43rd Telluride Film Festival Lineup

Tomorrow the most prestigious non-competitive film festival in the USA will once again open for the screening of a selection that includes most of "the best of the best" from World cinema. Among the surprises is the expected Cristian Mungiu's latest against the omission of Cristi Puiu's film that will represent Romania at the 2017 Oscars or the expected Pablo Larrain's Neruda against the absence of Biennale in competition Jackie. But in general believe that selection has no big surprises as most films were expected to be in this year's selection.

Here is the copy/paste of the official announcement that you can read at fest site here.

Telluride Film Festival, presented by the National Film Preserve, announces its official program selections for the 43rd edition of the Telluride Film Festival. TFF’s annual celebration of artistic excellence brings together cinema enthusiasts, filmmakers and artists to discover the best in world cinema in the beautiful mountain town of Telluride, Colorado. TFF will screen over seventy feature films, short films and revival programs representing twenty-two countries, along with special artist Tributes, Conversations, Panels, Student Programs and Festivities. Telluride Film Festival takes place Friday, September 2 - Monday, September 5, 2016.

43rd Telluride Film Festival is proud to present the following new feature films to play in its main program:
· ARRIVAL (d. Denis Villeneuve, U.S., 2016)
· THE B-SIDE: ELSA DORFMAN’S PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY (d. Errol Morris, U.S., 2016)
· BLEED FOR THIS (d. Ben Younger, U.S., 2016)
· CALIFORNIA TYPEWRITER (d. Doug Nichol, U.S., 2016)
· CHASING TRANE (d. John Scheinfeld, U.S., 2016)
· THE END OF EDEN (d. Angus Macqueen, U.K., 2016)
· FINDING OSCAR (d. Ryan Suffern, U.S., 2016)
· FIRE AT SEA (d. Gianfranco Rosi, Italy/France, 2016)
· FRANTZ (d. François Ozon, France, 2016)
· GENTLEMAN RISSIENT (d. Benoît Jacquot, Pascal Mérigeau, Guy Seligmann, France, 2016)
· GRADUATION (d. Cristian Mungiu, Romania/France/Belgium, 2016)
· INTO THE INFERNO (d. Werner Herzog, U.K./Austria, 2016)
· THE IVORY GAME (d. Kief Davidson, Richard Ladkani, Austria/U.S., 2016)
· LA LA LAND (d. Damien Chazelle, U.S., 2016)
· LOST IN PARIS (d. Fiona Gordon, Dominique Abel, France/Belgium, 2016)
· MANCHESTER BY THE SEA (d. Kenneth Lonergan, U.S., 2016)
· MAUDIE (d. Aisling Walsh, Canada/Ireland, 2016)
· MEN: A LOVE STORY (d. Mimi Chakarova, U.S., 2016)
· MOONLIGHT (d. Barry Jenkins, U.S., 2016)
· MY JOURNEY THROUGH FRENCH CINEMA (d. Bertrand Tavernier, France, 2016)
· NERUDA (d. Pablo Larraín, Chile/Argentina/France/Spain, 2016)
· NORMAN: THE MODERATE RISE AND TRAGIC FALL OF A NEW YORK FIXER (d. Joseph Cedar, U.S./Israel, 2016)
· SNAPSHOTS: EYES ON THE WORLD – three nonfiction short films including EXTREMIS (d. Dan Krauss, U.S., 2016); REFUGEE (d. Joyce Chen, Emily Moore, U.S., 2016); - · THE WHITE HELMETS (d. Orlando von Einsiedel, U.K., 2016)
· SULLY (d. Clint Eastwood, U.S., 2016)
· THINGS TO COME (d. Mia Hansen-Løve, France/Germany, 2016)
· THROUGH THE WALL (d. Rama Burshtein, U.S./Israel, 2016)
· TONI ERDMANN (d. Maren Ade, Germany/Austria, 2016)
· UNA (d. Benedict Andrews, U.K., 2016)
· WAKEFIELD (d. Robin Swicord, U.S., 2016)

The 2016 Silver Medallion Awards, given to recognize an artist’s significant contribution to the world of cinema, will be presented to Oscar and Golden Globe nominated actor Casey Affleck (TO DIE FOR, GOOD WILL HUNTING, OCEAN’S ELEVEN), starring in TFF selection MANCHESTER BY THE SEA; Oscar nominated, Golden Globe winning actress Amy Adams (CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, THE FIGHTER, AMERICAN HUSTLE) starring in TFF selection, ARRIVAL; and Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín (Oscar nominated NO, FUGA, POST MORTEM) debuting his latest film, NERUDA. Each program will include a selection of clips of the artist’s work, the presentation of the Silver Medallion, an on-stage interview and a screening of the aforementioned new film, shown in its entirety.

“The joy of putting together the festival program is dwarfed by the incredible enthusiasm both our audience and filmmaking guests experience over Labor Day weekend in Telluride,” said executive director Julie Huntsinger. “There is nothing quite like discovering the very best of cinema at almost 10,000 feet. There is nowhere else like it in the world. And the films of TFF 43 are as beautiful as the scenery. We are the luckiest people on earth for 3 1/2 days!”

Guest Director Volker Schlöndorff, who serves as a key collaborator in the Festival’s program, presents the following revival programs:
· THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA (d. Joseph Mankiewicz, U.S., 1954)
· THE FIRE WITHIN (d. Louis Malle, France, 1963)
· I WAS NINETEEN (d. Konrad Wolf, East Germany, 1968)
· IT WAS THE MONTH OF MAY (d. Marlen Khutsiev, U.S.S.R., 1970)
· LES ENFANTS TERRIBLES (d. Jean-Pierre Melville, France, 1950)
· SPIES (d. Fritz Lang, Germany, 1928)

Additional film revival programs include THE PAGNOL TRILOGY: MARIUS (d. Alexander Korda, France, 1931), FANNY (d. Marc Allégret, France, 1932), and CÉSAR (d. Marcel Pagnol, France, 1936); and VARIETY (d. Ewald André Dupont, Germany, 1925) with the Alloy Orchestra.

Backlot, Telluride’s intimate screening room featuring behind-the-scenes movies and portraits of artists, musicians and filmmakers, will screen the following programs:
· BEAUTIES OF THE NIGHT (d. María José Cuevas, Mexico, 2016)
· BERNADETTE LAFONT, AND GOD CREATED THE FREE WOMAN (d. Esther Hoffenberg, France, 2016)
· BRIGHT LIGHTS (d. Alexis Bloom, Fisher Stevens, U.S., 2016)
· COOL CATS (d. Janus Køster-Rasmussen, Denmark, 2015)
· THE FAMILY WHISTLE (d. Michele Salfi Russo, U.S./Italy, 2016)
· A FANATIC HEART – BOB GELDOF ON WB YEATS (d. Gerry Hoban, Ireland, 2016)
· GULAG (d. Angus Macqueen, U.K., 2000)
· I CALLED HIM MORGAN (d. Kasper Collin, Sweden/U.S., 2016)
· JERRY LEWIS: THE MAN BEHIND THE CLOWN (d. Gregory Monro, France, 2016)
· MIFUNE: THE LAST SAMURAI (d. Steven Okazaki, U.S., 2015)

Telluride Film Festival’s SHOWcase for Shorts features four short films chosen to precede select feature films; Filmmakers of Tomorrow includes three programs: Student Prints, Great Expectations, and Calling Cards from sixteen emerging filmmakers.

Telluride Film Festival’s Student Programs present students the opportunity to experience film as an art and expand participants’ worldview through film screenings and filmmaker discussions. The Student Symposium provides 50 graduate and undergraduate college students with a weekend-long immersion in cinema. The City Lights Project brings 15 high school students and five teachers from three schools the opportunity to participate in a concentrated program of screenings and discussions. FilmLAB offers a master-class program for UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television graduate filmmaking students. The FilmSCHOLAR program gives young film scholars and aspiring critics the opportunity to immerse themselves in a weekend of cinema and learn from some of the best in the field. Created in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin.

Telluride Film Festival’s Talking Heads programs allow attendees to go behind the scenes with the Festival’s special guests. Six Conversations take place between Festival guests and the audience about cinema and culture, and three outdoor Noon Seminars feature a panel of Festival guests discussing a wide range of film topics. These programs are free and open to the public.

