The program of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival is full of stars and exclusive parties, but the real protagonists, as you know, are the movies. Who will win the Golden Lion 2016?

Twenty are the movies partecipating in the competition to win the Golden Lion, the award of one of the most important kermess of this industry.

The 73rd Venice International Film Festival is taking place in Venice Lido from August, 31st to September 10th and its calendar is full of shows. In addition to the film in competition there are other sections: Orizzonti section (Horizons), open to the new trends and the rising filmmakers, Film out of competition, regarding movies of well-known stars who have already been part of the Festival.

Paolo Sorrentino, a famous Italian director, is waited at the Venice International Film Festival with his new movie, The Young Pope, a miniseries partially set in the Venitian Lagoon. During the Festival, the first two episodes will be showed.

Sam Menders has been elected as the President of the Jury this year, among the Italian actors there are Chiara Mastroianni and Giancarlo De Cataldo.

THE FILMS IN COMPETITION

ANA LILY AMIRPOUR – THE BAD BATCH
Usa, 115’
Suki Waterhouse, Jason Momoa, Keanu Reeves, Jim Carrey, Giovanni Ribisi

STÉPHANE BRIZÉ – UNE VIE
France, Belgium, 119’
Judith Chemla, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Swann Arlaud, Yolande Moreau

DAMIEN CHAZELLE – LA LA LAND
Usa, 127’
Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, John Legend, J.K. Simmons, Finn Wittrock

DEREK CIANFRANCE – THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS
Usa, Australia, New Zealand, 133’
Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Rachel Weisz, Emily Barclay

MARIANO COHN, GASTÓN DUPRAT – EL CIUDADANO ILUSTRE
Argentina, Spain, 118’
Oscar Martínez, Dady Brieva, Andrea Frigerio, Nora Navas, Gustavo Garzón

MASSIMO D’ANOLFI, MARTINA PARENTI – SPIRA MIRABILIS
Italy, Swizerland, 121’ (documentary)

LAV DIAZ – ANG BABAENG HUMAYO (THE WOMAN WHO LEFT)
Philippines, 226’
Charo Santos-Concio, John Lloyd Cruz

AMAT ESCALANTE – LA REGIÓN SALVAJE
Mexico, 100’
Ruth Ramos, Simone Bucio, Jesús Meza, Edén Villavicencio

TOM FORD – NOCTURNAL ANIMALS
Usa, 115’
Jake Gyllenhaal, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Isla Fisher, Laura Linney

ROAN JOHNSON – PIUMA
Italy, 98’
Luigi Fedele, Blu Yoshimi Di Martino, Sergio Pierattini, Michela Cescon, Francesco Colella

ANDREI KONCHALOVSKY – RAI (PARADISE)
Russia, Germany, 130’
Julia Vysotskaya, Christian Clauss, Philippe Duquesne, Victor Sukhorukov, Peter Kurt

MARTIN KOOLHOVEN – BRIMSTONE
Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, UK, Sweden, 148’
Dakota Fanning, Guy Pearce, Emilia Jones, Kit Harington, Carice Van Houten

EMIR KUSTURICA – NA MLIJECNOM PUTU (ON THE MILKY ROAD)
Serbia, UK, Usa, 125’
Monica Bellucci, Emir Kusturica, Sloboda Micalovic, Predrag Manojlovic

PABLO LARRAÍN – JACKIE
Usa, Chile, 95’
Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig, John Hurt

TERRENCE MALICK – VOYAGE OF TIME
Usa, Germany, 90’ (documentary)
Cate Blanchett

CHRISTOPHER MURRAY – EL CRISTO CIEGO
Chile, France, 85’
Michael Silva, Bastian Inostroza, Ana Maria Henriquez, Mauricio Pinto

FRANÇOIS OZON – FRANTZ
France, Germany, 113’
Pierre Niney, Paula Beer, Marie Gruber, Ernst Stötzner, Cyrielle Claire

