Venice Int'l Film Festival: Inundated with Premieres

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Sunday, 08 August 2010 17:18

Written by Laura Blum

For the 67th time, the island of Lido in Venice, Italy will become awash with cinema life when the Venice International Film Festival rises September 1 to 11, 2010. And once again, Hollywood creatures are expected to flood the seven-mile sandbar that hosts the world's oldest film festival.

Quentin Tarantino is helming the jury that will confer the prestigious Golden Lion. Among the 23 contenders for this year's top kudo is Darren Aronofksy's psychological thriller Black Swan. Tagged as the opening night film, it stars Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis as ballerinas who are themselves thrust in a competition, in this case for marquee roles in a production of Swan Lake. Aronofsky's The Wrestler won the 2008 Golden Lion.

Somewhere, by Oscar-winner Sofia Coppola, is also vying in this year's match. The comedic drama spotlights Steven Dorff as a Hollywood rake who tames his Casanova ways when his tween daughter reenters his life.

Apropos of Hollywood flirts, Ben Affleck will be jetting into town for The Town. Slated out of competition, it centers on a thief who falls in love with the manager of a bank he tried to rob. Affleck both directed the film and stars in it. Kid brother Casey will also deck the Lido, for the premiere of his documentary I Am Still Here: The Lost Year of Joaquin Phoenix.

Venice will unveil a total of 79 world premieres, including all Golden Lion entries as well as the feature films in the Horizons/Orizzonti and Controcampo Italiano segments.

Organized by La Biennale di Venezia, the Festival also features retrospectives and homages to noted filmmakers, but one of the feathers in Venice's cap is that it's known as a place to preview some buzz magnets ahead of the Toronto International Film Festival (September 9 to 19, 2010).

In the case of Barney's Version, Richard J. Lewis' screen adaptation of the award-winning novel by Mordechai Richler, Toronto was originally slated to hold the gala premiere. But the Alzheimer comedy starring Paul Giamatti and Dustin Hoffman will screen competitively in "The Queen of the Adriatic" and not in TIFF's venues near Queen Street. (Black Swan and The Town are among other Venice debuts that will proceed to Toronto.)

VFF 2010 will close with Julie Taymor's imagining of Shakespeare's The Tempest. Festival director Marco Müller said in a statement that the film showcased Taymor's "trademark visual flair and creative direction."

Last winter the two-time Academy Award winner was in Italy for the Capri Hollywood Film Festival, where she mused with FilmFestivalTraveler.com about casting Helen Mirren as a female Prospero, among other choices and challenges in making the film:  http://filmfestivaltraveler.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=368:julie-taymors-take-on-the-tempest-unveiled&catid=45:interviews&Itemid=29

Another stage-to-screen adaptation premiering at Venice in the official competition is Black Sheep/La Pecora Negra, by debut director Ascanio Celestini. Returning directors include Tunisian-born-French-based director Abdellatif Kechiche, who will present the world premiere of Venus Noire. His prior film, The Secret of the Grain/La Graine et Le Mulet, had its first showing at Venice in 2007.

For the second time, the Festival will hold a special competition for 3-D films; this year four films will joust for the prize. Also in Festival news is the tweaking of the Horizons/Orizzonti competition to give experimental film a bigger play, which according to Müller flows from the proliferation of new filmmaking technologies and the mood of chance-taking amid tough economic times.

Director John Woo has been anointed to receive a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement

International Competition:

DARREN ARONOFSKY - BLACK SWAN. USA, 103'
Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder

ASCANIO CELESTINI - LA PECORA NERA. Italy, 93'
Ascanio Celestini, Giorgio Tirabassi, Maya Sansa

SOFIA COPPOLA – SOMEWHERE. USA, 98'
Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning, Benicio Del Toro, Michelle Monaghan, Laura Chiatti, Simona Ventura

ANTONY CORDIER - HAPPY FEW. France, 103'
Marina Fois, Elodie Bouchez, Roschdy Zem, Nicolas Duvauchelle

SAVERIO COSTANZO - LA SOLITUDINE DEI NUMERI PRIMI. Italy, Germany, France, 118'
Alba Rohrwacher, Luca Marinelli, Filippo Timi, Isabella Rossellini, Maurizio Donadoni

ALEKSEI FEDORCHENKO - OVSYANKI (SILENT SOULS). Russia, 75'
Igor Sergeyev, Yuriy Tsurilo, Yuliya Aug, Victor Sukhorukov

VINCENT GALLO - PROMISES WRITTEN IN WATER. USA, 75'
Vincent Gallo, Delfine Bafort, Sage Stallone, Lisa Love

