Biennale-Theatre program, which will conclude on August 14th. Directed by Àlex Rigola, it represents a successful alliance between Festival and College: a unique formula which involves a great many young people (307 of them, from 22 countries), who attend works by maestros as spectators and also collaborate with them on specific projects, many of which are later performed in public.
P.P.S. A few days ago, the call was concluded for the selection of the 12 film projects which will participate at the Biennale College; 205 applications were submitted.
“Actress Moon So Ri has been named as one of the jurors for the 73rd annual Venice International Film Festival!
On July 24, her agency, C-JeS Entertainment, announced that the actor had been selected as one of the jurors for the Orizzonti section.
The festival is the oldest of its kind in the world and one of the most prestigious alongside the Cannes Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival. The Orizzonti section is a sub-section of the festival with its own awards categories.
She is the first Korean actor to be appointed as juror for the Venice Film Festival. In 2006 director Park Chan Wook was one of the jurors for the official competition, and in 2009 director Kim Jin Ah was one of the jurors for the Orizzonti section.
Moon So Ri has previously won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Emerging Actor or Actress at the 59th Venice International Film Festival for her 2002 film “Oasis.” Her films “Hill of Freedom” and “A Good Lawyer’s Wife” have also been shown at previous festivals.
A source from the festival said, “Moon So Ri is a brilliant actress who represents the Korean film industry. She has accomplished several milestones in Korean film and it is an honor to have her as juror following her 2002 award.”
Moon So Ri herself made a statement saying, “It’s always difficult to compare films and give them scores. But nothing compares to the experience of meeting filmmakers all around the world and watching films together. I have many good memories of the Venice International Film Festival and I hope to make even more this year.”
Moon So Ri has also been the juror for the Busan International Film Festival, Jeonju International Film Festival, Festival del film Locarno, and the Tokyo International Film Festival.
The 73rd International Film Festival will be held from August 31 to September 10. Meanwhile, Moon So Ri is currently filming the movie “Special Citizen.”
(Source: Post by notclaira on Soompi.com, July 24, 2016)
