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Venice International Film Festival

August 31: Opening of the 73rd Venice Film Festival

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The 73rd Venice International Film Festival, organized by La Biennale di Venezia, will run at Venice Lido from August 31st to September 10th, 2016, directed by Alberto Barbera.

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.

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(Photo courtesy of ASAC Images/La Biennale di Venezia)

73rd Venice International Film Festival

• Line-up

• Screening schedule

• Screenings by Director / by Title

• International Juries

– Introduction by the President of La Biennale di Venezia, Paolo Baratta
– Introduction by the Director, Alberto Barbera
– Statistics
– Productions and co-productions of the films in the official selection
– Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement: Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jerzy Skolimowski
– Web Theatre: online screening for 18 feature films in the line-up
– “Lido in Mostra” project: Services and special offers for the public, young people and accredited visitors
– Calendar of events, presentations and talks
– Tickets

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(Source:www.labiennale.org)
Venice International Film Festival

Work wrapping up at Lido for Venice Film Festival

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Workers wrapping up the day at the Lido Casino for the 73rd Venice International Film Festival. Opening night is slated for August 31st, 2016. (Photo credit: Larry Gleeson/HollywoodGlee)
Workers have begun wrapping it up at Lido for the 73rd Venice International Film Festival. A Pre-opening Night film showcase featuring the historic works from the Lumiere Brothers on “views” of Venice, shot and constructed over a three year period from 1896 through 1898 jump starts this year’s event with an 8:30PM Invitation-only SCEENING at Sala Darsena. Furthermore, in recognition of Luigi Comencini’s one-hundreth birthday, a screening of his Tutti a casa, will accompany the Lumiere Brothers” Venice.  The Festival has decided to cancel the Opening Night Gala out of respect for the earthquake victims in Amatrice. Nevertheless, the line-up  features 20 films vying for this year’s Golden Lion. Each and every one of this year’s selection is a bona-fied contender.

In addition, Virtual reality has found a home with Jesus VR – The Story of Christ. A special 40 minute preview of the first feature length virtual reality film will be available for viewing on the 2nd floor of the Casino beginning September 1st.

Even though La La Land, the Opening Night Film, and Jackie, a hot ticket item,  are not receiving the studios significant marketing and publicity efforts here at Lido this year, The Light Between Oceans, is generating heightened buzz commisserate with the blossoming chemistry, on and off-screen, between the film’s dynamic co-stars, Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander.

As with any festival, surprises are waiting to be unveiled. Who or what is waiting for the opportunity at Lido? A wise place to look is the New York Film Academy Student Showcase.

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(Photo credit: Larry Gleeson/HollywoodGlee)
For information on tickets click here!

This 73rd edition of the Venice Film Festival seems to be offering something for everyone. On September 2nd, Dawn of the Dead restored in 4K , has the midnight madness audience licking its chops. Following on the heels of the restored Dawn of the Dead is the Final Cut in Venice  workshop from Septmber 3rd through September 5th as part of the Venice Production Bridge. In keeping in line with keeping it fresh, the festival continues to explore its international audiences with its 5th Sala Web offering film lovers from around the world the opportunity to see world premieres and to follow the Biennale buzz on www.festivalscope.com/venicesalaweb2016. The Venice Classics section is screening the censored Moshen Makhamalbaf film, Shabhaye Zayandeh – rood (The Nights of Zayandeh – rood ). Last but not least, the independently run Venice Days section is launching 18 world premieres.

See you at the movies!

 

 

 

#TCM, #TCMFF

TCM Classic Film Festival Runs April 6-9

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

 

By Michael Malone

 

The 2017 TCM Classic Film Festival will be held April 6-9 in Hollywood and will bear the theme “Make ‘Em Laugh: Comedy in the Movies.” The gathering of filmmakers, performers and fans for screenings and panels will represent the eighth TCM film fest.

TCM, part of Turner, described the films to be showcased as being “from lowbrow to high, slapstick to sophisticated comedies of manners” and said the 2017 festival “will showcase the greatest cinematic achievements of lone clowns, comedic duos and madcap ensembles.”

Tickets go on sale in November.

The 2016 festival, held in Hollywood, had the theme “Moving Pictures” and focused on rousing, inspiring and emotionally stirring films.

(Source: http://www.broadcastingcable.com)

 

See you at the movies!

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HollywoodGlee takes direction on “set” at the TCM Backlot in the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel lobby.