GIUSEPPE PICCIONI – QUESTI GIORNI
Italy, 120’
Margherita Buy, Marta Gastini, Laura Adriani, Maria Roveran, Caterina Le Caselle, Filippo Timi

DENIS VILLENEUVE – ARRIVAL
Usa, 116’
Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg

WIM WENDERS – LES BEAUX JOURS D’ARANJUEZ (3D)
France, Germany, 97’
Reda Kateb, Sophie Semin, Jens Harzer, Nick Cave

SPECIAL EVENTS

“The Young Pope” Episode 1 & 2 – dir. Paolo Sorrentino
“Planetarium” – dir. Rebecca Zlotowski

SPECIAL PROGRAMS

AMBROGIO CRESPI – SPES CONTRA SPEM – LIBERI DENTRO
Italy, 70’ (documentary)

THOMAS KOOLHAAS – REM
Usa, 75’ (documentary)

LORENZO VIGAS – EL VENDEDOR DE ORQUÍDEAS
Venezuela, Mexico, 75’ (documentary)

FILMS OUT OF COMPETITION

BRUNO CHIARAVALLOTI, CLAUDIO JAMPAGLIA, BENEDETTA ARGENTIERI – OUR WAR
Italy, Usa, 68′ (documentary)

KASPER COLLIN – I CALLED HIM MORGAN
Svweden, Usa, 91′ (documentary)

ANDREW DOMINIK – ONE MORE TIME WITH FEELING (3D)
UK, 112′
Nick Cave

PHILIPPE FALARDEAU – THE BLEEDER
Usa, Canada, 93′
Liev Schreiber, Naomi Watts, Elisabeth Moss, Ron Perlman, Jim Gaffigan, Pooch Hall

ANTOINE FUQUA – THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
Usa, 130’
Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, Byung-Hun Lee, Peter Sarsgaard

MEL GIBSON – HACKSAW RIDGE
Usa, Australia, 131′
Andrew Garfield, Vince Vaughn, Teresa Palmer, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey

NICK HAMM – THE JOURNEY
UK, 94′
Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney, Freddie Highmore, John Hurt, Toby Stephens

BENOÎT JACQUOT – À JAMAIS
France, Portugal, 86′
Mathieu Amalric, Julia Roy, Jeanne Balibar

YASUSHI KAWAMURA – GANTZ:O
Japan, 95′ (animation)

JEE WOON KIM – MILJEONG (THE AGE OF SHADOWS)
South Korea, 114′
Song Kang-ho, Gong Yoo, Han Ji-Min

ORIZZONTI

DORIA ACHOUR – LE RESTE EST L’OEUVRE DE L’HOMME
France, Tunisia, 14′
Houssin Benwarda, Anissa Daoud

RAÚL ARÉVALO – TARDE PARA LA IRA
Spain, 92′
Antonio de la Torre, Luis Callejo, Ruth Díaz

BIBHUSAN BASNET, POOJA GURUNG – DADYAA
Nepal, France, 17′
Parimal Damai, Lachhima Damai

MAURIZIO BRAUCCI – STANZA 52
Italy, 13′
Vincenza Modica

PETER BROSENS, JESSICA WOODWORTH – KING OF THE BELGIANS
Belgium, Netherlands, Bulgaria, 94′
Peter Van den Begin, Lucie Debay, Titus De Voogdt, Bruno Georis

RAMA BURSHTEIN – LAAVOR ET HAKIM (THROUGH THE WALL)
Israel, 110′
Noa Koler, Amos Tamam, Oz Zehavi

CHIARA CASELLI – MOLLY BLOOM
Italia, 20′
Chiara Caselli, Enrico Carotenuto, Elisabetta de Vito, Lilian Sassanelli, Nicole Guerzoni, Lorenzo Ciambrelli

FEDERICA DI GIACOMO – LIBERAMI
Italy, France, 89′
(documentary)

MAMADOU DIA – SAMEDI CINEMA
Senegal, 11′
Fallou Keita, Assane Lo, Saikou Lo, Penda Daly Sy

