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Gulf Times, Qatar
Aug 26 2014
Venice film fest focuses on love, war, literature and black comedy
By Alvise Armellini, DPA/Venice
A mixed-bag of literary adaptations, war dramas, tales of lost loves,
remote villages and black comedies make up the 20-strong line-up
competing for the top Golden Lion award in the 71st edition of the
Venice Film Festival, which starts today.
Birdman, on the attempt by a washed-up actor (played by Michael
Keaton) to relaunch his career by staging a Broadway play, is due to
open the 11-day event.
It is directed by Mexico-born Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu and also
stars Edward Norton, Emma Stone and Naomi Watts.
Xavier Beauvois' la Rancon de la Gloire, telling the true story of the
botched attempt to steal Charlie Chaplin's coffin, and A Pigeon Sat on
a Branch Reflecting on Existence, by oddball Swedish writer/director
Roy Andersson, are the two other black comedies in competition.
Hollywood legend Al Pacino is expected in the lagoon city to promote
Manglehorn, in which he plays an ex-con pining for a long-lost love.
The movie is directed by David Gordon Green, who impressed Venice film
festival-goers last year with the Nicholas Cage drama Joe.
Good Kill, with Ethan Hawke as a US drone pilot; The Cut by
Turkish-German director Fatih Akin, on the Armenian genocide; The Look
of Silence, a documentary on mass killings in Indonesia; and the
Algeria-set Loin des Hommes (Far from Men), with Viggo Mortensen, are
among the war-themed offerings.
Italians are pinning their victory hopes on Il Giovane Favoloso, about
19th century poet Giacomo Leopardi, and are anxiously expecting
Pasolini, a biopic on the influential writer-director Pier Paolo
Pasolini killed in 1975 starring William Defoe and directed by Abel
Ferrara.
The other films in the main lineup are 99 Homes, with Spiderman star
Andrew Garfield; 3 Coeurs, starring French divas Catherine Deneuve and
Charlotte Gainsbourg; and other works from Iran, Russia, Turkey,
Japan, China and host nation Italy.
"You have to trust me: the films are of very high quality," festival
director Alberto Barbera said last month, as he unveiled the
programme.
Top awards will be decided by a nine-member jury headed by French film
composer Alexandre Desplat, who wrote soundtracks for Grand Budapest
Hotel, The King's Speech and Godzilla.
Chinese actress Joan Chen and British actor Tim Roth sit on the panel.
A slew of other A-list celebrities, such as Owen Wilson, Jennifer
Aniston and James Franco, star in out-of-competition films to be
screened alongside world cinema offerings such as the short film The
Old Man of Belem (O Velho do Restelo) by 105-year-old Portuguese
master Manoel de Oliveira.
The Golden Era, an out-of-competition biopic of radical Chinese female
writer Xiao Hong, will close the festival on September 6. It is
directed by Hong Kong's Ann Hui, who also heads the jury for
Orizzonti, a section dedicated to more experimental cinema.
Running alongside the official festival, the independently-run Venice
Days chapter will screen 20 more films.
One on One, by cult South Korean director Kim Ki-duk, and a docudrama
on Argentine football star Lionel Messi, are among the highlights.
http://www.gulf-times.com/uk-europe/183/details/405763/venice-film-fest-focuses-on-love,-war,-literature-and-black-comedy
From: Baghdasarian
Aug 26 2014
Venice film fest focuses on love, war, literature and black comedy
By Alvise Armellini, DPA/Venice
A mixed-bag of literary adaptations, war dramas, tales of lost loves,
remote villages and black comedies make up the 20-strong line-up
competing for the top Golden Lion award in the 71st edition of the
Venice Film Festival, which starts today.
Birdman, on the attempt by a washed-up actor (played by Michael
Keaton) to relaunch his career by staging a Broadway play, is due to
open the 11-day event.
It is directed by Mexico-born Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu and also
stars Edward Norton, Emma Stone and Naomi Watts.
Xavier Beauvois' la Rancon de la Gloire, telling the true story of the
botched attempt to steal Charlie Chaplin's coffin, and A Pigeon Sat on
a Branch Reflecting on Existence, by oddball Swedish writer/director
Roy Andersson, are the two other black comedies in competition.
Hollywood legend Al Pacino is expected in the lagoon city to promote
Manglehorn, in which he plays an ex-con pining for a long-lost love.
The movie is directed by David Gordon Green, who impressed Venice film
festival-goers last year with the Nicholas Cage drama Joe.
Good Kill, with Ethan Hawke as a US drone pilot; The Cut by
Turkish-German director Fatih Akin, on the Armenian genocide; The Look
of Silence, a documentary on mass killings in Indonesia; and the
Algeria-set Loin des Hommes (Far from Men), with Viggo Mortensen, are
among the war-themed offerings.
Italians are pinning their victory hopes on Il Giovane Favoloso, about
19th century poet Giacomo Leopardi, and are anxiously expecting
Pasolini, a biopic on the influential writer-director Pier Paolo
Pasolini killed in 1975 starring William Defoe and directed by Abel
Ferrara.
The other films in the main lineup are 99 Homes, with Spiderman star
Andrew Garfield; 3 Coeurs, starring French divas Catherine Deneuve and
Charlotte Gainsbourg; and other works from Iran, Russia, Turkey,
Japan, China and host nation Italy.
"You have to trust me: the films are of very high quality," festival
director Alberto Barbera said last month, as he unveiled the
programme.
Top awards will be decided by a nine-member jury headed by French film
composer Alexandre Desplat, who wrote soundtracks for Grand Budapest
Hotel, The King's Speech and Godzilla.
Chinese actress Joan Chen and British actor Tim Roth sit on the panel.
A slew of other A-list celebrities, such as Owen Wilson, Jennifer
Aniston and James Franco, star in out-of-competition films to be
screened alongside world cinema offerings such as the short film The
Old Man of Belem (O Velho do Restelo) by 105-year-old Portuguese
master Manoel de Oliveira.
The Golden Era, an out-of-competition biopic of radical Chinese female
writer Xiao Hong, will close the festival on September 6. It is
directed by Hong Kong's Ann Hui, who also heads the jury for
Orizzonti, a section dedicated to more experimental cinema.
Running alongside the official festival, the independently-run Venice
Days chapter will screen 20 more films.
One on One, by cult South Korean director Kim Ki-duk, and a docudrama
on Argentine football star Lionel Messi, are among the highlights.
http://www.gulf-times.com/uk-europe/183/details/405763/venice-film-fest-focuses-on-love,-war,-literature-and-black-comedy
From: Baghdasarian