 

 

Venice International Film Festival

Northern Ireland Student selected for Venice Days jury

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Queen’s Film Theatre (QFT) has, for the second time, had one of its movie lovers chosen to represent the UK at Europa Cinemas’ 28 Times Cinema initiative. This year Steven Armour, a Queen’s University graduate and former member of QFT’s Takeover Film club, will represent QFT as a member of the Venice Days jury during the Venice Film Festival between 31st August – 11th September.

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28 Times Cinema gives 28 young people from across Europe the opportunity to gain in-depth experience of the world famous Venice Film Festival. QFT is one of 28 cinemas from across the European Union states to be selected to send a young movie goer to spend ten days at the festival watching the Venice Days film selection and sharing their opinions and ideas.

Marion Campbell, QFT Learning Offcier said ‘We are all very proud of Steven! He will represent the UK and Queen’s Film Theatre during the Venice Days and watch all the films presented at Venice Days and the LUX film Prize 2016 Competition. While at the film festival, he will have the chance to meet international filmmakers and other film industry professionals and will be writing an online blog on his experiences.’

Following a tough selection process Steven was the one successful candidate selected from the UK and he is looking forward to the experience. “It’s an amazing opportunity to represent the UK as part of this year’s 28 Times Cinema initiative. Cinema has been a passion of mine from a young age, and so to have this chance to attend one of the world’s best film festivals is a dream come true. I can’t wait to join the 27 other young cinephiles from across Europe to watch new films, work together as a jury, and write reviews, gaining invaluable experience for my future aspirations of working in film.”

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Susan Picken, Head of QFT recognises how important opportunities like this can be, “To have the chance to attend such a prestigious Film Festival in this way at the start of your career is priceless. The experience and the networking opportunities that this presents are not to be taken for granted and I know that Steven will make the most of every moment.”

 

(Source: http://www.northernirelandscreen.co.uk)

 

Venice International Film Festival

Images of the 60’s from the Venice International Film Festival

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*Featured Photo: Brigitte Bardot illuminating Venice with her presence in 1958: the photographers chase her and she immediately becomes the center of social life on the Lido. “BB”, at the peak of her career, came to the 19th Venice Film Festival as part of the cast of the film En cas de malheur (Love Is My Profession) by Claude Autant-Lara. (Photo credit courtesy of Asac – la Biennale di Venezia.)

 
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Claudia Cardinale steps down onto the dock of the Hotel Excelsior, in 1965: she was one of the most highly acclaimed divas that year as the star of the film Vague Stars of Ursa, by Lucchino Visconti, which would win the Golden Lion as Best Film. (Photo courtesy of Asac – la Biennale di Venezia)
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1958: Sophia Loren is thrilled to embrace the Coppa Volpi for Best Actress which she had just won for the film Black Orchid by Martin Ritt. (Photo courtesy of Asac – la Biennale di Venezia)
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Young, naively seductive, star of the masterpiece-scandal of the 1962 Venice Film Festival: sixteen-year-old Sue Lyon, the unforgettable Lolita in Stanley Kubrick’s film, at a party on the Lido. Kubrick did not come to Venice: only Ms. Lyon was there to attend the official screening in the Sala Grande on August 31, 1962. That year the films also included Momma Roma, by Pier Pasolini, and Knife in the Water by Roman Polanski. (Photo courtesy of Asac- la Biennale di Venezia)

 

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1963: Paul Newman comes to Venice as the star of Hud by Martin Ritt, presented in Competition. The Lido went crazy for the most famous of Hollywood’s superstars: Newman was 38 years old, he was at the peak of his career, and journalists went out of their way to meet him. Oriana Fallaci interviewed him at the Venice Film Festival for “L’Europeo” with her unmistakable directness, she asked him to take off his glasses during the conversation. Newman answered: “If someone asks to take off your glasses, I want to see your blue eyes, it makes me so angry. Just like when they tell me ‘you’re so great, and your eyes are so blue.’ I always get the impression that when you’re handsome, people accept you for the wrong reasons: not because of who you are but because you are handsome.” (Photo courtesy of Asac – la Biennale di Venezia)
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A crowded red carpet for the opening ceremony of the 28th edition of the Venice Film Festival, on August 28th, 1966: making his appearance is Ugo Tognazzi surrounded by Franca Bettoia, Olga Villi, Tina Louise, Les Crane and Alicia Brandet. They are all headed into the Sala Grande for the opening film, The Wild Angels, by Roger Corman, starring Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra. (Photo courtesy of Asac – la Biennale di Venezia)