REHA ERDEM – KOCA DÜNYA (BIG BIG WORLD)
Turkey, 100′
Ecem Uzun, Berke Karaer

LUCA FERRI – COLOMBI
Italy, 20′
Giovanni Colombi, Annunciata Decò, Dario Bacis

BAYU PRIHANTORO FILEMON – ON THE ORIGIN OF FEAR
Indonesia, 12′
Pritt Timothy

GIOVANNI FUMU – GOOD NEWS
South Korea, Italy, 17′
Eun U, Soonwoo Kwak

FLURIN GIGER – RUAH
Swizerland, 18′
Fabian Villiger, Christina Brandenberg, Annina Walt, Mona Petri, Jürg Plüss

WEI HU – CE QUI NOUS ÉLOIGNE
France, 18′
Camille Debray, Isabelle Huppert, Nai An, André Wilms, Zhang Xianmin

KEI ISHIKAWA – GUKOROKU
Japan, 120′
Tsumabuki Satoshi, Mitsushima Hikari

SARA KERN – SRECNO, ORLO! (GOOD LUCK, ORLO!)
Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, 14′
Tin Vulovic, Primož Pirnat, Nina Ivanišin, Tin Marn

KARL LEMIEUX – MAUDITE POUTINE
Canada, 91′
Jean-Simon Leduc, Martin Dubreuil

JUAN PABLO LIBOSSART – AMALIMBO
Sweden, Estonia, 15′
Margaretha Ulfendahl, Anna Odell

JAKE MAHAFFY – MIDWINTER
Usa, New Zealand, 17′
Jill Larson, Eleanor Hutchins

MARCELO MARTINESSI – LA VOZ PERDIDA
Paraguay, Venezuela, Cuba, 11′
Librada Martinez, Cinthia Quiñonez, Raulito Cáceres

MARCO MARTINS – SÃO JORGE
Portugal, France, 112’
Nuno Lopes, Mariana Nunes, David Semedo

BILL MORRISON – DAWSON CITY: FROZEN TIME
Usa, France, 112’
(documentary)

KATELL QUILLÉVÉRÉ – RÉPARER LES VIVANTS
France, Belgium, 103′
Tahar Rahim, Emmanuelle Seigner, Anne Dorval, Bouli Lanners, Kool Shen

DEEPAK RAUNIYAR – WHITE SUN
Nepal, Usa, Qatar, Netherlands, 87′
Dayahang Rai, Asha Magrati, Rabindra Singh Baniya, Sumi Malla, Amrit Pariyar

PARVIZ SHAHBAZI – MALARIA
Iran, 100′
Saghar Ghanaat, Saed Soheili, Azarakhsh Farahani, Azadeh Namdari

CHAI SIRIS – 500,000 PEE (500,000 YEARS)
Thailand, 15′
Montree Reun-ngeun

GASTÓN SOLNICKI – KÉKSZAKÁLLÚ
Argentina, 72′
Laila Maltz, Katia Szechtman, Lara Tarlowski, Natali Maltz, Maria Soldi, Pedro Trocca, Denise Groesman

TIM SUTTON – DARK NIGHT
Usa, 85′
Robert Jumper, Anna Rose Hopkins, Eddie Cacciol, Rosie Rodriguez, Karina Macias, Aaron Purvis

ANDREI TANASE – PRIMA NOAPTE (FIRST NIGHT)
Romania, Germany, 17′
Alfredo Minea, Cristiana Luca, Mimi Branescu, Elvira Deatcu

FIEN TROCH – HOME
Belgium, 103′
Sebastian Van Dun, Mistral Guidotti, Loïc Batog, Lena Suijkerbuijk, Karlijn Sileghem, Els Deceukelier, Robby Cleiren

RONNY TROCKER – DIE EINSIEDLER
Germany, Austria, 110′
Andreas Lust, Ingrid Burkhard, Orsi Toth