MONTE HELLMAN - ROAD TO NOWHERE. USA, 121'
Shannyn Sossamon, Dominique Swain, John Diehl, Fabio Testi

ÁLEX DE LA IGLESIA - BALADA TRISTE DE TROMPETA. Spain, France, 107'
Carolina Bang, Santiago Segura, Antonio de la Torre, Fernando Guillen-Cuervo

ABDELLATIF KECHICHE - VENUS NOIRE. France, 166'
Yahima Torres, Olivier Gourmet, André Jacobs
Orizzonti
DOUG AITKEN – HOUSE. USA, 9' (experimental film)
Marilyn Aitken, Robert Aitken

JOHN AKOMFRAH - THE NINE MUSES. UK, Ghana, 93' (documentary)

VICTOR ALIMPIEV - SLABYJ ROT FRONT/WEAK ROT FRONT. Russia, 12' (experimental film)

YURI ANCARANI - IL CAPO. Italy, 15' (documentary)
MAURO ANDRIZZI - EN EL FUTURO. Argentina, 52'
MARTIN ARNOLD - SHADOW CUTS. Austria, 5' (experimental film)

GUILLERMO ARRIAGA - EL POZO. Mexico, 8'
Humberto Berlanga, Francisca Urquieta
CATHERINE BREILLAT - LA BELLE ENDORMIE [OPENING FILM]. France, 82'
Carla Besnaïnou, Julia Artamonov, Kérian Mayan, David Chausse
NOËL BURCH, ALLAN SEKULA - THE FORGOTTEN SPACE. Netherlands, Austria, 110' (documentary)

NUNTANAT DUANGTISARN - WOMAN I. Thailand, 20'
Nophand Boonyai, Jenjira Pongpas

Out of Competition

BEN AFFLECK - THE TOWN. USA, 120'
Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively

CASEY AFFLECK - I'M STILL HERE. USA, 108' (documentary)
Joaquin Phoenix

MARCO BELLOCCHIO - SORELLE MAI. Italy, 110'
Alba Rohrwacher, Donatella Finocchiaro, Elena Bellocchio, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio

PIERGIORGIO GAY - NIENTE PAURA – COME SIAMO COME ERAVAMO E LE CANZONI DI LUCIANO LIGABUE. Italy, 85' (documentary)
Luciano Ligabue, Carlo Verdone, Fabio Volo, Paolo Rossi, Javier Zanetti

GIANFRANCO GIAGNI - DANTE FERRETTI - PRODUCTION DESIGNER. Italy, 52'
(documentary) Dante Ferretti

EMIDIO GRECO - NOTIZIE DEGLI SCAVI. Italy, 89'
Giuseppe Battiston, Ambra Angiolini, Iaia Forte, Giorgia Salari

DENNIS HOPPER - THE LAST MOVIE (1971). USA, 108'
Dennis Hopper, Julie Adams, Tomas Milian

STEFANO INCERTI – GORBACIOF. Italy, 85'
Toni Servillo, Mi Yang, Geppi Glejeses, Nello Mascia

ANURAG KASHYAP - THAT GIRL IN YELLOW BOOTS. India, 103'
Kalki Koechlin, Naseeruddin Shah, Prashant  Prakash 

STANLEY KWAN - YONGXIN TIAO (SHOWTIME) China, 100'
Carina Lau, Hu Jun, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Huang Lei
Controcampo Italiano
AURELIANO AMADEI - 20 SIGARETTE. Italy, 94'
Vinicio Marchioni, Carolina Crescentini, Giorgio Colangeli

GIORGIA CECERE - IL PRIMO INCARICO. Italy, 90'
Isabella Ragonese, Francesco Chiarello, Alberto Boll, Miriana Protopapa, Rita Schirinzi

MICHELA CESCON - COME UN SOFFIO (SHORT FILM). Italy, 7'
Valeria Golino, Alessio Boni

GIADA COLAGRANDE - A WOMAN. Italy, 94'
William Dafoe, Jess Weixler, Stefania Rocca, Michele Venitucci

ANDREA COSTANTINO - SPOSERÒ NICHI VENDOLA (SHORT FILM). Italy, 16'
Anita Zagaria, Paolo De Vita, Teodosio Barresi, Giustina Buonomo

ROBERTO DE PAOLIS - BASSA MAREA (SHORT FILM). Italy, 15'
Giulio Stasi, Gisella Burinato, Girogio Colangeli, Eva Miella