 

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Triumphant red carpet for the cast members Annie Girardot, Renato Salvatori, Claudia Cardinale, Max Cartier, Alain Delon, and Katrina Paxinou from the film  Rocco And His Brothers. (Photo courtesy of Asac – la Biennale di Venezia)
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1965: Ermanno Olmi and Rod Steiger talk as they descend the staircase of the Hotel Excelsior on the way to the beach. The director was at the Venice Film Festival, Out of Competition, with the film A Man Called John, a tribute to the figure of Pope John XXIII, starring Steiger and Adolfo Celi. (Photo courtesy of Asac – la Biennale di Venezia)
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The gondola hoisted in front of the Palazzo del Cinema to promote Tinto Brass’ 1963 film, Chi Lavora e Perduto. (Photo courtesy of Asac – la Biennale di Venezia)
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1968: A young Bernardo Bertolucci, in Competition at the Venice Film Festival with the film, Partner, in conversation with the Director of the Festival, Luigi Chiarini. (Photo courtesy of Asac – la Biennale di Venezia)
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1968: Liliana Cavani receives a bouquet in Sala Grande, shortly before the official screening of her film, Galileo, presented in Competition. Standing next to her is the star of the film, S0uth African Cyril Cusack. (Photo courtesy of Asac – la Biennale di Venezia)

 

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Dustin Hoffman and his wife Anne Byrne Hoffman in the Sala Grande in 1971: the actor came to the Venice Film Festival as the star of Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? by Ulu Grosbard. (Photo courtesy of Asac – la Biennale di Venezia)
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The great Charlie Chaplin receives the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 1972. To celebrate him, the Venice Film Festival that year organized a major retrospective of his work, “Il tutto Chaplin 1914-1966,” screening many of the early short films he made as his trademark character. (Photo courtesy of Asac – la Biennale di Venezia)
Venice International Film Festival

Dawn of the Dead – European Cut [Zombi, 1978] by George A. Romero restored in High Definition (4K)

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Screen Shot 2016-08-26 at 12.23.06 AMAt midnight on Friday September 2nd, in the Sala Giardino (Lido di Venezia), the world premiere screening will be held of the restored copy of George A. Romero’s masterpiece Dawn of the Dead – European Cut [Zombi, 1978] (USA-Italy, 115’), in the version edited and curated at that time by Dario Argento for the European market with music by Goblin.

The screening will be introduced with a presentation by Dario Argento himself, who was the producer of the film, and by Nicolas Winding Refn, a great admirer of Dawn of the Dead and supervisor of the restoration in high definition.
Dawn of the Dead – European Cut, a cult horror film that gave birth to the modern iconography of “the living dead”, as celebrated in the TV series The Walking Dead, is part of the Venice Classics section of the 73rd Venice Film Festival (31 August – 10 September 2016), and will be screened in a version remastered in 4K, by Koch Media in collaboration with Norton Trust and Antonello Cuomo.
Dawn of the Dead [Zombi, 1978] is the second chapter in the four-part series created by George A. Romero in 1968 with the Night of the Living Dead, later followed by Day of the Dead (1985) and Land of the Dead (2005).
Dario Argento on Dawn of the Dead [Zombi]
dario-argento-2“I am particularly pleased that Zombi is being re-released after so many years. Titanus, the distributor at the time, considered it a very strange film with too much action: the music was too extreme, they thought it would not be well received and I was a little scared myself by this terrible prophecy. I didn’t know what to do so I said: «Ok, let’s screen the world premiere in Turin, a city I love because that is where I filmed Deep Red; if it doesn’t do well there, we can do away with it». It was a Friday afternoon and I was rather terrified as I went to the theatre; but I remember seeing a lot of people as I walked over from the hotel and thought: so it can’t be going that bad!.. and in fact when I got there it was packed; I went in and thanked everyone for coming. The film was being shown after a lengthy series of mishaps in Italy: the censors made me cut out a lot of scenes, and as a result I withdrew it. They were asking me to cut far too much; I remember even thinking that the editing would no longer be comprehensible, so I made a series of small cuts, fixed it up a little, and was able to swing an emergency procedure (usually the censors take up to six months to review a film again). When the film was finally released it was forbidden to minors under the age of eighteen which, in my mind, was fairly serious, because we had conceived it for an audience of young people… I have a great memory of Zombi because it was so important for my career and for George’s as well”.
 
