Venice Film Festival

Full Line-Up Announced for 2011 Venice Film Festival

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: July 28th, 2011 at 8:50 am

Earlier this week, we reported on the major films debuting at this year’s Venice Film Festival.  The line-up includes The Ides of March (opening night film), Contagion, Carnage, A Dangerous Method, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and plenty of other great stuff.  Now the full line-up has been released and while the previously unannounced films are foreign flicks you’ve probably never heard of (plus the first film Al Pacino has directed in over a decade, Wilde Salome), Venice is a great opportunity for those movies to get on everyone’s radar (provided they aren’t overshadowed by the star-studded flicks).  Also, the festival will close out with Wilt Stillman’s new movie, Damsels in Distress.

Hit the jump to check out the full line-up.  The 2011 Venice Film Festival runs from August 31st through September 10th.

George Clooney’s THE IDES OF MARCH Will Open the 2011 Venice Film Festival

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: June 20th, 2011 at 7:43 pm

The Ides of March tops my list of most anticipated awards contenders.  If it weren’t opening earlier than most of the other films on the list (October 7), I might be planning a trip to Italy right now instead of passing along this information: Deadline reports The Ides of March will open the 2011 Venice Film Festival on August 31.  George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, and Evan Rachel Wood star in The Ides of March.  Clooney and producing partner Grant Heslov (Good Night, and Good Luck) adapted the script from the Beau Willimon play Farragut North, about “a young press secretary who falls prey to dirty backroom politics as he works to get his candidate elected in a tight race.”

The political drama is in good company next to previously announced festival selections Carnage and A Dangerous Method.  Darren Aronofsky will head the jury at this year’s fest.  Going to go poke around Travelocity now, just to see if a Venice vacation is anywhere near my price range.  [Update: No. No it is not.]

Early 2011 Venice Film Festival Announcements include Roman Polanski’s CARNAGE and David Cronenberg’s A DANGEROUS METHOD

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: May 18th, 2011 at 9:32 am

The Cannes Film Festival is only halfway finished but we’re already looking ahead to another major European film fest: Venice.  Early selections have been announced for the 68th Venice Film Festival and there are already some fantastic additions.  Roman Polanski’s Carnage and David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method will both be making their world premieres at the festival along with Steve McQueen’s Shame, Todd Solondz’ Dark Horse, Cameron Crowe’s Pearl Jam documentary PJ20, and more.  Variety also reports that films submitted but not yet approved for the festival include Madonna’s W.E., Walter Salles’ On the Road, and Luc Besson’s The Lady.  Then there’s the film that are being tipped to premiere at Venice: Tomas Alfredson’s adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Alexander Payne’s The Descendants, Steven Sodebergh’s Contagion and Haywire, and a toss-up between Steven Spielberg’s War Horse and The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.

So if you’re already seething with jealousy that you’re not attending Cannes this year, hold on to that jealousy because it looks like you’re going to need it when Venice rolls around.  The 68th Venice Film Festival runs from August 31st to September 10th.

Darren Aronofsky to Head Venice Film Festival Jury

by Talia Soghomonian    Posted: April 28th, 2011 at 8:26 am

After Quentin Tarantino last year, the Venice Mostra has chosen another hip American director to preside over its jury. Darren Aronofsky, who is a frequent visitor of the Italian festival, will have the honor of awarding the Golden Lion.

According to the Mostra artistic director, Marco Muller, Aronofsky is “a key figure in contemporary cinema whose work constantly engages the evolution and mutations of the many languages of art” and the “leader of a new generation” of filmmakers, while the prestigious French magazine Cahiers du Cinema calls him the “leader of the new generation.” Hit the jump for more Venetian details.

Sofia Coppola’s SOMEWHERE, ESSENTIAL KILLING, and Mila Kunis Win at the Venice Film Festival

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: September 11th, 2010 at 5:03 pm

The 2010 Venice International Film Festival Jury, led by Quentin Tarantino, has awarded the top prize to Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere.  The film centers around a movie star (Stephen Dorff) who is thrown for a loop when his 11-year-old daughter (Elle Fanning) re-enters his life. Coppola is just the fourth American in sixty-seven years to take home the Golden Lion, following John Cassavettes (Gloria), Robert Altman (Shortcuts), and Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler).

Other big winners at the fest include Essential Killing, which netted the Special Jury Prize and Best Actor for Vincent Gallo, plus Mila Kunis, deemed the Best Young Actor or Actress for her work in Black Swan.  Hit the jump for the full list.