Additional Festivities will take place throughout the Festival including a Poster Signing at Brigadoon with 2016 poster artist Yann Legendre; the Elsa Dorfman Gallery; the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Exhibit; and a special outdoor screening of THE EAGLE HUNTRESS (d. Otto Bell, U.K/Mongolia/U.S., 2016) will play on Friday evening.

Corporate support at Telluride Film Festival plays a dynamic role in the life of the Festival and underscores the Festival’s commitment to quality, adventure and distinction in the art of cinema. TFF is privileged to collaborate with some of the world’s most renowned consumer and entertainment brands. Julie Huntsinger said: “The festival could not be more proud of our incredible partners whose unique contributions enhance and add sparkle to our festival experience. We are exceptionally grateful to our long-term relationships with Turner Classic Movies, EY, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and excited to welcome new sponsors Amazon Studios, Delta Air Lines, Argent Pictures and Participant Media to the mix. We also welcome back the sleek, fast, all-electric Tesla to town. A fleet will be on display and available to test drive during the festival.”

We are extremely proud of our committed relationships, each of which are aligned with a unique feature of the festival and contribute to enhancing the festival experience, including Signature Sponsors: Turner Classic Movies, EY, National Endowment for the Arts and Meyer Sound; Major Sponsors: Amazon Studios, Universal Studios, Delta Air Lines, Participant Media, Telluride Ski & Golf Resort, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, Américas Film Conservancy and Telluride Mountain Village Owners Association; Festival Sponsors: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Argent Pictures, Colorado Office of Film, Television & Media, Dolby, Dell and Boston Light and Sound; and our wonderful Hospitality Partners: Telluride Alpine Lodging, The London West Hollywood, New Sheridan Hotel, The Chatwal New York and The Lambs Club, plus Canon, Colorado Creative Industries, Spectrum, Novo Coffee, the Town of Telluride, among others.

#TIFF16 Platform Selection

The directors-focused section is only in its second year, but has already lined up outstanding filmmakers with twelve (12) films from Canada, Australia, France, Bhutan, Belgium, USA, United Kingdom, and Netherlands.

“In its inaugural year in 2015, Platform successfully established itself as fundamental to the Festival, and we’re proud to present a dramatically thrilling and daring program for its second year,” said TIFF Artistic Director Cameron Bailey. This year, Platform takes on complex and bold narratives that range from a dark, twisted fantasy, a dramatic crime thriller, an existential illusion to the reinterpretation of a satirical tragedy, a raw coming-of-age story, and tales of revolutions, radicals, and revenge. The program will open with the international premiere of the powerful and topical drama Nocturama from critically acclaimed director-writer Bertrand Bonello.

Platform films will screen from Thursday, September 8 to Thursday, September 15. Each film will have its first screening for public, press and industry at the Winter Garden Theatre. Platform titles are eligible for the Toronto Platform Prize ($25,000 CAD), which goes to the best film in the program as selected by a three-person international jury, and will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on September 18, 2016.

Yes it is an interesting selection with some films that haven't been in the festival circuit, well at least among the top festivals; believe that will pay more attention to this section from now on.  Most intrigued by the two French films with Tahar Rahim, know will watch them both.

Opening Film: Nocturama, Bertrand Bonello, France
ダゲレオタイプの女 Le Secret de la Chambre Noire (Daguerrotype), Kiyoshi Kurosawa, France, Belgium and Japan
Goldstone, Ivan Sen, Australia
Réparer les vivants (Heal the Living), Katell Quillévéré, France and Belgium
he-mà he-mà (Hema Hema: Sing Me a Song While I Wait), Khyentse Norbu, Buthan and Hong Kong
Home, Fien Troch, Belgium
Jackie, Pablo Larraín, USA and Chile
Lady Macbeth, William Oldroyd, UK
Layla M., Mijke de Jong, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Jordan
Maliglutit (Searcheres), Zacharias Kunuk, Canada
Moonlight, Barry Jenkins, USA
Ceux qui font les révolutions à moitié n'ont fait que se creuser un tombeau (Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Graves), Mathieu Denis and Simon Lavoie, Canada

For the program’s second year, its three-person international jury will be composed of legendary directors Brian De Palma and Mahamat-Saleh Haroun and acclaimed actor Zhang Ziyi. Together, they will award a prize of $25,000 to the best Platform selection, to be announced at the Festival Awards Ceremony on September 18.

Jury
Brian De Palma, director USA
Mahamet-Saleh Haroun, director, Chad
Zhang Ziyi, actress, China



Let me share some reasons why behind this Competitive section in the NON-Competitive festival. Platform name comes from, yes!, Jia Zhang-ke outstanding movie. Section has 12 films from filmmakers with strong voices and distinct styles and is the festival giving people a chance to focus on international cinema as an evolving, daring art form (sic).

64th San Sebastian Film Festival Lineup

This year organizers started very early to tease with constant drops that add to the torrent of films that make the Official Selection as well as the other sections of the festival. So, been trying to do post since a while back, but didn't wanted to do constant updates.

Seems that today finally the Official Selection has been announced completely and according to latest toll there are twenty-five (25) films in the Official Selection with seventeen (17) films in the main Competition, four (4) Out of Competition and four (4) Special Screenings.

Before getting into the list wish to share that my spontaneous reaction to this edition is that has many films that most of us thought will end-up in one of the three main festivals but didn't. I even thought that some were withheld for next year's Berlin or Cannes. No, they are here, so we have films by Bertrand Bonello, Emmanuelle Bercot, Baltasar Kormákur, Arnaud des Pallières among others. Sigh. In my book, the inclusion of these films elevates the fest to a different category and well, makes it a lot more interesting to follow. Also take note of the great film quality in the many French films and co productions.

Still is hard to forget that most of San Sebastian fest films will also be in Toronto fest, a festival that now has a competitive section, Toronto Panorama, with an international jury; but most relevant, many films will have their world premiere in Toronto (September 8 to 18) just because runs before San Sebastian (September 16 to 24).

On September 16 at the opening ceremony the FIPRESCI Grand Prix will be presented to Toni Erdmann by Maren Ade.  Yes, is the film that Germany sent to Oscars -as many of us expected.  Still, I have my doubts as movie is a film critics "darling" and we all know Academy members are NOT film critics; nevertheless industry media has huge expectations for this film.  Most important is to mention that Maren Ade is the first female to receive the award since its creation in 1999.

Know that will have to update post as there are no jury members announcements, so as soon as organizers announce will proceed to include them here.

Official Selection

Competition
Opening Film: La Fille de Brest (150 Milligrams), Emmanuelle Bercot, France
American Pastoral, Ewan McGregor, USA
As You Are, Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, USA
당신 자신과 당신의 것 Dangsinjasingwa dangsinui geot (Yourself and Yours), Hong Sang-soo, South Korea
Eiðurinn (The Oath), Baltasar Kormákur, Iceland
El Hombre de las Mil Caras, Alberto Rodríguez, Spain
El Invierno (The Winter), Emiliano Torres, Argentina and France
怒り Ikari (Rage), Lee Sang-il, Japan
Jätten (The Giant), Johannes Nyholm, Sweden and Denmark
Jesús, Fernando Guzzoni, France, Chile, Germany and Greece
La Reconquista, Jonás Trueba, Spain
Lady MacBeth, William Oldroyd, UK
Nocturama, Bertrand Bonello, France, Germany and Belgium
Orpheline (Orphan), Arnaud des Pallières, France
Plac Zabaw (Playground), Bartosz M. Kowalski, Poland
Que Dios Nos Perdone, Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Spain
我不是潘金莲 Wo Bu Shi Pan Jinlian (I Am Not Madame Bovary), Xiaogang Feng, China

Out of Competition
Closing Film: L'odyssée (The Odyseey), Jérôme Salle, France and Belgium
A Monster Calls, J.A. Bayona, Spain
Colossal, Nacho Vigalondo, Canada
Snowden, Oliver Stone, USA, Germany and France

Special Screenings
Bigas x Bigas, Bigas Luna and Santiago Garrido Rua, Spai
君の名は Kimi No Na Wa (Your Name), Makoto Shinkai, Japan
Manda Huevos, Diego Galán, Spain
Vivir y Otras Ficciones, Jo Sol, Spain