MICHELE VANNUCCI – IL PIÙ GRANDE SOGNO
Italy, 97′
Mirko Frezza, Alessandro Borghi, Vittorio Viviani, Milena Mancini, Ivana Lotito, Ginevra De Carolis

NICHOLAS VERSO – BOYS IN THE TREES
Australia, 112’
Toby Wallace, Gulliver McGrath, Mitzi Ruhlmann, Justin Holborow

BING WANG – KU QIAN (BITTER MONEY)
Hong Kong, France, 120′
(documentary)
BIENNALE COLLEGE

ALESSANDRO ARONADIO – ORECCHIE
Italy, 90’
Daniele Parisi, Silvana Bosi, Masaria Colucci, Sonia Gessner, Francesca Antonelli, Re Salvador

SHUBHASHISH BHUTIANI – MUKTI BHAWAN (HOTEL SALVATION)
India, 103’
Adil Hussain, Lalit Behl, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Palomi Ghosh, Navnindra Behl, Anil K Rastogi

SOFIA BROCKENSHIRE – UNA HERMANA (ONE SISTER)
Argentina, 68’
Sofía Palomino, Adriana Ferrer, Saúl Simonet, Sebastián Carbone, Mateo Giménez

JORGE THIELEN ARMAND – LA SOLEDAD
Venezuela, 85’
José Dolores López, Marley Alvillaes López, Adrializ López Jorge, Thielen Hedderich, Maria del Carmen, Agamez Palomino
FUORI CONCORSO ORIZZONTI

“Dark Night” – dir. Tim Sutton

CINEMA IN THE GARDEN

MARCOS CARNEVALE – INSEPARABLES
Argentina, 108’
Oscar Martínez, Rodrigo de la Serna

FRANCESCO CARROZZINI – FRANCA: CHAOS AND CREATION
Italy, Usa, 80’
(documentary)

JAMES FRANCO – IN DUBIOUS BATTLE
Usa, 110’
Bryan Cranston, Ed Harris, James Franco, Josh Hutcherson, Nat Wolff, Robert Duvall, Sam Shepard, Selena Gomez

KIM KI-DUK – GEUMUL (THE NET)
South Korea, 114’
Ryuu Seung-bum, Lee Won-gun, Kim Young-min

GABRIELE MUCCINO – L’ESTATE ADDOSSO
Italy, 103’
Brando Pacitto, Matilda Lutz, Taylor Frey, Joseph Haro

CHRIS RENAUD, YARROW CHENEY – THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS (3D)
Usa, 90’
(animation)

MICHELE SANTORO – ROBINÙ
Italy, 91’
(documentary)

LAURIE SIMMONS – MY ART
Usa, 86’
Laurie Simmons, Lena Dunham, Parker Posey

VENITIAN CLASSICS – Selection of restored classic films and documentaries on cinemarc

ASHIM AHLUWALIA – EVENTS IN A CLOUD CHAMBER [DOCUMENTARY]
India, 20’ (documentary)

WOODY ALLEN – MANHATTAN (1979)
Usa, 97’
Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Mariel Hemingway

ALESSANDRO BIGNAMI – E VENNE L’UOMO – UN DIALOGO CON ERMANNO OLMI [DOCUMENTARY]
Italy, 47’ (documentary)

NOEL BLACK – PRETTY POISON (DOLCE VELENO, 1968)
Usa, 89’
Anthony Perkins, Tuesday Weld, Beverly Garland

MARCO BONFANTI – BOZZETTO NON TROPPO [DOCUMENTARI]
Italia, 75’ (documentary)

ROBERT BRESSON – L’ARGENT (IL DENARO, 1983)
France, Swizerland, 83’
Christian Patey, Sylvie Van den Elsen, Michel Briguet

LUIGI COMENCINI – TUTTI A CASA (1960)
Italy, France, 115’
Alberto Sordi, Serge Reggiani, Carla Gravina

STEFANO DELLA CASA, FRANCESCO FRISARI – PERCHÉ SONO UN GENIO! LORENZA MAZZETTI [DOCUMENTARI]
Italy, 61’ (documentary)