Nicolas Winding Refn on Dawn of the Dead [Zombi]
nicolas-winding-refn“I had always considered Dawn of the Dead, or Zombi, to be a clear example of great cinema, both innovative and outrageous at the same time. The most extreme and fascinating tale of American consumerism ever brought to the screen, there is nothing like it. I consider it a great honour to present the version restored in 4K of this masterpiece at the 2016 edition of the Venice Film Festival, which has always been important to me”.
 
Dawn of the Dead [Zombi] will be available next fall in Blu Ray 4K, Blu Ray and DVD for the Midnight Factory label, in a boxed set with additional contents that will include the other two versions of the film (Extended and Theatrical), also in high definition.
la Biennale
 (Source:www.labiennale.org)
Venice International Film Festival

Pre-opening night of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival

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Tuesday August 30th, 8:30 pm in the Sala Darsena

9 “views” of Venice and Luigi Comencini’s Tutti a casa (1960)

Screen Shot 2016-08-25 at 11.29.33 PMOne hundred twenty years ago – and precisely on the night of July 9th, 1896 – the Cinématographe Lumière made its first appearance in Venice, with the screening of a programme composed of 15 “views”, held just a step away from Piazza San Marco at the Teatro Minerva. It was not until the following August 21st that for the first time the screening also introduced 3 films made in Venice: Arrival of a gondola at Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Vaporetti at Rialto and The Legendary Pigeons of San Marco, which were followed by others in the days to come.
To celebrate this important anniversary, on the Pre-opening night of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival (Tuesday August 30th, at 8:30 pm) in the Sala Darsena on the Lido, the public gathered to celebrate Comencini’s one-hundredth birthday, prior to the screening of the previously announced restored version of Luigi Comencini’s Tutti a casa, is invited to enjoy  the programme of nine “views” made in Venice by the operators of the Cinématographe Lumière, commented in the theatre by the Director of the Institut Lumière of Lyon, Thierry Fremaux.
The films, which were made over three consecutive years (1896-98), are:
Arrivée en gondole, 1896, N°291
Pigeons sur la place Saint-Marc,  N°292
Tramway sur le Grand Canal, 1896, N°293
Grand Canal avec barques, 1896, N°294
Panorama du Grand Canal pris d’un bateau, 1896, N°295
Panorama de la place Saint-Marc pris d’un bateau, N°296
Venise, place Saint-Marc, 1897, N°430
Arrivée en gondole des souveraines d’Allemagne et d’Italie au palais royal de Venise, 1898, N°1058
Départ en gondole, 1898, N°1059
The Biennale di Venezia wishes to thank Thierry Fremaux and the Institut Lumière for their valuable collaboration, as well as the Alliance française and Carlo Montanaro of La Fabbrica del Vedere in Venice.
The screening of the “views” will be followed, for the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of the great director Luigi Comencini (1916 – 2007), by the previously announced screening of Comencini‘s masterpiece Tutti a casa (Everybody Go Home, Italy/France, 1960) starring Alberto Sordi, Serge Reggiani, Carla Gravina and Eduardo De Filippo, produced by Dino De Laurentiis, for the world premiere of the digitally restored copy by Filmauro and CSC – Cineteca Nazionale di Roma.
Venetian audiences will be invited to the special Pre-opening tribute-night at the Sala Darsena on the Lido, beginning at 8:30 pm, thanks to the collaboration with the daily newspapers “Il Gazzettino”, “La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre” and “Il Corriere del Veneto”.
 
To attend the screening on the tribute-night in Sala Darsena free of charge, interested viewers can pick up their invitation at Ca’ Giustinian (San Marco 1364/a) or at the Lido (Bar Al Leone d’oro, on the corner of the Palazzo del Cinema on the side of Via Candia) starting on the afternoon of Friday August 26th through Tuesday August 30th (from 10 am – 1 pm and 3 pm to 7 pm) simply by presenting the coupon published from Friday 26th to Monday 29th August on “Il Gazzettino” or “La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre” (or, for online subscribers, by displaying the paid digital edition on their smartphones or tablets) or by following the instructions published on the “Corriere del Veneto” from Friday August 26th through Tuesday August 30th.
 
