2001-08-28
Venice prepares to kick off 58th film festival With AP Photos
(APW_ENG_20010828.0616)
1) The 58th edition of the Venice Film Festival kicks off Wednesday with 146 films and a host of celebrities to grace the lagoon city's Lido.
2) In a new twist on the world's oldest festival, there are two competitions this year instead of one. Both competitions will award a coveted Golden Lion prize when the festival ends on Sept. 8 and organizers say both prizes will be of equal weight.
3) Twenty films will screen in the Venice 58 competition and the 21 films in Cinema of the Present, a new section promoting cutting-edge movies.
4) Among the Hollywood stars and directors expected in Venice are Martin Scorsese, Nicole Kidman, Danny DeVito, Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman. Elizabeth Taylor will also be on hand for an AIDS charity dinner.
5) Most of the American offerings at the festival, which often serves as a launching pad for Hollywood films, are screening out of competition.
6) Two American movies are vying for a Golden Lion in the Venice 58 section, Larry Clark's ``Bully'' and Richard Linklater''s ``Waking Life'' with Ethan Hawke and one Spanish-American film, ``The Others,'' with Kidman.
7) Only one American movie_ Jill Sprecher's ''13 Conversations About One Thing,'' starring Alan Arkin and Matthew McConaughey _ is in Cinema of the Present.
8) Premiering out of competition will be Antoine Fuqua's ``Training Day,'' with Denzel Washington and ``From Hell,'' a thriller starring Johnny Depp as Jack the Ripper.
9) Other American offerings include David Mamet's ``Heist'' with Hackman and De Vito, Woody Allen's ``The Curse of the Jade Scorpion,'' and Steven Spielberg's ``A.I. Artificial Intelligence.''
10) The festival will also give viewers at first look at ``Lucky Break,'' British director Peter Cattaneo's first feature since his 1997 hit ``The Full Monty.''
11) Nearly every hotel room on the Lido is booked solid for the festival and organizers have pressed a cruise ship into service for extra rooms. Opening night parties include a masked ball at the elegant Excelsior hotel in honor of French director Benoit Jacquot's opera movie, ``Tosca.''
12) The festival's prestigious Golden Lion for lifetime achievement this year goes to French director Eric Rohmer.
13) One film Venice viewers won't see is ``Another World is Possible,'' a documentary by a group of Italian directors about the demonstrations and violence that marred the Group of Eight summit in Genoa this summer _ much to the embarrassment of media magnate Silvio Berlusconi's conservative new government.
14) Explanations range from post-production problems to a reluctance to further embarrass the government have been offered for its absence. Instead, the directors will host a conference next week at the festival to discuss making the film.
15) On the Net:
16) www.labiennale.org



2003-08-26
Woody Allen-fever hits Venice Film Festival With AP Photo
(APW_ENG_20030826.0278)
1) Cigar-chomping producers and bronzed starlets were welcoming the movie world's favorite nebbish, Woody Allen, to the Venice Film Festival this week as the attention-shy New Yorker makes his first appearance at a show that has launched many of his pictures.
2) The 11-day festival was opening Wednesday with a gala premiere of Allen's latest film, ``Anything Else,'' starring Jason Biggs, Christina Ricci, Danny De Vito and himself. The 67-year-old director may seem a strange fit for the glitzy festival, but the two are a surprisingly apt match.
3) Over the years, both have wavered between artistic films and light crowd-pullers. Both have filled their productions with celebrities in an trade-off of star power for credibility. And both have been more critically admired than successful in recent years.
4) Yet while Allen has been content with an almost-annual movie of modest success, the Venice Film Festival has seemed rather bothered by its ranking as a lesser occasion than Cannes.
5) Its Swiss director, Moritz de Hadeln, is in his second year of running the show after a lengthy stint as head of the Berlin festival. His ambition was clear the moment he took over.
6) De Hadeln complained that the Venice festival was not what it once was, and he hoped to bring back its past glory. Lately, he's lamented that the Italian government isn't investing enough money in the show.
7) As for his own contribution, de Hadeln is trying to pull off a hybrid festival that combines film art with movie glamour.
8) ``The festival has to be a good mixture _ you need both. Film is not only one side,'' he said in a phone interview. ``We should not limit ourselves by saying this film is too public, this one is not public enough.''
9) One other element for success is a solid dollop of stars to fill the 60th Venice Film Festival's long red carpet.