NICK EBELING – ALONG FOR THE RIDE [DOCUMENTARI]
Usa, 90’ (documentary)

MARCO FERRERI – BREAK UP. L’UOMO DEI CINQUE PALLONI (1965)
Italy, France, 85’
Marcello Mastroianni, Catherine Spaak, Ugo Tognazzi

INTERNATIONAL FILM CRITICS’ WEEK – indipendent festival of 7 films – organized by a commission nominated by SNCCI

MARCO BELLOCCHIO – PAGLIACCI [SPECIAL EVENT – OPENING SHORTS]
Italy, 18’
Lucia Ragni, Luca Micheletti, Federica Fracassi, Rebecca Liberati, Corrado Invernizzi, Mino Manni

FATIMA BIANCHI – NOTTURNO
Italy, 15’
Claudia Consonni, Rosaria Girotti, Giovanna Gossi, Laura Morelli, Carmen La Corte, Elisabetta Sisti, Florinda Trombetta

VINCENT BIRON – PRANK
Canada, 78’
Etienne Galloy, Constance Massicotte, Simon Pigeon, Alexandre Lavigne

RICCARDO CARUSO, ROBERTO TENACE, LUIGI LOMBARDI, ELISABETTA FALANGA – DODICI PAGINE
Italy, 13’
Vittoria Araldi, Claudio Guain, Davide Bellofiore, Michele Galasso

MARIA GIOVANNA CICCIARI – ATLANTE 1783
Italy, 20’

IRENE DIONISIO – LE ULTIME COSE
Italy, Swizerland, France, 85’
Fabrizio Falco, Roberto De Francesco, Christina Rosamilia, Alfonso Santagata, Salvatore Cantalupo, Anna Ferruzzo, Nicole De Leo, Maria Eugenia D’Aquino, Margherita Coldesina, Matteo Polidoro

EDOARDO FERRARO – COLAZIONE SULL’ERBA
Italy, 14’
Riccardo Pandolfi, Giacomo Bottoni, Francesco Melchiorri, Giorgia Torregrossa, Davide Dentamaro

ROSSELLA INGLESE – VANILLA
Italy, 13’
Carolina Dovera, Eriberto Peruzzo, Mariangela Di Paolo, Antonio Iurino, Oscar Genovese

KEYWAN KARIMI – DRUM
France, Iran, 95’
Amirreza Naderi, Sara Gholizade, Akbar Zanjanian, Elyas Rasouli, Honaramooz, Ardalan Haji Rahim, Ahmad Ghoorchi, Ali Farschchi, Mohammad Safajouyi

CHIARA LEONARDI – ALICE
Itale, 14’
Francesca Leonardi, Sofia Leonardi, Chiara Leonardi, Massimo Leonardi, Elena Bonati

Brian De Palma receives the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker 2015 Award.

In few days the 72nd Venice International Film Festival will start. From September 2nd and for 11 days Venice will host the annual appointment of the cinema. As already announced, the pre-opening will take place on September the 2nd in the Sala Darsena (starting at 8:30 pm) with the screening of The Merchant of Venice (1969) and Otello (1951) by Orson Welles.

The Biennale di Venezia and Jaeger-LeCoultre has announced that the great American director Brian De Palma will receive the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker 2015 Award, dedicated to personalities who have made particularly original contributions to contemporary cinema. The award will be given on September 9th at 9.30 pm in the Sala Grande of the Palazzo del Cinema during the 72nd Venice International Film Festival (September 2-12, 2015), directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by the Biennale chaired by Paolo Baratta.

Following the ceremony, the 72nd Film Festival will present the world premiere, Out of Competition, of the documentary De Palma (109’) by Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow. The film grew out of the two directors’ spending time with Brian De Palma for over ten years. It’s an intimate conversation between filmmakers, telling his six decade long career, his life, and his filmmaking process.