·  For information on available invitations call +39 041 2726505
·  Each coupon is good for one invitation for the free admission of one person to the screening
·  Invitations will be distributed on a first come first served basis for the number of seats reserved for each newspaper
 
                                                                                   ________ . ________
 
The 73rd Venice International Film Festival will be held 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 “road movie” 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 sick friend, the Neapolitan military engineer Ceccarelli (Serge Reggiani). He runs into German soldiers eager for retaliation who shoot at them, witnesses the odyssey of a 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 as “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 in Milan, Comencini directed a total of forty feature-length films, excluding 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”.

 

(Source:www.labiennale.org)

Venice International Film Festival

The Burj Khalifa pops up in Terrence Malick’s Voyage of Time film trailer

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Post by Larry Gleeson

By Chris Newbould

The UAE just can’t seem to stop popping up in movies lately, and the latest appearance finds the Burj Khalifa and surrounding Downtown Dubai popping up in the trailer for Terrence Malick’s epic, 40+ years (and counting) in the making Voyage of Time.

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The film, somewhat bravely, seeks to chart the history of time from its beginning to its end, and features a 40-minute IMAX version narrated by Brad Pitt – himself no stranger to the UAE following last year’s War Machine shoot – while a feature length 35mm version will reportedly be narrated by Cate Blanchett.

 

We don’t imagine the Burj will take quite such a starring role as it did in, say 2011’s Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, after all with the entire, as yet unfinished, history of time to squeeze into 40 minutes there’s likely to be quite a bit of competition for airtime, but the aerial shots we see in the trailer are pretty impressive, nonetheless.

The long-awaited movie will finally premiere at the Venice Film Festival in Septemeber, beginning its international roll out the following month.

 

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(Source: http://www.thenational.ae)

Venice International Film Festival

Jesus VR – The Story of Christ: a special 40-minute preview of the first feature length Virtual Reality film

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Screen Shot 2016-08-21 at 1.19.26 PMThe 73rd Venice International Film Festival presents the world premiere screening, in a special 40-minute preview, of Jesus VR – The Story of Christ, the first Virtual Reality feature-length film ever made, a new immersive experience that is revolutionizing the world of cinema. The film, which runs 90 minutes, is produced by AUTUMN™ VR Inc. and VRWERX, LLC.

For four days, from September 1st to the 4th, all accredited visitors to the Venice Film Festival are invited to experience this technology applied to the preview of Jesus VR – The Story of Christ, for a short time, or for the entire duration. The screening will be held in the new VR Theatre, on the second floor of the Casinò, which will be equipped with 50 VR Head Gears for individual viewing on seats that pivot 360°.

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Festival Director, Alberto Barbera

“We are particularly happy to present the world’s first virtual reality feature film. – declared Alberto Barbera, director of the Venice Film Festival. – JESUS helps show the narrative and spectacular potential of this new technology, which until now has been limited to brief films. The presentation is particularly important because this year the updated film market, now called Venice Production Bridge, is also presenting 6 VR projects among the 40 proposed audiovisual products in search of financing, alongside movies, documentaries, TV series and web series. It is a sign of the attention the Venice Film Festival pays to the sweeping changes which are helping redefine the horizons of the production of images in motion.”

Virtual Reality is a new revolutionary expressive means that is redefining the forms of cinema and the media industry, offering new creative opportunities to directors and artists, to tell new stories and explore original innovative languages.

Jesus VR – The Story of Christ offers audiences an experience that is unparalleled in its immediacy, going back 2,000 years in time to witness the story of Jesus Christ from his birth to his resurrection, from his baptism to his first miracles, through the last hours of his crucifixion.

Jesus VR – The Story of Christ was shot entirely in Matera in 4K 360° with an all-Italian crew. This is the first and most ambitious feature-length Virtual Reality film ever produced, employing the biggest VR production crew ever, with over a hundred crew members and hundreds of extras.

Enzo Sisti is the executive producer of Jesus VR – The Story of Christ, and in earlier years was the executive producer of The Passion of the Christ (2004). The religious advisor is Father William Fulco, who was also religious advisor on The Passion of the Christ.

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Jesus VR – The Story of Christ was directed and produced by David Hansen with his partner Johnny Mac through Autumn™ VR and VRWERX’s Alex Barder and Russell Naftal.

“We’re proud to have shot this entire innovative film in Italy with a mostly Italian crew”, says Executive Producer Enzo Sisti, “It’s fantastic that the first place we’re screening it is in the fabulous Venice International Film Festival.”