New Directors
Sixteen (16) films will compete for the Kutxabank-New Directors Award


Anişoara (Anishoara), Ana-Felicia Scutelnicu, Germany and Moldovia
Compte tes blessures (A Taste of Ink), Morgan Simon, France
Fin de Semana, Morocco Colman, Argentina
呼吸正常 Hu Xi Zheng Chang (Something Blue), Yunbo Li, China
Bar Bahar (In Between), Maysaloun Hamoud, Israel and France
Le Ciel Flamand, Peter Monsaert, Belgium
Lumières d'été - Natsu no hikari (Summer Lights), Jean-Gabriel Périot, France
María (y los demás), Nely Reguera, Spain
Park, Sofia Exarchou, Greece and Poland
Pinamar, Federico Godfrid, Argentina
Porto, Gabe Klinger, Portugal, France and USA
Teesklejad (Pretenders), Vallo Toomla, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia
Vanatoare (Prowl), Alexandra Balteanu, Germany
Waldstille, Martijn Maria Smits, Netherlands
Yeon-ae-dam (Our Love Story), Lee Hyun-ju, South Korea
Yi Bai Wu Shi Sui de sheng huno (One Hundred and Fifty Years of Life), Liu Yu, China

Horizontes Latinos
Five former participants in last year’s Films in Progress will this year feature in the selection of the best in Latin American cinema plus the one film by outstanding Amat Escalante that also is in competition at Venice fest. There are thirteen (13) films competing for the Horizontes Award.


Alba, Ana Cristina Barragán, Ecuador, Mexico and Greece
Aquí no ha pasado nada (Much Ado about Nothing), Alejandro Fernández Almendras, Chile, USA and France
El Amparo, Rober Calzadilla, Venezuela and Colombia
El Cristo Ciego, Christopher Murray, Chile and France
El Rey del Once, Daniel Burman, Argentina
Era o Hotel Cambridge, Eliane Caffé, Brazil, France and Spain
La Idea de un Lago, Milagros Mumenthaler, Argentina, Switzerland and Qatar
La Larga Noche de Francisco Sanctis, Francisco Márquez and Andrea Testa, Argentina
La Región Salvaje (The Untamed), Amat Escalante, Mexico, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway and Switzerland
Rara, Pepa San Martín, Chile and Argentina
Santa y Andrés, Carlos Lechuga, Cuba, France and Colombia
Viejo Calavera, Kiro Russo, Bolivia and Qatar
X Quinientos, Juan Andrés Arango, Canada, Colombia and Mexico

There are many more sections in the festival screening great films from all over the world, most come from any of the three big festivals but there are more, use below links to check the films in each section.  Please note that some sections still have no movies info, but eventually everything will be listed at each section.

Pearls -a selection of best films of the year- go here.
Zaaltegi-Tabakalera -competitive section, open zone with unconventional films- go here.
Culinary Zinema -competitive selection of gastronmy related films accompanied by themed dinners- go here.
Savage Cinema -adventure and sports films- go here.
Zinemira -section dedicated to Basque film- go here.
Made in Spain -non competitive selection showcasing Spanish Films- go here.
International Film Students Meeting -short films- go here.
Velodrome -big premieres- go here.
Movies for Kids -non competitive section for younger audiences- go here.
Classic Retrospective -Jacques Becker- go here.
Thematic Retrospective -The Act of Killing. Cinema and global violence- go here.
Films in Progress -Latin American films in progress- go here.

Here are some of the awards already announced

Donostia Award: Sigourney Weaver
Donostia Award: Ethan Hawke
Latin Cinema Award: Gael Garcia Bernal
Zinemira Award: Actor and filmmaker Ramón Barea

As the 2016 edition has great posters will share them below.

10th Queer Lion Award Lineup Update 2

Award organizers were supposed to announce films next Monday, August 22 but today there are some films listed and even when do not know if is the complete list, I'm in the mood of sharing the films that will or could be considered for the Venice Film Festival LGBT award.

Before checking the list, let's find out who are going to decide the winning film (or films?).

Jury
President: Cecilia Ermini, film critic and programmer, Italy
Rich Cline, film critic, UK
Daniel N, Casagrande, founder of Queer Lion Award, journalist, Italy

The following are the films in today's list. Next Monday could modify list according to what organizers do as perhaps they could add more films and/or short films. If find which LGBT interest the film has will add info.

Was reading in facebook and twitter the award publications and seems this is the complete list and there will be no award for short films. Still, according to the official site, seems on Monday there will be an official award presentation by Casagrande as well as will publish the events around the award, so will update post, if applicable.

My spontaneous reaction to list is that there are two films with clear interest and both are with gay-interest, one absolutely calls my attention for the director and the most amazing cinematography of Iceland settings; the other is Italian and well not really calls my attention (lol!) but wonder if the award will not go to any of these two films as whatever LGBT interest the other films have, seem will be of the not-so-pleasant to watch characters and storyline. Sigh.

Monday August 22, 2016 Update

No, there are no changes to the list, there are 10 films in competition for the 2016 Queer Lion and there will be NO award for short films. 

Today organizers published the foreword by Daniel N. Casagrande that you could read in English here. Still, there are some news worth sharing in this post and here is the cut/paste paragraph that talks about films NOT considered for the award but have some LGBT interest. Sorry, no explanations to why films are NOT included in the competition.

Among the films not competing for the Queer Lion Award, worth of a mention are: Era ieri by Valentina Pedicini, a lesbian short film presented in the section SIC@SIC; the ambiguous and mysterious Frantz by François Ozon; Isiko (The Wound) by John Trengove, a South African gay-themed film presented as a work in progress in the Final Cut workshop in Venice; the glamour and elegance of the documentary Franca: Chaos and Creation by Francesco Carrozzini, and the libertine, pre WWII Paris of Rebecca Zlotowski’s Planetarium starring Natalie Portman and Louis Garrel and co-written by Robin Campillo.

Most interesting is to learn that the Queer Lion Award is given to the "Best Film with Homosexual & Queer Culture Themes". This is new to me as older definition was longer and perhaps more to the essence of LGBT cinema; but well, is a great summary that explains not much as if something is really diverse and engulfs so many cultural aspects is the so-called Homosexual & Queer culture. Sigh.

Wednesday, August 24 Update

A few minutes ago got the following email from Daniel N. Casagrande with some comments about why above films were not considered. Here is the copy/paste of the email.

Hi,

At the request of the direction of the Venice Film Festival we only consider the medium and feature films, so movies longer less than 30’ can not compete.

FRANTZ is not in competition because the gay subject is never made explicit, any homosexual relationship (if there ever was) is never discussed, mentioned, everything is subtext, it's all about the "not told" and the "not shown"; The most attentive LGBT audience will see (maybe) all of this, the remaining 95% of the audience will see another movie.

The documentary on Francesco Carrozzini, that concern the fashion world, is definitely interesting for the LGBT public, but it has nothing to do with homosexual themes.

PLANETARIUM has only one sequence in a gay bar in the Paris of 1937.

ISIKO is a work in progress, will go to Venice in a single pass in a hall with 120 seats only for buyers and producers, we were explicitly asked not to add it in the competition because it's not finished yet.

Thanks for your attention.
Daniel...

We thank Mr. Casagrande communication that clarifies doubts that many of us had, including those that asked me directly. Most important, we have info to consider for future editions of this award.

From Venezia 73

Ang babaeng humayo (The Woman Who Left) by Lav Diaz with Charo Santos-Concio, John Lloyd Cruz (Philippines, 226’)

Synopsis: For Horacia Somorostro, living has become a veritable reclusion perpetua, an imprisonment. Life’s spins and randomness has been very difficult, vicious and inexplicable for her. The year is 1997. Princess Diana dies in a violent car crash. The world is saddened by the death of Mother Theresa. And the Philippines is gripped with fear. It has become the kidnap capital of Asia.

Director Lav Diaz's drama examines economic disparity in modern Filipino society through the eyes of a woman released from prison 30 years after being framed and wrongly convicted.