10) Among those expected this year are George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones, promoting the Coen brothers' latest film, ``Intolerable Cruelty.'' Anthony Hopkins will be here for ``The Human Stain,'' based on the Philip Roth novel. Nicolas Cage will promote Ridley Scott's ``Matchstick Men,'' and Antonio Banderas was scheduled for ``Once Upon a Time in Mexico,'' by Robert Rodriguez.
11) As for the films, among the most eagerly awaited is ``21 Grams,'' by Mexican director Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, who made the remarkable three-story drama ``Amores Perros'' in 2000. His new film, which stars Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro and Naomi Watts, is the director's first in English and the only American film in competition for the Golden Lion for best film.
12) Other notable movies in competition include: ``Imagining Argentina,'' by Christopher Hampton; ``Zatoichi,'' by Takeshi Kitano; ``Code 46,'' by Michael Winterbottom; and ``Pornography'', by Jan Jakob Kolski.
13) The secondary Upstream competition for less mainstream films will feature ``Lost in Translation,'' by Sofia Coppola, the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola and director of the well-received film ``The Virgin Suicides'' (1999). Other contenders include ``The Five Obstructions,'' by Jorgen Leth and Lars von Trier; and ``Casa de los Babys,'' by John Sayles.
14) The greatest excitement on the Lido island off central Venice where the festival takes place will be Woody.
15) Manhattan is his usual turf, but Allen has history in Venice, too. He married Soon-Yi Previn in the canal city in 1997. He filmed part of his musical ``Everyone Says I Love You'' (1997) there. In 1995, the festival awarded him a lifetime achievement award, and over the years many of his films have premiered at Venice.
16) ``I've never been to Venice at festival time,'' the 67-year-old said after his presence was announced last month. ``The city has been so generous and supportive to me and I love it so much that it will be a great honor.''
17) (tr/vls)


Woody Allen-fever hits Venice Film Festival
(APW_ENG_20030826.0449)
1) Cigar-chomping producers and bronzed starlets were welcoming the movie world's favorite nebbish, Woody Allen, to the Venice Film Festival this week as the attention-shy New Yorker makes his first appearance at a show that has launched many of his pictures.
2) The 11-day festival was opening Wednesday with a gala premiere of Allen's latest film, ``Anything Else,'' starring Jason Biggs, Christina Ricci, Danny De Vito and himself. The 67-year-old director may seem a strange fit for the glitzy festival, but the two are a surprisingly apt match.
3) Over the years, both have wavered between artistic films and light crowd-pullers. Both have filled their productions with celebrities in an trade-off of star power for credibility. And both have been more critically admired than successful in recent years.
4) Yet while Allen has been content with an almost-annual movie of modest success, the Venice Film Festival has seemed rather bothered by its ranking as a lesser occasion than Cannes.
5) Its Swiss director, Moritz de Hadeln, is in his second year of running the show after a lengthy stint as head of the Berlin festival. His ambition was clear the moment he took over.
6) De Hadeln complained that the Venice festival was not what it once was, and he hoped to bring back its past glory. Lately, he's lamented that the Italian government isn't investing enough money in the show.
7) As for his own contribution, de Hadeln is trying to pull off a hybrid festival that combines film art with movie glamour.
8) ``The festival has to be a good mixture _ you need both. Film is not only one side,'' he said in a phone interview. ``We should not limit ourselves by saying this film is too public, this one is not public enough.''
9) One other element for success is a solid dollop of stars to fill the 60th Venice Film Festival's long red carpet.
10) Among those expected this year are George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones, promoting the Coen brothers' latest film, ``Intolerable Cruelty.'' Anthony Hopkins will be here for ``The Human Stain,'' based on the Philip Roth novel. Nicolas Cage will promote Ridley Scott's ``Matchstick Men,'' and Antonio Banderas was scheduled for ``Once Upon a Time in Mexico,'' by Robert Rodriguez.
11) As for the films, among the most eagerly awaited is ``21 Grams,'' by Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, who made the remarkable three-story drama ``Amores Perros'' in 2000. His new film, which stars Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro and Naomi Watts, is the director's first in English and the only American film in competition for the Golden Lion for best film.
12) Other notable movies in competition include: ``Imagining Argentina,'' by Christopher Hampton; ``Zatoichi,'' by Takeshi Kitano; ``Code 46,'' by Michael Winterbottom; and ``Pornography'', by Jan Jakob Kolski.
13) The secondary Upstream competition for less mainstream films will feature ``Lost in Translation,'' by Sofia Coppola, the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola and director of the well-received film ``The Virgin Suicides'' (1999). Other contenders include ``The Five Obstructions,'' by Jorgen Leth and Lars von Trier; and ``Casa de los Babys,'' by John Sayles.