Jesus VR – The Story of Christ will be available this Christmas on all major Virtual Reality platforms including Google Cardboard, Samsung Gear, Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR and the HTC VIVE.

 

The Biennale Cinema 2016 will run Aug. 31 to Sept. 10. For more information on tickets click here.

 

(Source:www.labiennale.org)

Venice International Film Festival

History of the Venice International Film Festival – Recent editions, 2012-15

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The 69th Festival in 2012 saw Alberto Barbera as the new artistic director alongside remarkable new initiatives: the launch of Biennale College – Cinema, a higher education training workshop for the development and production of micro-budget audio-visual works, and the establishment of the Venice Film Market in dedicated spaces at the Excelsior Hotel. As part of the renovation – in agreement with the City of Venice – of the existing facilities of the Festival, which included the restoration of the Sala Grande in 2011, a new, larger and more functional foyer in the Palazzo del Cinema was built to welcome the public. The intervention also included the renovation of two historic screening rooms, the Pasinetti and Zorzi, for an overall extension of 50 more seats.

 

Screen Shot 2016-08-19 at 7.04.13 PMThe retrospective was titled «80!» on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Venice Film Festival (1932-2012) and presented unique copies of films thought to be lost but actually existing in the Biennale’s ASAC archive collections. This was complemented by theVenice Classics section of restored classic films. The opening film was Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist; the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement was given to Italian director Francesco Rosi, who received the award from Giuseppe Tornatore. The main jury chaired by Michael Mann awarded the Golden Lion to Pieta by Kim Ki-duk and the Silver Lion and the Coppa Volpi for best actor to The Master by Paul Thomas Anderson and the two actors Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix. Among the stars that were on the red carpet, Robert Redford (his first-time attendance on the Lido), Michael Cimino (Persol Award), Spike Lee (Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Film-maker Award), Brian De Palma, Jonathan Demme, Kate Hudson, Liev Schreiber, Winona Ryder, Michael Shannon, Ray Liotta, Pierce Brosnan, Michael Fassbender, Isabelle Huppert, Claudia Cardinale, Noomi Rapace, Kristin Scott Thomas, Olga Kurylenko, Emmanuelle Seigner, Takeshi Kitano, Peter Brook, Liliana Cavani, Marco Bellocchio, Toni Servillo, Valerio Mastandrea, Barbora Bobulova and teen-idols such as Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Zac Efron, James Franco, and Shia LaBeouf.

To celebrate its 70th edition, the Festival of 2013, directed by Alberto Barbera, created the special project,Venezia 70 – Future Reloaded. 70 directors from all around the world made a short film, lasting between 60 and 90 seconds, in total creative freedom. All these short films were given their world premiere at the Lido during the 70thFestival, and later published on the Biennale website http://www.labiennale.org in a new and specific page dedicated to the history of the Festival, with the addition of rare photographs and unique documents preserved at the Biennale Historical Archives of Contemporary Arts (ASAC), as well as 40 excerpts from footage films kept in the archives of the Archivio Storico Istituto Luce Cinecittà (which were screened at the Festival before the films from the Official Selection).
The 2013 edition also presented successfully the 3 feature films of the Biennale College – Cinema, an advanced workshop opened to young filmmakers from around the world for the production of micro-budget films, launched at the 2012 Festival. It also announced the 12 projects of the 2nd edition of the Biennale College – Cinema 2013/14. The 2nd edition of the Venice Film Market also proved to be a success, set up in dedicated spaces at the Hotel Excelsior, and involving 246 major distributors. As part of the redevelopment of the historic structures of the Festival – carried out jointly with the City of Venice – the Palazzo del Casinò had a new 150-seat room (Sala Casinò) and the Press Room was expanded and technologically improved. Gravity, directed by Alfonso Cuarón and starring Sandra Bullock