Director's Statement: “Existence is fragile” says Lav Diaz, “At the end of the day, we really don’t know anything”. A simple, yet complex story; a work about human existence, which raises the question “where does logic figure in all of this?” A film that seeks to push cinema towards its deeper and grander end: to find answers to the philosophical questions that each viewer asks himself. The setting in Mindoro, a province of the Philippines of which Charo Santos-Concio is a native, made the shooting even more authentic than the theme of the film could have.



La Región Salvaje (The Untamed) by Amat Escalante with Ruth Ramos, Simone Bucio (Mexico, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, 100’)

Synopsis from Biennale: A social parable that focuses on Mexico, but also wishes to be universal. A more metaphysical film than Amat Escalante's previous film Heli (2013, Best Director at Cannes). A story about falling in love and vanishing illusions in a highland city in Mexico. Veronica (Simone Bucio) goes down to find the point of impact of a meteorite that crashed and altered the configuration of the area. In the same way, she will change the lives of Angel (Jesùs Mesa) and Alejandra (Ruth Ramos), a young couple that puts its determination to the test as they try, with their two children, to overcome adversity.

Synopsis from San Sebastian fest: Young mother Alejandra is a working housewife, raising two boys with her husband Angel in a small city. Her brother Fabien works as a nurse in a local hospital. Their provincial lives are upset with the arrival of the mysterious Veronica. Sex and love can be fragile in certain regions where strong family values, hypocrisy, homophobia and male chauvinism exist. Veronica convinces them that in the nearby woods, inside an isolated cabin, dwells something not of this world that could be the answer to all of their problems.



Amat Escalante is MUST-BE-SEEN for me and no matter what his previous films have told in their stories nor the extreme violence they could show, I'll will watch his films as they're mesmerizing. Still can't imagine a film by him with some LGBT interest and if have to push my imagination then I see something that will not be pleasant to watch; somehow suspect film could have some lesbian interest ... but not sure at all.

Questi Giorni by Giuseppe Piccioni with Margherita Buy, Filippo Timi (Italy, 120’)

Synopsis from Biennale: Questi Giorni is the story of a group of college-age girls from the provinces, an age in which decisions about the future become more pressing, and can no longer be delayed. A provincial Italian town. Inside the old city walls, in late-night forays along the seafront, in the enchantment of a temporary incursion into nature, the four girls play out their daily rituals and nurture their expectations; their friendship has not sprung from overwhelming passion, shared interests or great ideals. They are bound not by affinity but by habit, by occasional enthusiasm, by guileless clashes, and feelings they cultivate in secret. Yet their bond is as unique and inimitable as the days they travel together to Belgrade, where they will find a mysterious friend and an unlikely job opportunity.



The obvious implication is that film has some lesbian interest and probably does so, but there is no clear info -yet- anywhere.

From Orizzonti

Boys in the Trees by Nicholas Verso with Toby Wallace, Gulliver McGrath (Australia, 2016)

Synopsis: Halloween 1997 – the last night of high school for Corey, Jango and their skater gang, The Gromits. Childhood is over and adult life beckons. But for Corey, his past has some unfinished business. When he encounters Jonah, a former childhood friend but now victimised by Jango’s cruel streak, Corey takes pity on him and agrees to walk him home for old time’s sake. What starts off as a normal walk through empty suburban streets descends into something darker and magical, as trip through their memories and ghosts of the past, and Corey is surprised to discover how much he still has in common with his abandoned friend. But on the night of the grave’s delight, even the most buried truths will find a way of coming to life.

Best Narrative Screenplay (Unproduced) award winner at the 2011 New York Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Imagine film has gay interest; but, no, I'm not sure.



From Giornate degli Autori (Venice Days)

Hjartasteinn (Heartstone) by Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson with Søren Malling, Gunnar Jónsson (Denmark, Iceland, 129’)

Synopsis: A remote fishing village in Iceland. Teenage boys Thor and Christian experience a turbulent summer as one tries to win the heart of a girl while the other discovers new feelings toward his best friend. When summer ends and the harsh nature of Iceland takes back its rights, it’s time to leave the playground and face the acrimony of adulthood.

Director statement: Heartstone is a personal story based on my experience growing up in a small fishing village. The core of the film is a strong, beautiful friendship between two boys, and how their environment and inner conflict drive them apart, before the bond they share manages to reunite them again. The village is a place full of contrats, where kids discover how nature and people can be both amazingly beautiful and incredibly cruel. As a kid, I wished I could show the grown-ups around me how our world really felt, and that's what I want to show as a filmmaker: because the years of youth reflect our lives in clear, beautiful, and sometimes harsh manner.



Has to have gay interest, don't you think so too?

Indivisibili (Indivisible) by Edoardo De Angelis with Angela Fontana, Marianna Fontana (Italy, 100’)

Synopsis: Viola and Dasy are a pair of conjoined twins who sing at weddings and parties and manage to support their entire family with their performances. It all works, until they realize that separation is a real option. All they want is normal lives: eating ice cream, traveling, dancing, making love, drinking wine without worrying about their other half getting drunk... A gay couple, very close to the sisters, is among the characters we will meet throughout their story.



Seems film has secondary gay interest.

Pamilya ordinaryo (Ordinary People) di Eduardo Roy Jr. con Ronwaldo Martin, Hasmine Killip (Filippine, 107’) (T)

Synopsis: A family portrait of Jane, sixteen, and her boyfriend, Aries, making a living out of stealing on the chaotic streets of Manila. Fate hits back at them when, one month after having become parents, their child is stolen by a transgender who wants to sell it to another couple. In an effort to get the baby back, the couple will be forced to take extreme measures.



From Settimana Internazionale della Critica (Venice International Film Critics Week)

Jours de France by Jérôme Reybaud with Pascal Cervo, Arthur Igual (France, 141’) (G)

Synopsis: A man leaves everything behind to travel aimlessly through France, letting himself be guided only by the people and landscapes he encounters: four days and four nights of wandering, during which his lover tries to locate him via Grindr, a smartphone dating app.



Le ultime cose by Irene Dionisio with Fabrizio Falco, Christina Rosamilia (Italy, France, Switzerland, 85’) (T)

Synopsis: In Torino, a bittersweet crowd is bringing its own belongings to a pawn shop, waiting for a ransom or the final auction. Between the thousands of faces that tell the human inventory of the crisis, three stories intertwine unconsciously in the thin line of moral debt. Sandra, a young trans, in order to escape her past sells her fur coat. Her gaze will cross Stefano’s, a novice who just started working at the bank, and who drags her towards a tender obsession. Michele, a retired porter, asks for a loan to a family member, who will turn out to be fatally the wrong person to ask a favor from.



From Cinema nel Giardino

L’estate addosso (Summertime) by Gabriele Muccino with Taylor Frey, Joseph Haro (Italy, 103’) (G)

Synopsis: 18 year-old Marco, in the summer of high-school final exams, unexpectedly ends up on a road trip to San Francisco with Mary, a classmate of his, nicknamed ‘the nun’. Mary’s company is, to Marco, a real catastrophe. When in California, the two of them will be guests of Matt and Paul, a young gay couple: the four will have to face problems and prejudices and will live an experience that will forever change their lives.



To check list at official site go here. Check available info plus trailers @MOC

Queer Lion Award 2016 will be handed out on Friday, September 9 at 7:00PM at Villa degli Autori, headquarter of Venice Days-Giornate degli Autori, in a ceremony where the most important collateral awards, such as Fedeora Award, Label Europa Cinemas, Venice Days Award, BNL Audience Critics’ Week prize will be announced.

On the night of Friday, September 9, to celebrate 10 years of the Queer Lion, QL Closing Party will take place in the park of Nicelli airport in Lido di Venezia, with free entrance and a shuttle bus service from Cittadella del Cinema (the area of Casino and Palazzo del Cinema). Music by Brian dj from Queever disco club in Turin.

Video

For obvious reasons I didn't particularly like the promotional video but well, check it to form your own opinion. Sigh.

#Locarno69 Award Winners

Today the most famous Swiss competitive festival comes to an end with the screening of the award winning films and feel kind of sad as this year followed the fest via smart phone app and gee, was great! Thanks Locarno for creating a good, fine working app.