14) The greatest excitement on the Lido island off central Venice where the festival takes place will be Woody.
15) Manhattan is his usual turf, but Allen has history in Venice, too. He married Soon-Yi Previn in the canal city in 1997. He filmed part of his musical ``Everyone Says I Love You'' (1997) there. In 1995, the festival awarded him a lifetime achievement award, and over the years many of his films have premiered at Venice.
16) ``I've never been to Venice at festival time,'' the 67-year-old said after his presence was announced last month. ``The city has been so generous and supportive to me and I love it so much that it will be a great honor.''
17) (tr/vls)



2003-09-06
Venice Film Festival handing out awards after 11-day show
(APW_ENG_20030906.0197)
1) From Woody Allen's stammer to George Clooney's swagger, this year's Venice Film Festival flooded the lagoon city with celebrities while offering a vast range of pictures, from boo-inducing turkeys to unexpected masterpieces.
2) Awards were being handed out Saturday evening at the end of the 11-day festival, and pundits had already made their predictions, with ``The Return'' by first-time Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev a favorite to win Golden Lion for best film.
3) This intense film tells the tale of two adolescent boys whose mysterious and overbearing father returns after a decade-long absence. The father begins a harsh program to turn the boys into men, putting them through a series of grueling tasks _ a plan that prompts greatly different responses from each boy.
4) Other favorites in the main Venice 60 category included: Takeshi Kitano's ``Zatoichi,'' about a blind swordsman in 19th century Japan; Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's ``21 Grams,'' about three people thrown together by an accident, starring Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro and Naomi Watts; and Italian director Marco Bellocchio's ``Good Morning, Night,'' about the 1978 kidnapping and murder by leftist terrorists of politician Aldo Moro.
5) A second competition called Upstream for less mainstream films produced one of the highlights of the festival, Sofia Coppola's ``Lost in Translation,'' starring Bill Murray. The brilliantly sensitive and funny film depicts the relationship between a dried-up American actor (Murray) and a young woman (Scarlett Johansson) who save each other from loneliness while killing time in Tokyo.
6) The dual competitions _ Venice 60 for the Golden Lion and Upstream for the San Marco Prize _ bared this festival's desire to be both popular and critically respected, even if the distinction between the two categories is frequently unclear.
7) Some 20 features competed in the Venice 60 category, while 17 faced off in the Upstream section, and dozens more were screened in other sections or out of competition. In total, 143 movies _ 86 features and 57 short films _ were selected for the 60th edition of the world's longest running film festival.
8) Film art aside, the greatest attention-grabber of the festival was the stars, who arrived on speedboats at the Lido island and then vanished into exclusive parties and press junkets.
9) Among the stars who made it this year were Johnny Depp and Salma Hayek, promoting ``Once Upon a Time in Mexico''; Anthony Hopkins with ``The Human Stain''; Omar Sharif, who won a lifetime achievement award and promoted ``Monsieur Ibrahim''; director Bernardo Bertolucci with his sexually explicit new film ``The Dreamers''; and Nicolas Cage with Ridley Scotts ``Matchstick Men.''
10) But the most remarkable celebrity arrival was the first: Woody.
11) The 67-year-old filmmaker has a long history in Venice, but he had never attended the festival despite having been married in the city, having filmed here and having received awards at the show. This year, he finally turned up and was made the guest of honor at the Aug. 27 opening night.
12) His latest movie, ``Anything Else,'' starring Jason Biggs and Christina Ricci, started the festival with a gala premiere, even if Allen _ who seemed rather bemused by all the attention _ didn't stay for the film. The director explained that he never likes to watch his own work, and dodged out of the premier only to turn up later at the after-party.
13) Other celebrity highlights included Murray cracking wise as he promoted ``Lost in Translation,'' and longtime bachelor Clooney getting a joke marriage proposal at a news conference for the Coen brothers' comedy ``Intolerable Cruelty.''
14) (tr)



2005-07-28
Venice film festival roster slimmer, partly due to security concerns
(APW_ENG_20050728.0743)
1) This year's Venice film festival is showing fewer films, in part because of security concerns, including from American producers, the event's director said Thursday.
2) Fifty-four full-length films are being screened at the Aug. 31-Sept. 10 festival, compared with 71 last year.