Early Reviews from Venice Film Festival for Darren Aronofsky’s BLACK SWAN

by CJ Simonson    Posted: September 1st, 2010 at 7:57 am

Since the trailer debuted online, there have been high expectations regarding Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan. The film just debuted at the Venice Film Festival last night and has gotten some overwhelmingly positive reviews. To give you a sense of what the critics have been saying here’s an excerpt from a review from Variety’s Peter DeBurge:

“A wicked, sexy and ultimately devastating study of a young dancer’s all-consuming ambition, “Black Swan” serves as a fascinating complement to Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler,” trading the grungy world of a broken-down fighter for the more upscale but no less brutal sphere of professional ballet”

For the most part the other reviews are pretty glowing as well. Aronofsky’s films have never been short of praise. From The Wrestler to Requiem for a Dream, he’s been making interesting films long enough to gain respect in Hollywood.  For more exerts from the films early reviews, hit the jump.

67th Venice Film Festival Out-of-Competition List Includes THE TOWN, I’M STILL HERE, and MACHETE

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: July 29th, 2010 at 10:34 am

Along with the list of films playing in-competition, the Venice Film Festival has announced which films are playing out-of-competition this year.  The movies include Ben Affleck’s The Town, Casey Affleck’s Joaquin Phoenix documentary I’m Still Here, Martin Scorsese’s Elia Kazan documentary A Letter to Elia, John Turturro’s Passione, Julie Taymor’s The Tempest as the closing night film, and Robert Rodriguez’ Machete as the opening night film.  It’s an eclectic bunch of flicks and they’re just a small sampling of the movies playing out-of-competition.  Hit the jump to check out the full list.

The 67^th Venice Film Festival will run from September 1 – 11^th.

67th Venice Film Festival In-Competition List Includes BLACK SWAN, SOMEWHERE, and DREI

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: July 29th, 2010 at 10:04 am

Earlier this week, the fifty films showing at the Toronto International Film Festival were announced.  Today, we have a list of the films showing in-competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival.  Highlights of the Festival include Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere, Richard J. Lewis’ Barney’s Version, Julian Schnabel’s Miral, and Tom Tykwer’s Drei.  What’s also cool about this list is that we see the runtimes of each of the films.  However, it’s not unusual for a film to undergo changes between a festival and its general release.

Hit the jump for a list of all the films playing in-competition and click here for the films playing out-of-competition.   This year’s Venice Film Festival runs from September 1 – 11^th.

First Trailer for Venice Film Festival Golden Lion Winner LEBANON

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: June 4th, 2010 at 5:12 pm

Sony Pictures Classics has debuted the first trailer for Lebanon, which won the Golden Lion at last year’s Venice Film Festival.  The story revolves around the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, and is told entirely from the perspective of a tank manned by four young men who have never fought in a war before.  This marks writer/director Samuel Maoz’s feature debut; Oshri Cohen, Itay Tiran, Michael Moshonov, Zohar Strauss and Ashraf Barhom star.

I like the cramped quarters point of view applied to the narrative — the trailer quotes one critic who deemed it the “Das Boot of tank films”.  (Ah yes, the bottomless genre of “tank film”.)  With this and Buried, it looks like we’re in for a fantastic summer of single-setting movies.  Check out the trailer after the jump.

MAMMA MIA 2 Update: Colin Firth Says They May Use Another Band’s Music. Plus News on THE KINGS SPEECH

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: September 15th, 2009 at 3:17 pm

Colin Firth is really having a great week. As the star of Tom Ford’s first film ” A Single Man”, Colin just won the Best Actor Award at the Venice Film Festival and the film was the subject of an intense bidding war last night here in Toronto. While many studios tried to acquire the story of a British college professor struggling to find meaning to his life after the death of his long time partner (played by Matthew Goode), the Weinstein Company ended up winning the battle.

Anyway, to help promote the film, I was able to speak with Colin earlier today and he gave me an update on “Mamma Mia 2″ and what he’s doing next (“The King’s Speech”). The big news is he’s heard if a sequel is made to the incredibly popular “Mamma Mia!” movie, it’s going possibly use a new band’s music to tell the story. More after the jump:

TOY STORY and TOY STORY 2 in 3-D will World Premiere at the Venice Film Festival

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: May 10th, 2009 at 9:28 pm

Variety is reporting the 3-D versions of “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2″will premiere at the 66th Venice Film Festival in September. While the films will be released theatrically on October 2nd, if you’re at the festival, you’ll get to see them about a month early as the fest is scheduled to run from September 2-12th.

In addition, the festival will be giving a lifetime award to John Jasseter, Brad Bird, Pete Doctor, Lee Unkrich and Andrew Stanton. In a statement, the organizers said, “for the first time in the history of the Venice Film Festival, the award will honor not only the achievement of a single filmmaker but also the contribution of the directors of a visionary studio.”

While many awards are given out to filmmakers and studio heads that aren’t deserved, Pixar is another story. All they make are amazing movies and ones that I cherish. Congrats to everyone.

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