More interesting was the fest collaboration with Festival Scope as yes, was able to watch a couple of films for FREE; but to be honest, didn't enjoyed much the films (lol). Nevertheless the Festival Scope app is also very good and can be send to your TV via Airplay! Since I'm talking about the greatness of Locarno streaming and smart services, let me share that been experimenting with many app services that can stream films directly to your smart TV and my impression is that film distribution has changed! No, is not anymore, WILL change. Now streaming is an important mean to reach film audiences and is happening all over the world.

After so many great news let's go back to the Swiss festival and the award winners that to the surprise of many has several awards to films by female directors, including the Top Award. That's great for a change, isn't? Now let's hope films are great, as great films have no gender...

Concorso Internazionale

Golden Leopard: Godless, Ralitza Petrova, Bulgaria, Denmark and France

Special Jury Prize: Inimi Cicatrizate (Scarred Hearts), Radu Jude, Romania and Germany
Special Mention: Mister Universe, Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel, Austria and Italy

Best Direction: João Pedro Rodrigue for O Ornitólogo (The Ornitologist), Portugal, France and Brazil

Leopard for Best Actress: Irena Ivanova in Godless, Ralitza Petrova, Bulgaria, Denmark and France
Leopard for Best Actor: Andrzej Seweryn in Ostatnia Rodzina (The Last Family), Jan P. Matuszyński, Poland

Concorso Cineasti del Presente

Golden Leopard: El Auge del Humano (The Human Surge), Eduardo Williams, Argentina, Brazil and Portugal

Special Jury Prize: The Challenge, Yuri Ancarani, Italy and France (documentary)
Special Mention: Viejo Calavera (Dark Skull), Kiro Russo, Bolivia and Qatar

Best Emerging Director: Mariko Tetsuya for ディストラクション・ベイビーズ Disutorakushon Beibizu (Destruction Babies), Japan

First Feature Competition

First Feature Award: El Futuro Perfecto (The Future Perfect), Nele Wohlatz, Argentina
Art Peace Hotel Award: Maud Alpi for Gorge Cœur Ventre (Still Life), France
Special Mention: El Auge del Humano (The Human Surge), Eduardo Williams, Argentina, Brazil and Portugal

Pardi di Domani (Short Film Competition)

Concorso Internationale (International Competition)

Golden Leopard Cub for Best International Short Film: L'Inmmense Retour (Romance), Manon Coubia, Belgium and France, 14'
Silver Leopard Cub: Cilaos, Camilo Restarepo, France, 12'
Special Mention: Non Castus, Andrea Castillo, Chile, 21'

Locano Nomination for European Film Awards-Premio Pianifica: L'Inmmense Retour (Romance), Manon Coubia, Belgium and France, 14'
Premio Film und Video Untertitelung: Valparaiso, Carlo Sironi, Italy, 20'

Concorso Nazionale (National Competition)

Golden Leopard Cub for Best Swiss Short Film: Die Brücke über den Fluss (The Bridge over the River), Jadwiga Kowalska, Switzerland, 6'
Silver Leopard Cub: Genesis, Lucien Monot, Switzerland, 17'
Best Swiss Newcomer: Manon Goupil for La Sève, Switzerland, 13'

Other Awards
Audience Award: I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach, UK and France
Variety Piazza Grande Award: Moka, Frédéric Mermoud, France and Switzerland

Independent Juries and Awards

FIPRESCI Award: Mister Universo, Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel, Austria and Italy

Ecumenical Prize: Godless, Ralitza Petrova, Bulgaria, Denmark and France
Special Mentions
Mister Universo, Tizza Covi and Rainier Frimmel, Austria and Italy
Marija (Maria), Michael Koch, Germany and Switzerland

Europa Cinema Label: Mister Universo, Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel, Austria and Italy

International Federation of Film Societies (IFFS) Award: Inimi Cicatrizate (Scarred Hearts), Radu Jude, Romania and Germany
Special Mention: Slava (Glory), Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, Bulgaria and Greece

Junior Jury Awards
First Prize: Bangkok Nites, Katsuya Tomita, Japan, France, Thailand and Laos
Second Prize: Mister Universo, Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel, Austria and Italy
Third Prize: 風に濡れた女 Kaze Ni Nureta Onna (Wet Woman in the Wind), Shiota Akihiko, Japan
Enviroment is Quality of Life Prize: Marija (Maria), Michael Koch, Germany and Switzerland

Cinema & Gioventù Jury for the Concorso Cineasti del presente Award: Afterlov, Stergios Paschos, Greece
Special Mention: El Futuro Perfecto (The Future Perfect), Nele Wohlatz, Argentina

Cinema & Gioventù Jury for the Pardi di domani Awards
Best International Short Film: Alepou (Fox), Jaqueline Lentzou, Greece, 28'
Best Swiss Short Film: Lost Exile, Fisnik Maxhuni, Switzerland, 29'
Special Mention: Genesis, Lucien Monot, Switzerland, 17'

Semaine de la Critique
SRG SSR Prize: Komunia (Communion), Anna Zamecka, Poland
Zonta Club Locarno Prize: Cahier Africain, Heidi Specogna, Switzeland and Germany

To check info about any of the above films go official site here.

73rd Venice International Film Festival Lineup

The complete line-up of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival was announced during the press conference that took place on Thursday, July 28th in Rome. The 73rd Venice International Film Festival will take place on the Lido from August 31st to September 10th, directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by the Biennale di Venezia chaired by Paolo Baratta.

Believe must of us were expecting a very strong lineup this year as already knew the films that didn't make it to the other two main competitive festivals and yes, there is no disappointment, the lineup is massive, strong and many "gods" of cinema will grace Venice with their latest oeuvres. Bravo!!!

Still there are some surprises, besides those already mentioned in previous posts, like for example, Isabelle Huppert in a short film in the Orizzonti section, Keaunu Reeves, Diego Luna and Jim Carrey in the same movie (?!) and film is about cannibals (!!!), or the ones definitively not positive like for example, where latest films by Kim Ki-Duk or Katell Quillévéré ended (sigh).

But the best news, the one no one will take away from me is my glorious joy of being able to see Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander walking the red carpet (lol). On other news, both Amy Adams as Natalie Portman are in two movies, Amy in two in competition and Natalie one in competition and one out of competition.

According to the press release there are 55 new feature films in the Official Selection divided as follows: 19 in Venezia73 Competition, 17 in Out of Competition (7 of which are documentaries) and 19 in Orizzonti. There are 16 new short films, 16 in Orizzonti (14 in competition and 2 out of competition). In Venice Classics there are 20 feature films, 1 restored short film and 10 documentaries about cinema. Most interesting is to find that organizers viewed 2,901 films of which 1,468 are feature films and 1,433 short films.

Venezia 73
International competition of feature films, presented as world premieres

Opening Film: La La Land, Damien Chazelle, USA
Ang Babaeng Humayo (The Woman Who Left), Lav Diaz, Philippines
Arrival, Denis Villeneuve, USA
Brimstone, Martin Koolhoven, Netherlands, Germany, France, UK and Sweden
El Ciudadano Ilustre, Mariano Cohn and Gastòn Duprat, Argentina and Spain
(*) El Cristo Ciego, Christopher Murray, Chile and France
Frantz, François Ozon, France and Germany
Jackie, Pablo Larraín, USA and Chile
La Región Salvaje (The Untamed), Amat Escalante, Mexico, Denmark, France, Germany and Norway
Les Beaux Jours d'Aranjuez (The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez), Wim Wenders, France and Germany
Na mliječnom putu (On the Milky Road), Emir Kusturica, Serbia, UK and USA
Nocturnal Animals, Tom Ford, USA
Piuma, Roan Johnson, Italy
Questi Giorni, Giuseppe Piccioni, Italy
Spira Mirabilis, Massimo D'Anolfi and Martina Parenti, Italy and Switzerland (documentary)
Рай Rai (Paradise), Andrei Konchalovsky, Russia and Germany
The Bad Batch, Ana Lily Amirpour, USA
The Light Between Oceans, Derek Cianfrance, USA, Australia and New Zealand
Une vie (A Woman's Life), Stéphane Brizé, France and Belgium
Voyage of Time, Terrence Malick, USA and Germany (documentary)