3) Italian movie producer Marco Muller, who is in charge of the festival, said the number of films that can be projected daily in the main movie theater had been cut to allow time for security personnel to thoroughly check the space between screenings.
4) "The American producers asked us about security," Muller told reporters while presenting this year's lineup. "They were satisfied" about the details, he said, without elaborating.
5) George Clooney's "Goodnight and Good Luck," in which he also stars, is one of 19 films in competition for the Golden Lion top prize at Venice, where it will make its world premiere.
6) Another American film competing for the prize is John Turturro's "Romance and Cigarettes," whose cast includes James Gandolfini, Kate Winslet, Susan Sarandon and Christopher Walken.
7) Festival officials said it was too soon to tell if terrorism worries might mean the end of such rituals as dozens of paparazzi elbowing each other on a crowded dock to photograph stars as they pull up in boats.
8) "The subject of security is the order of the day," said Davide Croff, president of the Venice Biennale, whose activities include the festival.
9) Croff told The Associated Press that security needs to be "reasonable," but exactly what measures would be put into place were still being worked out, he said.



2005-09-01
Venice Film Festival opens with Chinese martial arts film
(APW_ENG_20050901.0071)
1) A stellar American profile, a strong Asian flair and heavy security distinguish this year's Venice Film Festival, which began with a Chinese martial arts extravaganza, Tsui Hark's "Seven Swords," showing out of competition.
2) Metal detectors were just about everywhere and bomb-searching police divers reportedly were working the waters off the Lido, the beach section of Venice where the festival was being held. Security concerns about a possible terrorist attack on the gathering of stars and their fans largely resulted in a slimmer version of this year's edition _ 56 films instead of the more than 70 in past years.
3) Always conscious of being outshone by its cinematic cousin, the Cannes Film Festival on the ritzier French Riviera, organizers boasted about an unprecedented nine world premieres of U.S. films on the lineup for the Venice festival.
4) The film fest began Wednesday evening and ends Sept. 10 with the awarding of the Golden Lion top prize.
5) Eagerly awaited and considered a top contender for the award is George Clooney's "Good Night, and Good Luck," which screens Thursday to the public.
6) No "Ocean's 11" caper this time, the black-and-white film that Clooney directed and stars in is a serious look at a painful time a half-century ago in America when powerful politicians relentlessly tried to root out the "reds" _ communist sympathizers.
7) Clooney, expected at the Lido on Thursday, plays a bold CBS television producer, Fred Friendly, and David Strathairn is broadcast pioneer Edward R. Murrow, who challenged the anti-communist crusade of Sen. Joseph McCarthy.
8) A Wednesday night screening for the media showed Clooney capturing Friendly's dry wit and almost paternal, reassuring figure with ease _ much matured from his earlier acting days as the sometimes-reckless Dr. Ross on the U.S. television drama "E.R." As a director, he crisply commands a tightly hewn script, with the breathless rhythm of a newsroom palpable.
9) Strathairn delivers a searing performance as Murrow, wrestling with loyalty to his viewers, his country and himself.
10) Another U.S. actor on the other side of the camera here is John Turturro, in competition with "Romance and Cigarettes." The work is a musical love triangle featuring Susan Sarandon as the older woman, Kate Winslet and James Gandolfini, best known for his starring role in "The Sopranos."
11) Other films being touted in Venice include Ron Howard's "Cinderella Man," a boxing movie starring Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger; and Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain," a story about a homosexual relationship between two 20th-century American cowboys.
12) Nineteen movies are competing for the Golden Lion at this year's festival, including Terry Gilliam's "The Brothers Grimm," starring Matt Damon; "Proof," directed by John Madden and starring Gwyneth Paltrow; and "Mary," by Abel Ferrara.
13) Closing the festival is Peter Ho-Sun Chan's "Perhaps Love," a Hong Kong production.
14) What's Venetian in all this?
15) The bold life of Giacomo Casanova _ the 18th-century Venetian adventurer, gambler, spy and seducer _ is the subject of Lasse Hallstrom's "Casanova." The film is not competing for honors.
16) Also being shown is a restored version of Federico Fellini's 1976 "Casanova," starring Donald Sutherland.
17) The festival also attracted demonstrators, a motley, noisy group of about 1,00 people dressed in beach shorts and bikinis who were held at bay by police officers in riot gear Wednesday evening. The demonstrators shouted slogans against imperialism, blew horns and lit fire crackers and claimed they represented "the cinema of the forbidden."
18) The motive for their protest, which was timed to coincide with the festival's official opening Wednesday evening, was not immediately clear.