ANTONIO DI TRAPANI, MARCO DE ANGELIS - TARDA ESTATE (out of competition). Italy, 84'
Hal Yamanouchi, Chiaki Oshima, Yuki Iwasaki

GAETANO DI VAIO - IL LORO NATALE [OUT OF COMPETITION]. Italy, 90' (documentario)
Mariarca Di Vaio, Maddalena Sibilli

GIORGIA FARINA - ACHILLE (SHORT FILM), Italy, 19'
SIMONE GODANO, LEONARDO GODANO - NIENTE ORCHIDEE (SHORT FILM), Italy, 14'
Giuseppe Fiorello, Valeria Solarino, Nello Mascia, Marianna Raschillà
AUTONOMOUS SECTIONS
SIC - International Critics' Week

PERNILLA AUGUST - SVINALÄNGORNA (BEYOND). Sweden, 92'
Noomi Rapace, Ola Rapace, Outi Mäenpää, Ville Virtanen, Tehilla Blad

MASSIMO COPPOLA - HAI PAURA DEL BUIO. Italy, 90'
Alexandra Pirici, Erica Fontana

ALIX DELAPORTE - ANGÈLE ET TONY. France, 85'
Clotilde Hesme, Grégory Gadebois, Evelyne Didi, Jérôme Huguet, Antoine Couleau

MARCELINO ISLAS HERNÁNDEZ – MARTHA. Mexico, 77'
Magda Vizcaino, Leticia Gómez, Penélope Hernández, Raúl Adalid

GUTIERREZ MANGANSAKAN II - LIMBUNAN (THE BRIDE'S ROOM) (Closing film – out of competition). Philippines, 82'
Jea Lyka Cinco, Tetchie Agbayani, Joem Bascon, Mayka Lintongan, Jamie Unte

CARLO MAZZACURATI - NOTTE ITALIANA [OPENING FILM - SPECIAL EVENT]. Italy, 93'
Marco Messeri, Giulia Boschi, Remo Remotti, Tino Carraro, Memè Perlini, Mario Adorf

VLADO ŠKAFAR - OCA (DADDY). Slovenia, 77'
Miki Roš, Sandi Šalamon and the factory workers Mura

SYLLAS TZOUMERKAS - HORA PROELEFSIS (TERRA MADRE). Greece, 105'
Amalia Moutoussi, Ioanna Tsirigouli, Thanos Samaras, Youla Boudali, Errikos Litsis, Ieronimos Kaletsanos, Christos Passalis, Desina Georgakopoulou, Marissa Triantafyllidou

EITAN ZUR - HITPARZUT X (NAOMI)
Israel, France, 102'
Yossi Pollak, Melanie Peres, Orna Porat, Suheil Haddad, Rami Heuberger

Giornate degli Autori - Venice Days
MATIAS BIZE - LA VIDA DE LOS PECES. Chile
Santiago Cabrera, Blanca Lewin

BERTRAND BLIER - LE BRUIT DES GLAÇONS. France
Jean Dujardin, Albert Dupontel, Anne Alvaro, Myriam Boyer

CLAUDIO BONDÌ - LA BALENA DI ROSSELLINI (Special event). Italy.
Roberto Herlitzka, Renzo Rossellini, Emidio Greco, Adriano Aprà, Enrico Ghezzi, Franco Ferrarotti

MATTEO BOTRUGNO, DANIELE COLUCCINI - ET IN TERRA PAX. Italy,
Maurizio Tesei, Ughetta D’Onorascenzo, Michele Botrugno, Fabio Gomiero

SARAH BOUYAIN - NOTRE ETRANGÈRE. Burkina Faso, France,
Dorylia Calmel, Assita Ouedraogo, Nathalie Richard

ANDREA CACCIA - LA VITA AL TEMPO DELLA MORTE (RITRATTI E PAESAGGI ITALIANI) Italy.
MIRKO CAPOZZOLI - FATE LA STORIA SENZA DI ME (SPAZIO APERTO) Italy.
ANTONIO CAPUANO - L'AMORE BUIO. Italy,
Irene De Angelis, Gabriele Agrio, Luisa Ranieri, Corso Salani, Valeria Golino, Fabrizio Gifuni

JAIRO CARRILLO, OSCAR ANDRADE - PEQUEÑAS VOCES. Colombia.
PAPPI CORSICATO - CAPO DIO MONTE (SPAZIO APERTO). Italy.

Venice International Film Festival
September 1 to 11, 2010
The Palazzo del Cinema
Palazzo del Cinema - Lungomare Marconi
30126 Lido di Venezia

The PalaBiennale
+39 041 2726501
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