Venezia 73 Jury
President: Sam Mendes, director, UK
Nina Hoss, actress, Germany
Chiara Mastroianni, actress, France
Joshua Oppenheimer, director, USA
Lorenzo Vigas, director, Venezuela
Zhao Wei, actress, China
Laurie Anderson, artist, singer, director and writer, USA
Giancarlo De Cataldo, magistrate, writer, playwright and screenwriter, Italy

Out of Competition
Important works by directors already established in previous editions of the Festival

Closing Film: The Magnificent Seven, Antoine Fuqua, USA
A Jamais (Never Ever), Benoît Jacquot, France and Portugal
American Anarchist, Charlie Siskel, USA
Assalto al Cielo, Francesco Munzi, Italy (documentary)
Austerlitz, Sergei Loznitsa, Germany (documentary)
Gantz:O, Yasuhi Kawamura, Japan (animation)
Hacksaw Ridge, Mel Gibson, USA and Australia
I Called Him Morgan, Kasper Collin, Sweden and USA (documentary)
L'uomo che non cambiò la storia (The Man Who Didn't Change History), Enrico Caria, Italy (documentary)
밀정 Miljeong (The Age of Shadows), Kim Jee Woon, South Korea
Monte (The Mountain), Ammir Naderi, Italy, USA and France
One More Time with Feeling, Andrew Dominik, UK
Our War, Bruno Chiaravalloti, Claudio Jampaglia, and Benedetta Argentieri, Italy and USA (documentary)
Planetarium, Rebecca Zlotowski, France and Belgium
Safari, Ulrich Seidl, Austria and Denmark (documentary)
The Bleeder, Philippe Falardeau, USA and Canada
The Journey, Nick Hamm, UK
The Young Pope (Episodes I and II), Paolo Sorrentino, Italy, France, Spain and USA (TV miniseries)
Tommaso, Kim Rossi Stuart, Italy

Check available info and trailers @MOC

Orizzonti
An international competition dedicated to films that represent the latest aesthetic and expressive trends in international cinema

Feature Films
(*) Boys in the Trees, Nicholas Verso, Australia
Dawson City: Frozen Time, Bill Morrison, USA and France (documentary)
(*) Die Einsiedler, Ronny Trocker, Germany and Austria
(*) 愚行録 Gukôroku, Kei Ishikawa, Japan
Home, Fien Troch, Belgium
(*) Il più grande sogno (I Was a Dreamer), Michele Vannucci, Italy
(*) Kékszakállú, Gastón Solnicki, Argentina
Koca Dünya (Big Big World), Reha Erdem, Turkey
King of the Belgians, Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth, Belgium, Netherlands and Bulgaria
Ku Qian (Bitter Money), Bing Wang, Hong Kong and France (documentary)
Laavor et Hakim (Through the Wall), Rama Burshtein, Israel
Liberami, Federica di Giacomo, Italy and France (documentary)
مالاریا Malaria, Parviz Shahbazi, Iran
(*) Maudite Poutine, Karl Lemieux, Canada
Réparer les vivants (The Heart), Katell Quillévéré, France and Belgium
São Jorge (Saint George), Marco Martins, Portugal and France
(*) Tarde Para La Ira (The Fury of a Patient Man), Raúl Arévalo, Spain
White Sun, Deepak Rauniyar, Nepal, USA, Qatar and Netherlands

Special Screening Out of Competition
Dark Night, Tim Sutton, USA

Short Films
500,000 Pee (500,000 Years), Chai Siris, Thailand, 15'
Amalimbo, Juan Pablo Libossart, Sweden and Estonia, 15' (animation)
Ce qui nous éloigne, Wei Hu, France, 18'
Colombi, Luca Ferri, Italy, 20'
Dadyaa, Bibhusan Basnet and Pooja gurung, Nepal and France, 17'
Good News, Giovanni Fumu, South Korea and Italy, 17'
La Voz Perdida, Marcelo Martinessi, Paraguay, Venezuela and Cuba, 11'
Le Reste est l'oeuvre de l'homme, Doria Achour, France and Tunisia, 14'
Midwinter, Jake Mahaffy, USA and New Zealand, 17'
Molly Bloom, Chiara Caselli, Italy, 20'
On The Origin of Fear, Bayu Prihantoro Filemon, Indonesia, 12'
Prima Noapte (First Night), Andrei Tanase, Romania and Germany, 17'
Ruah, Flurin Giger, Switzerland, 18'
Samedi Cinema, Mamadou Dia, Senegal, 11'
Srečno, Orlo! (Good Luck, Orlo!), Sara Kern, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria, 14'
Stanza 52, Maurizio Braucci, Italy, 13"

Orizzonti Jury
President: Robert Guédiguian, director, France
Jim Hoberman, film critic and historian, USA
Nelly Karim, actress, Egypt
Valentina Lodovini, actress, Italy
Moon So-ri, actress, South Korea
José Maria (Chema) Prado, film critic and scholar, Spain
Chaitanya Tamhane, director, India

Check available info and trailers @MOC

Cinema nel Giardino
The new section with films, talks, and visions under the Casino

Franca: Chaos and Creation, Francesco Carrozzini, Italy and USA (documentary)
그물 Geumul (The Net), Kim Ki-Duk, South Korea
In Dubious Battle, James Franco, USA
Inseparables, Marcos Carnevale, Argentina
L'Estate Addosso (Summertime), Gabriele Muccino, Italy
My Art, Laurie Simmons, USA
Robinù, Michele Santoro, Italy (documentary)
The Secret Life of Pets, Chris Renaud and Yarrow Cheney, USA (3D animation)

Biennale College - Cinema
Higher-education training workshop for the development and production of micro-budget feature-length films

La Soledad, Jorge Thielen Armand, Venezuela
Mukti Bhawan (Hotel Salvation), Shubhashish Bhutiani, India
Orecchie (Ears), Alessandro Aronadio, Italy
Una Hermana (One Sister), Sofia Brockenshire, Argentina

Special Screenings

El vendedor de Orquídeas, Lorenzo Vigas, Venezuela and Mexico (documentary)
Rem, Thomas Koolhaas, USA (documentary)
Spes Contre Spem - Liberi Dentro, Ambrogio Crespi, Italy (documentary)

Venice Classics
A selection of restored classic films and documentaries on cinema. To check films in the section go official site here.

Debut films competing for the Lion of the Future -“Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film
There are twenty-two (22) films competing for this award, 1 in Venezia 73, 7 in Orizzonti, 7 in SIC and 7 in Venice Days. All films are identified by a preceding (*).

(*) Competing for the Lion of the Future Award

Lion of the Future - Debut film Jury
President: Kim Rossi Stuart, actor and director, Italy
Rosa Bosch, producer, Spain and UK
Brady Corbet, actor and director, USA
Pilar López de Ayala, actress, Spain
Serge Toubiana, film critic, France

Tributes
The 73rd Venice International Film Festival will be dedicated to two great directors who have recently passed away: Abbas Kiarostami and Michael Cimino. The former changed the way we look at and reflect upon images in motion, the latter would have changed the face of American cinema even more than he actually did before he was deprived of the possibility of expressing himself fully.

A double Tribute will therefore be held during the event. There will be a screening of what is one of Michael Cimino's finest and, in part, most underrated films: Year of the Dragon (1985), with Mickey Rourke.

For Abbas Kiarostami, a special program will be shown composed of an unreleased digital short film from the series 24 Frames (which the Iranian director was still working on), and THIS IS MY FILM: 76 Minutes and 15 Seconds with Kiarostami, a collage film made for the occasion by Seifollah Samadian, Abbas' loyal friend and historic assistant, who for over twenty-five years filmed his work and gathered his thoughts about cinema, photography, art and life.

Interesting Data

In the 2016 edition there will be three (3) Golden Lion winning directors attending, Lorenzo Vigas, Kim Ki-Duk and Wim Enders; one Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize winner director, Andrei Konchalovski; two Silver Lion for Best Director winners, Andrei Konchalovski and Emir Kusturica; one Special Jury Prize winner director, Ulrich Seidl, one Lion of the Future award winner director, Emir Kusturica, two Orizzonti Award for Best Film winner directors, Lav Diaz and Wang Bing; plus 2 Academy Award wining directors, Paolo Sorrentino and Mel Gibson.