Clooney's hard look at McCarthy era premieres on first day of films vying for Golden Lion
(APW_ENG_20050901.0093)
1) The constant clouds of cigarette smoke and the clacking of typewriters in the CBS newsroom in George Clooney's "Good Night, and Good Luck" are bits of bygone journalistic color from 50 years ago.
2) But the question the director-actor thrusts at the audience of his film debuting here Thursday at the Venice Film Festival is practically today's headlines.
3) Can we champion freedom abroad without trampling on it at home? In Sen. Joseph McCarthy's crusade heyday of the 1950s the enemy was Cold War communism. Now it's worldwide terrorism, and both times have seen Americans wondering if the enemy is mingled among them.
4) Clooney's black-and-white film takes its title from the trademark signoff of pioneer broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow, who is played in a searing manner by David Strathairn as he systematically scrutinizes the methods of McCarthy's quest to "out" communists and their sympathizers during commission hearings in Congress.
5) For Clooney, expected on the Venice's Lido bearch restor to promote his film, a top contender for the Golden Lion award, there's no mistaking where he stands in a film which depicts Murrow as hero.
6) "Murrow reminded American that it was necessary to defend fundamental civil rights without which there is no democracy," Clooney told an interviewer for a recent cover story on him in a weekly magazine supplement of Milan daily Corriere della Sera.
7) "His way of presenting information is definitively gone," Clooney said. Besides being a tribute to Murrow, the film is also a tribute to Clooney's dad, Nick Clooney, a former television anchorman who the younger Clooney has described as sharing Murrow's sense of justice.
8) Murrow is seen wrestling with loyalty to viewer, country and himself.
9) "I love America but I don't like my country," was the Clooney interview title.
10) Counterpoint to the crisp pace of the newsroom developments is the jazz singing of performer for CBS's musical interludes.In the Corriere magazine interview, Clooney says he misses the melodic voice of his aunt, Rosemary Clooney.
11) Clooney seems on his way to becoming European. Gossip magazines have been covering his love affair with an elegant villa he bought on Lake Como in northern Italy a few years ago, and where he spends much time relaxing, much like they would follow his new flames.
12) In the film, he plays a principled and practical CBS television producer, Fred Friendly, who later, as a Columbia University professor encouraged a generation of journalists to think through dilemmas of responsibility and ethics.
13) Frank Lagella has the role of CBS executive William Paley, proud of giving his producers freedom to pursue their stories while worried about angering advertisers who help pay for programming and politicians who ultimately approve broadcasting licenses. Robert Downey Jr. plays Joe Wershba, also part of the CBS team which backed Murrow.
14) U.S. films have one of their highest profiles ever in years at the festival, which also tries to promote Italian-made productions.
15) Another film making the buzz for Golden Lion contender is Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain," a story about the homosexual relationship of two cowboys who worked on a ranch in the American West in the 1960s. It will be shown to the public on Friday.
16) The award will be announced on the festival's final day, Sept. 10.


Clooney's tribute to Murrow's battle against McCarthy is top contender at Venice film fest
(APW_ENG_20050901.0975)
1) Broadcast pioneer Edward R. Murrow is the hero and Sen. Joseph McCarthy is the villain in George Clooney's black-and-white "Good Night, and Good Luck," making its premiere at the Venice film festival Thursday night.
2) While it may raise the hackles of conservatives, the movie is not designed to be an attack on U.S. President George W. Bush's policies, Clooney insisted Thursday at a news conference, although he did call himself an "old, bold liberal."
3) But the parallels with today's burning questions are unavoidable.
4) Can we champion freedom abroad without trampling on it at home? In McCarthy's 1950s crusade, the enemy was Cold War communism. Now it's worldwide terrorism, and both times have seen Americans wondering if the enemy is mingled among them.
5) "Sometimes we do dumb things," Clooney said. "We use fear to attack civil liberties."
6) The film's title is the trademark signoff of pioneer broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow, who is played in a searing manner by David Strathairn as he systematically scrutinizes the methods of McCarthy's quest to "out" communists and their sympathizers during congressional hearings.
7) The movie was made in black-and-white to better evoke the atmosphere of the newscasts of those days. More importantly, it allows for seamless changes from actors on the screen to clips of McCarthy from archives.
8) But there are few shades of gray over who is the bad guy here and who is the good one.
9) Clooney, the son of a former TV anchorman, Nick Clooney, who made an unsuccessful run for a U.S. congressional seat last year, grew up in Kentucky in admiration of what he heard about Murrow.