Screen Shot 2016-08-19 at 7.05.20 PM and George Clooney, was the opening film in 3D. The Golden Lion for lifetime achievement of the Biennale was awarded to American film director William Friedkin. The Jury of the Venice 70 competition, headed by Bernardo Bertolucci, awarded the Golden Lion to the film Sacro GRA by the Italian director Gianfranco Rosi. The Silver Lion for Best Director was awarded to Alexandros Avranasfor Miss Violence (Greece), the Grand Jury Prize went toJiaoyouby Tsai Ming-liang (Chinese Taipei). The Coppa Volpi for Best Actor was awarded to Themis Panou forMiss Violence (Greece), the Coppa Volpi for Best Actress to Elena Cottafor Via Castellana Bandiera, by Emma Dante. The Italian film master Ettore Scola received the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker award. For the occasion his film was screened, Che strano chiamarsi Federico, a homage to Federico Fellini 20 years after his passing; present at the screening was the President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano. Among the other masters and stars at the Lido were Andrzej Wajda (Persol Award, awarded in the presence of Lech Walesa), Paul Schrader, Bret Easton Ellis, Mia Wasikowska, Nicolas Cage, Tye Sheridan, Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, Judi Dench, Steve Coogan, James Franco, Scott Haze, Tom Welling, Daniel Radcliffe, Tom Hardy, Scarlett Johansson, Errol Morris, Terry Gilliam, Stephen Frears, Amos Gitai, Kim Ki-duk, Patrice Leconte, Pablo Larraín, Sion Sono, Edgar Reitz, Tsai Ming-liang, Wang Bing, Philippe Garrel, Anna Mouglalis, Louis Garrel, Rebecca Hall, Alan Rickman, Richard Madden, Carrie Fisher, Martina Gedeck, Virginie Ledoyen, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Jiang Wen, Ken Watanabe, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Gianni Amelio, Alba Rohrwacher, Antonio Albanese, Giuseppe Battiston, Anita Caprioli, Marco Paolini, and Carlo Verdone.

In 2014, following an agreement with the Venice City Council, the Sala Darsena theatre was completed renovated and enlarged from 1300 to 1409 seats: the inaugural event took place on 26 August for the Festival pre-opening dedicated to the anniversary of World War I, featuring the screening of Maciste alpino (1916) by Luigi Maggi and Luigi Romano Borgnetto (direction supervisor Giovanni Pastrone) in a new restored copy. Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance by Alejandro González Iñárritu starring Michael Keaton was the opening film on 27 August. The Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement were awarded to film editor Thelma Schoonmaker and to director Frederick Wiseman. The Venezia 71 jury, chaired by Alexandre Desplat, awarded the Golden Lion for Best Film to En duva satt på en gren och funderade på tillvaron (A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence) by Roy Andersson. The actor, director, screenwriter and producer James Franco was presented the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award 2014. For the occasion, James Franco’s new film, The Sound and the Fury screened out of competition. Actress Frances McDormand was presented the Persol Tribute to Visionary Talent Award 2014, and Olive Kitteridge directed by Lisa Cholodenko starring Frances McDormand screened out of competition.
Screen Shot 2016-08-19 at 7.06.49 PMStars on the red carpet included Al Pacino, Catherine Deneuve, Michel Piccoli, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Chiara Mastroianni , Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Andrew Garfield, Ethan Hawke, Viggo Mortensen, Michael Shannon, Abel Ferrara, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, Andrea Riseborough , Stellan Skarsgård, Tahar Rahim, Maria De Medeiros, Anna Mouglalis, Elio Germano, Riccardo Scamarcio, Luca Zingaretti, Milla Jovovich, Ryô Kase, Anton Yelchin, Ashley Greene, Alexandra Daddario, Shinya Tsukamoto, Wang Xiaoshuai, Amos Gitai, Peter Bogdanovich, Peter Ho-Sun Chan, Ann Hui, Im Kwontaek, Barry Levinson, Hong Sangsoo, Fatih Akin, David Gordon Green, Andrew Niccol, Benoît Jacquot, Xavier Beauvois, Ulrich Seidl, Aléx de la Iglesia, Ami Canaan Mann, and Michael Almereyda. Three feature films in the Biennale College – Cinema section were presented: H. by Rania Attieh and Daniel Garcia, Blood Cells by Luke Seomore and Joseph Bull, and Short Skin by Duccio Chiarini. Biennale College – Cinema is a project promoted by the Biennale di Venezia since 2012 and aimed at new talents in cinema by offering them the opportunity to produce micro-budget feature films; the 12 selected projects for the 3rd edition of the Biennale College – Cinema 2014/15 were also announced. The 3rd edition of theVenice Film Market took place in dedicated spaces at the Excelsior Hotel.

The Biennale Cinema 2016 will run Aug. 31 to Sept. 10

*Featured photo credit: Yves Fostier

(Source:www.labiennale.org)