So, indeed there is a relevant participation of established directors that have won an award at the oldest fest in the world, but perhaps more interesting is that there are twelve (12) directors who are participating for the first time in the Competition. They are the following:

Damien Chazelle, Ana Lily Amirpour, Stéphane Brizé, Derek Cianfrance, Mariano Cohn e Gastón Duprat, Lav Diaz, Massimo D’Anolfi e Martina Parenti, Amat Escalante, Roan Johnson, Martin Koolhoven, Christopher Murray and Denis Villeneuve

To check the many movie posters of Venezia 73 go to my pinterest site here.

Videos (in Italian)

Paolo Baratta



Alberto Barbera

13th Venice Days Lineup

A few minutes ago Roberto Barzanti, President of the Venice Days Association, and Giorgio Gosetti, Artistic Director, announced the Giornate Degli Autori official selection at a press conference at Casa del Cinema in Rome.

This selection is strongly characterized - observes General Delegate Giorgio Gosetti - by the female creativity that flows through most of the films we've seen and most of those that have been chosen. It reflects the way that for years now, we've placed the female world - also through our work with creative partner Miu Miu on the ‘Women's Tales' project - at the center of our research. But it's also a strong sign of the vitality and rejuvenation of the art of film, which, by no coincidence, is confirmed in the exceptional number and quality of first and second works we believe in".

My first impression tells me the selections is strong on women directors (or "female creativity" as Gosetti put it) and has a strong Nordic Cinema flavor (fabulous!) but let me go deep into each film to make up my mind and perhaps confirm my first reactions

Ever since the first edition, Venice Days have come to represent a real alternative to the Festival's official areas and an ideal and informal place for authors, producers, distributors and journalists to meet and discuss their ideas in an informal environment.

This year, twenty nationalities will be represented (including those of the authors), with seven first works, seven female authors, three Italian films made with financial support from the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, eleven titles competing for the Venice Days Award, which is awarded by a jury of twenty-eight young European film enthusiasts, chosen in partnership with the European Parliament and Europa Cinemas and coordinated by the director of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Karel Och

Spontaneously my most positive reaction has been to the section poster with a beautiful image, been looking for info about the poster and IF find info, will share.

The 12 films selected from all over the world, in addition to other events and any special screenings, are screened in the theaters provided by the Venice Film Festival. As you will see, there are only 11 films announced today, so imagine soon we will learn one more film even when there are no news about it today. Still we know that a "surprise" film will be announced at a later date along the closing film, so we can expect 2 more films in this section.

The Official Awards of Venice Days are:
Venice Days Award, given by the Official Jury of Venice Days, headed by a filmmaker and composed by the participants to the program 28 Times Cinema of the European Parliament. The award consists is accompanied by a cash prize of €20,000, to be split equally between the filmmaker and the film's international distributor, who agrees to use the sum received to promote the winning film internationally.
BNL People's Choice Award for the films of the Official Selection, offered by BNL Gruppo BNP Paribas, Main Sponsor of Venice Days.
Label Europa Cinemas, dedicated to films produced and co-produced in Europe. The Label was created by a network of high-caliber European exhibitors, with the support of the EU's MEDIA Program. It consists of a financial contribution towards distribution and promotion, as well as a guarantee for the winning film that it will be shown in the cinemas belonging to the network.

All the films participating to the Days are also in competition for the parallel awards, with a ceremony due to take place on the last day of the Festival. First films are eligible for the "Luigi De Laurentiis Award Lion of the Future".

Most interesting is that up-to-today with only 2 sections announcing their lineups, there are quite a few LGBT films. So, we can foresee an interesting competition for the Queer Lion! Fantastic.

Official Selection

(*) Hjartasteinn (Heartstone), Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson, Iceland and Denmark
(*) Hounds of Love, Ben Young, Australia
Indivisibili (Indivisible), Edoardo De Angelis, Italy
(*) Ne gledaj mi u pijat (Quit Staring at My Plate), Hana Jušić, Croatia and Denmark
Pamilya ordinaryo, Eduardo Roy Jr., Philippines
(*) Pariente (Guilty Men), Iván D. Gaona, Colombia
(*) Polina, danser sa vie, Valérie Müller and Angelin Preljocaj, France
(*) La Ragazza del Mondo (Wordly Girl), Marco Danieli, Italy
(*) Sameblod (Sami Blood), Amanda Kernell, Sweden, Denmark and Norway
The War Show, Andreas Dalsgaard and Obaidah Zytoon, Denmark and Finland (documentary)
再見瓦城 Zai Jian Wa Cheng (The Road to Mandalay), Midi Z, Myanmar, Taiwan, China, France and Germany

(*) Competing for the Lion of the Future Award

Official Selection Jury
President: Bruce La Bruce, director, screenwriter, Canada

Special Events
Closing Film: Ombre dal fondo (The War Within), Paola Piacenza, Italy (documentary)
Always Shine, Sophia Takal, USA
Caffè (Coffee), Cristiano Bortone, Italy, Belgium and China
Il Profumo del Tempo delle Favole, Mauro Caputo, Italy (documentary)
Rocco, Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai, France (documentary)
Vangelo, Pippo Delbono, Italy and Belgium
You Never Had It. An Evening with Bukowski, Matteo Borgardt, USA, Mexico and Italy (documentary short)

Miu Miu Women's Tales
Women Tales #11: Seed, Naomi Kawase, Italy and Japan
Women Tales #12: That One Day, Crystal Moselle, Italy, USA and UK

To check info and available trailers go @MOC.

On other news, every year, Venice Days reserves a special part of its program for exploring the dramatically changing film and audiovisual industry in China in relation to European and Italian creativity. The China Film Forum has, thanks to this partnership, become a key event for developing ideas and forms of expression shared by cultures as different as they are in favor of increasingly close cooperation. What makes the third edition of the China Film Forum so special is that it is the fruit of a partnership between Venice Days and international network Bridging the Dragon, together with Doc/it. The event is scheduled to take place at the Venice Film Festival on 2 September, and will center around themes, stories and creativity linking Europe and China.

About Miu Miu Women's Tales

‘A' as in Agnès, the irresistible muse of an unforgettable season in film history and the all-time best in film. ‘A' as in Alice, the vital exponent of a new season in Italian cinema and a female creativity that doesn't cramp its own style and doesn't hide, proud of its own identity. Alice Rohrwacher gave us Chapter 9 of "Women's Tales"; Agnès Varda brings us Chapter 10, the one that, in a sense, sums up the spirit of and the idea behind Miu Miu's cultural partnership with Venice Days.

In the last few years, "Miu Miu Women's Tales" has invited filmmakers from around the world, endowed with their distinct sensibilities and styles, to celebrate the ‘second sex' in the 21st century, probing it with a critical eye but also with the camaraderie of fellow travelers in an expressive universe that includes Zoe Cassavetes, Lucrecia Martel, Giada Colagrande, Massy Tadjedin, Ava DuVernay, Hiam Abbass, So Yong Kim, Miranda July, and now Alice Rohrwacher and Agnès Varda.

Their perspectives have embraced the infinite complexities and contradictions of women today, touching their hearts, prompting them to reflect. In this series of short films, the outfits designed by Miu Miu are assigned starring roles alongside celebrity actresses and models, providing a sort of counterpoint to the narrative. Power, desire, vanity, sophistication, rituals, rules, dreams, nightmares, visions and fairy tales: the myriad facets of a woman's routine are all to be found in even the tinest detail of her day.

For this very reason, Miu Miu and Venice Days conceive their partnership as something that goes beyond the exact moment of a screening and the glamour that an event like the Venice Film Festival entails. So our days at Venice Days are punctuated by dialogues between remarkable women working in film and the arts, filmmakers sharing their experiences, and glimpses of "little utopias" of women's creativity. As the initiative's slogan has proclaimed from the start, "Women's Tales" is no "reserve" for an "endangered species", but a practical demonstration that even amidst the buzz and the hype of a major event like the festival, it is possible to find room for a more profound look at the themes underlying at once our different cultures and our common ground, and their cinematic frontiers. The female "slant" is no rhetorical device thrown in between one film and the next, but a trademark creativity, a flag proudly flown.