Regarding this award, the Director of the Festival Alberto Barbera declared, “The child of an artistic era (the ‘70s) full of innovative ferment, Brian De Palma has made a name for himself as one of the most skillful directors in constructing perfect narrative mechanics with great creative freedom, experimenting with new technical solutions, rejecting the classic rules of the language, abandoning himself to aesthetic virtuosity, and celebrating his favorite authors. When watching a movie by Brian De Palma, we revert to being basic spectators. Although our eyes are wide open to avoid falling into the trap, we know full well we’re bound to fall into it anyway.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

With no doubts, on September 30th Al Pacino has been the day’s special guest star at the 71st Venice Film Festival

The 74-year-old Hollywood legend looked fit and healthy, arriving once again in Venice smiling. The American actor attended the red carpet of Venice Lido for two different films: Barry Levinson’s out-of-competition The Humbling and David Gordon Green’s competition entry Manglehorn. In both films he plays the leading role, a stressed and depressed man, giving the spectators a great performance as always.

The Humbling
The humbling, which runs in competition, is based on Philip Roth’s novel and adapted by Buck Henry. Despite the director and the main protagonist, Hollywood stars, the film was made on a highly contained budget. It’s the story of an aging theater actor at a crossroads (Al Pacino) who has a love affair with a young woman half his age, played by Greta Gerwig. Actually, it offers an intense analysis of the life of an actor in crisis which can be also seen as an analysis of the human being.

 

She’s funny that way by the great Peter Bogdanovich acclaimed at 71st Venice Film Festival.

Finally a bit of irony and a fair amount of laughs at the 71st Venice Film Festival elicited by the Out of Competition “She’s funny that way”. That’s the new film by Peter Bogdanovich who comes back after a 14-year absence with an enthusiastic Sophisticaded Comedy which has been acclaimed at the festival thanks to some genuinely funny performances, lots of surprises and coincidences till the inevitable happy ending.

With no doubts actors and characters leave their marks in the fizzy movie: the young call girl (Imogen Poots) who ends up in the hotel room of the charming director Arnold Albertson (Owen Wilson) who offers the girl 30.000 $ to stop turning tricks and follow her dream to become an actress, the strange therapist with a compulsion to share intimate details about her clients (Jennifer Aniston) and the british actor whose love towards the director’s wife (Kathryn Hahn) is not reciprocated. In other words, a mix of funny characters that made people laugh.

99 Homes – film in competition

Another international star arrived in Venice Lido this morning: Andrew Garfield. The actor of “The Amazing Spider-Man” plays in 99 Homes, another great film directed by Ramin Raharani which has been presented for the first time on the screen in competition at the 71st Venice Film Festival. The movie stars Andrew Garfield as an evicted construction worker who sells his soul to the devil — or at least to Michael Shannon’s real estate agent — and accepts a job evicting other struggling souls to earn enough money to get his family home back. A bit conventional, maybe, but with an outstanding screenplay and a great performance of the actors.

 

As already said, the president of the International Jury for the 71st Venice Film Festival is Alexandre Desplat, the famous film composer well-known for his many film scores of success.

The jury includes other eight great personalities, actors, directors, screenwriters and artists who will award the Silver and the Golden Lion at the 71st Venice Film Festival. Here the members of the international Jury.

Tim Roth, the British actor known for his unforgettable performance in famous film such as “Pulp Fiction” and “La leggenda del pianista sull’oceano”;

Joan Chen, Chinese actress and director who was in the cast of Lust by Ang Lee, the film that received the Golden Lion in Venice Film Festival 2007;

Philip Gröning, who won the Special Jury Prize last year with his film “The Police Officer’s Wife”;

Jessica Hausner, Austrian director;

Jhumpa Lahiri, Indian-American novelist who won the Pulitzer prize with his first work, the short stories collection “Interpreter of Maladies” (1999);

Sandy Powell, the award-winning British costume designer. She won numerous Oscars for many renowned film such as “Shakespeare in Love” by John Madden, “The Aviator” by Martin Scorsese, “The Young Victoria” by Jean-Marc Vallée and a two BAFTA for “Velvet Goldmine” by Todd Haynes and again “The Young Victoria”;

Elia Suleiman, Palestian director who won the Best First Film Prize with his “Chronicle of a Disappearance” at Venice Film Festival 1996

Carlo Verdone, Italian actor and director who will also receive the Robert Bresson Prize.