Believe Naomi Kawase needs no introduction to blog readers but let me remind you who Crystal Moselle is. She propelled to international much-deserved fame with her outstanding documentary about the Angulo brothers, The Wolfpack, which I enjoyed beyond expectations for the amazing story but also the awesome storytelling style. So I'm looking forward to see what she does next and her short film in the Women's Tales collection of short films. Moselle short has not been released yet, but now you can enjoy Kawase's short if you haven't seen it yet.

Seed by Naomi Kawase



Naomi Kawase describes Sakura Ando, the lead character in her film, as being "more like a fairy. A mysterious creature". Seed is the story of the journey this girl takes from the enchanted nature of Nara to the chaos of Tokyo, and the encounters she has along the way.

A boy offers her the gift of an apple, which she in turn gives to a homeless man, who proffers her a soft piece of chiffon fabric in exchange. Moving like a tree that sways in the wind, the girl expresses a spirit that secretly runs through places and living things. The eleventh film commissioned by Miu Miu Women's Tales was directed by the multiple Cannes award-winning Japanese director Naomi Kawase.

Her documentaries and films blend nature and tradition, the personal and the poetic, and include An (2015), Still the Water (2014), The Mourning Forest (2007) and Suzaku (1997). Seed is also a sentimental portrait of Asian femininity, which Kawase depicts as "primitive, primal and erotic at the same time". The soundtrack was composed by the band Sakanation, famous for their fusion of folk melodies and artful lyrics.

31st Venice International Film Critics' Week Lineup

The week starts early with the release of the 2016 Settimana Internazionale della Critica lineup announcement for the section that will run from August 31 to September 10.

As we know la Settimana is an independent section of the Biennale exclusively dedicated to first-time directors' full-length films and every year screens seven (7) films in competition.

In this edition besides the seven films in competition there are two special events out of competition, the opening and the closing film. Will also list the seven Italian short films plus one special event -a short by none other than Marco Bellocchio- that make the selection of the SIC@SIC 2016 presented by Venice Critics' Week and Instituto Luce Cinecittà.

Feature Films

In Competition
(*) Akher Wahed Fina (The Las of Us), Ala Eddine Slim, Tunisia, Qatar, UAE and Lebanon
(*) Drum, Keywan Karimi, France and Iran
(*) Jours de France (Four Days in France), Jérôme Reybaud, France
(*) Los Nadie (The Nobodies), Juan Sebastián Mesa, Colombia
(*) Prank, Vincent Biron, Canada
(*) Singing in Graveyards, Bradley Liew, Malaysia and Philippines
(*) Le Ultime Cose, Irene Dionisio, Italy, Switzerland and France

 (*) Competing for Lion of the Future Award

Special Events Out of Competition
Opening Film: Prevenge, Alice Lowe, UK
Closing Film: Are We Not Cats, Xander Robin, USA

SIC@SIC Italian Short Films
Alice, Chiara Leonaradi, Italy, 14'
Atlante 1783 (Atlas 1783), Maria Giovanna Cicciari, Italy, 20' (documentary short)
Colazione sull'erba (Lunch on the Grass), Edoardo Ferraro, Italy, 14'
dodici pagine (Twelve Pages), Riccardo Caruso, Roberto Tenace, Luigi Lombardi and Elisabetta Falanga, Italy, 13'
Era ieri (It Was Yesterday), Valentina Pedicini, Italy, 15'
Notturno (Nocturne), Fatima Bianchi, Italy, 15'
Vanilla, Rosella Inglese, Italy, 13'

Special Event
Opening Short: Pagliacci (Clowns), Marco Bellocchio, Italy, 18'

If you wish to learn more about the short films, including one that has lesbian interest theme, see photo stills and read the statement published in the short films press release go here.

To check info and available trailers go @MOC.

In the feature films press release there is very long statement by Giona A. Nazzaro, the General Delegate of the fest section that I'm reproducing here as believe there are some interesting food for thought elements.  This is the complete statement.

Year One. Cinema is always at Year One. Only numbers and statistics believe in its crisis (that is not really there, but we can see it). The cinema for which is worth entering the field for, is still being made. It’s out there, you just need to see it. The Venice International Film Critics’ Week – a place where authors such as Olivier Assayas, Mike Leigh, Harmony Kornie, Kevin Reynolds, Pedro Costa, Antonio Capuano and Michel Bena where discovered–, has always been a privileged interlocutor of this renewal.

Festivals are an object of periodical and not particularly stimulating discussions that interrogate their own usefulness. They should rather be a narration-place about cinema, and not merely a dull marketplace of available cinematographic goods (the eclecticism is rather overvalued); an arena where a certain thinking is constructed, reflecting on what can still be done with the moving images and where an idea, hopefully not a banal one, is put forth about the state of the world we are living in.

This is not a new idea. Rossellini used to do it. And if we can still dare to get inspiration from just one of the traits of Rossellini’s poetics, that should be the complete absence of any cinematic nostalgia; the fact that he was always in the present tense, in the unfolding of history. He was so present in the unfolding of his time, that he became maybe the only filmmaker that thought about the future of cinema (and not only). That’s it. The determination of being present, without surrendering to nostalgia or mythology. This is the first propulsive drive of this 31st edition of the Venice International Film Critics’ Week.

Today’s cinema, made today, for today’s eyes. Because only the present, that manifests itself in multiple forms that cannot be grasped, can allow us to imagine a form of cinema that goes back to exploring our relationship with what happens on the screen and around it.

The selected films for this edition, picked among more than 500 titles submitted (there would be enough for at least two selections…), are characterized by a “filmic pleasure”, a “pleasure” that is activated through putting us back into the game against visual conventions. A “pleasure” whose founding elements are risk and astonishment. From Prevenge – a genius post-feminist slasher movie directed by Alice Lowe, known for her roles in Edgar Wright and Ben Wheatley’s films – to Le ultime cose by Irene Dionisio – tense re-visitation of neorealist humanism – we can see a remapping not of things already seen but of those yet to be seen.

Keywan Karimi, Iranian filmmaker sentenced to one year of jail and 223 lashes for offending Islam, authors a metaphysical and expressionist noir with Drum, while Ala Eddine Slim, Tunisian documentary filmmaker and video artist with his The Last of Us, re-launches with great audacity an abstract and experimental cinema which is adventurous and honestly even science fictional.

Because deep inside, cinema is by definition, a young form of art, as it should be. But not only in a perspective of age. One has only to look at Los Nadie by Juan Sebastián Mesa, shot in seven days throughout the most inaccessible streets of Medellin, or Prank by Vincent Biron, former director of photography of Denis Côté, a parable of hard-core post-salingerian nihilism.

And cinema is also, and always, a reclaiming (or loosing again…) of one’s place in the world. Jours de France by Jerome Reybaud hypothesizes a sensual sentimental voyage using an exceptional navigator such as Grindr, to find again the forgotten name of things.

Pepe Smith, a Filipino rock legend, is probably the most surprising presence. The main character of Singing in Graveyards, together with Lav Diaz, offers an image and a mirror of the complex relationship of the characters with modernity and democracy in their country.

Finally, as a closing film, we present Are We Not Cats by Xander Robin, a visceral melodramatic horror, a dark fairytale articulated through the music of Funkadelik, Yvonne Fair, Lightning Bolt and Albert Ayler. A great surprise coming from the US that manages to reconnect itself with the new wave of the early 1980s, reinventing instinctive impulses and dreamlike calligraphies.

Let’s not forget the wonderful and wild group of Italian short filmmakers of SIC@SIC, a synergy activated in collaboration with Instituto Luce-Cinecittà. Authors launched to the conquest of the future, armed with their gaze only: surprising, rigorous, audacious, tender, provocative, radical and generous. Sponsored by Marco Bellocchio, the youngest and most vital of the Italian maestros. Take note today of the names of Chiara Leonardi and Edoardo Ferraro, Valentina Pedicini and Rossella Inglese, Maria Giovanna Cicciari, Fatima Bianchi and the collective Caruso, Falanga, Lombardi, Tenace.

The 31st edition of the Venice International Film Critics’ Week is not a closed proposition, but an invitation to a voyage. We put forth today the premises to imagine the cinema that is still to be invented.