 

James Franco will present, Out of Competition, the film “The Sound and the Fury”.

This year the eclectic actor, director, screenwriter, producer, American artist James Franco will receive the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker prize at the 71st Venice Film Festival. Previous winners of the famous prize, which honors personalities who has made innovation in contemporary cinema, include artists like Takeshi Kitano, Sylvester Stallone, Al Pacino, Spike Lee, Ettore Scola.

James Franco will be awarded the prize at the Sala Grande in Palazzo del Cinema (Venice Lido) on 5th September. Following the ceremony, Venice Film Festival will present the world premiere, Out of Competition, of the new film written, directed and interpreted by James Franco: The Sound and the Fury. Franco is one of the main protagonists together with Scott Haze, Tim Blake Nelson, Joey King, Ahna O’Reilly and Seth Rogen.

James Franco participated for the first time in Venice Film Festival 2011 as director and screenwriter for Sal (Orizzont), a biographical homage to the actor Sal Mineo. In the same year at the Art Biennale he presented the visual arts installation Rebel (a collateral event), homage to the film “Rebel Without a Cause” by Nicholas Ray. In 2012 he came to the Festival as actor and producer of Spring Breakers by Harmony Korine (film in competition). In 2013 he was in Venice as director and screenwriter of Child of God (in competition), an adaptation of the homonym novel by Cormac McCarthy, and as the star of Palo Alto by Gia Coppola (Orizzont), based on a collection of short stories written by James Franco himself.

 

More substance and less glamour for the 71st Venice Film Festival line-up.

71st Venice Film Festival, which will run from August 27th to September 6th 2014, reveals his line-up: a mix of expected titles, some news and both well-known and emerging directors. The festival will feature 55 films, 54 of which are world-premiere.

Three Italian movies are in competition for the Golden Lion: Mario Martone’s “Il Giovane Favoloso” a film about Leopardi, “Anime nere” by Francesco Munzi and Saverio Costanzo’s “Hungry Hearts”, starring Alba Rohrwacher and based on the short stories by Anzia Yezierska about Jewish immigrants to the Lower East Side of New York City. Among the film Out-of-Competition we find “La Trattativa” by Sabina Guzzanti; “Italy in a day” by Gabriele Salvatores; “Perez” by Edoardo De Angelis and “La zuppa del demonio”, Davide Ferrario’s documentary. The awaited is Abel Ferrara who will present “Pasolini” starring Riccardo Scamarcio, Ninetto Davoli, Valerio Mastrandrea and Willem Dafoe.

This year for the International scene there seems to be focused more on substance than glamour even if the Festival will welcome some celebrities from Hollywood like Al Pacino, Willem Dafoe, Michael Keaton, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Catherine Denevue.

After “Joe”, David Gordon Green comes back to the Lido with “Manglehorn” where an extraordinary Al Pacino plays an ex-con turned locksmith. Al Pacino is also protagonist of “The Humbling” by Barry Levinson, the story an aging actor who will fall in love with a young woman half his age, played by Greta Gerwig.

In competition also eight French films such as: “Three hearts” by Benoît Jacquot (with Benoît Poelvoorde, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Chaterine Deneuve and Chiara Mastroianni), “Loin des hommes” starring Viggo Mortensen, and “The Cut” by Fatih Akin.

Among the out-of-competition some interesting surprises: Joe Dante with his “Burying the Ex”, Im Kwon-taek with “Make-up” and Peter Bogdanovich with “She’s Funny That Way”, starring Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson. Moreover, Ulrich Seidl and Lars von Trier, who will present Nymphomaniac II director’s cut version.

Definitely a promising line-up for the 71st Venice Film Festival with a focus on quality, discovery and diversity.