10) No actor plays the junior senator from Wisconsin, who used bullying methods as he went after his victims in hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Instead, Clooney chose to have McCarthy shown exclusively in footage of the era.
11) "If we had someone play McCarthy, people would have said, he is (portrayed as) too harsh or too evil and as a rat," said Clooney, who also wrote the script.
12) "We couldn't think of any one (actor) who was as good as he was, or as bad," said Grant Heslov, who co-wrote the film.
13) Clooney insisted that despite the parallels with current debate, "Good Night, and Good Luck" was not designed to be an attack on Bush's policies.
14) "I'm an old, bold liberal and I am outspoken against" U.S. policies, said Clooney, who has made his disapproval of the war in Iraq public.
15) But the film "wasn't designed specifically to be a political statement," said Clooney. "I didn't make the film as a protest."
16) Conservatives may object to how the right was treated in the film, but Clooney seemed to be saying 'bring on the critics."
17) "Some films get you in trouble. They open up debate. It's fun to be caught up" in the middle, the director said.
18) Murrow is seen wrestling with loyalty to viewer, country and himself.
19) Clooney said McCarthy did root out some disloyal Americans. But the senator's methods warranted scrutiny by Murrow because he didn't give those he was attacking the chance to know who was accusing them.
20) Without giving examples, the director said the same danger of rights violation was present today.
21) Counterpoint to the crisp pace of the newsroom developments is the jazz singing of the performer for CBS's musical interludes _ a reflection, perhaps, of Clooney's fondness for the melodic voice of his late aunt, Rosemary Clooney.
22) Clooney seems on his way to becoming European. Gossip magazines have been covering his love affair with an elegant villa he bought on Lake Como in northern Italy a few years ago.
23) In the film, he plays a principled and practical CBS television producer, Fred Friendly, who later, as a Columbia University professor, encouraged a generation of journalists to think through dilemmas of responsibility and ethics.
24) Frank Lagella has the role of CBS executive William Paley, proud of giving his producers freedom to pursue their stories while worried about angering advertisers who help pay for programming and politicians who ultimately approve broadcasting licenses. Robert Downey Jr. plays Joe Wershba, also part of the CBS team which backed Murrow.
25) Another film making the buzz for Golden Lion contender is Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain," a story about the homosexual relationship of two cowboys on a ranch in the American West in the 1960s. It will be shown to the public on Friday.
26) The award will be announced on the festival's final day, Sept. 10.



2006-07-24
De Palma's 'The Black Dahlia' to open Venice film festival
(APW_ENG_20060724.0673)
1) "The Black Dahlia," a Brian De Palma film starring Scarlett Johansson and Hilary Swank, will make its world premiere at the Venice film festival on Aug. 30.
2) The film is based on James Ellroy's novel about the mysterious killing of a fledging actress, nicknamed Black Dahlia, in 1940s Los Angeles. It also starts Josh Harnett, who plays the part of a policeman and former boxer who falls in love with the same woman (Johansson) that a friend does.
3) The festival runs from Aug. 30 through Sept. 9 at Venice's Lido, a beach resort island.
4) In recent years, the festival, which is trying to keep up with the popularity of such film festivals as those in Toronto, New York and Berlin, snagged movies with blockbuster potential.
5) Last year, the festival saw the world debut of two much-discussed movies: Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain," about the romance between two gay cowboys in the U.S. West, and "Good Night, and Good Luck," George Clooney's black-and-white re-creation of the political witch hunt for communist sympathizers in the United States in the 1950s.
6) The festival's full program is expected to be unveiled later in the week.
7) "The Black Dahlia" will be among the films in the running for the Golden Lion, the festival's top award, although the festival screens many out-of-competition films.



2007-08-29
Venice Film Festival turns 75, with George Clooney, Woody Allen and Keira Knightley headlining
(APW_ENG_20070829.0338)
1) The Venice Film Festival opens its 75th anniversary edition Wednesday with an all-world premiere competition for the coveted Golden Lion and a cascade of stars including George Clooney, Keira Knightley and Woody Allen.
2) In their constant search for new talent and cinematic trends, the organizers of the world's oldest running film festival reached out to young directors this year.
3) Opening the 11-day festival is "Atonement," the screen adaptation of Ian McEwan's best-selling novel starring Knightley and James McAvoy and directed by 35-year-old Joe Wright. Venice closes Sept. 8 with the Hong Kong-Taiwanese gangster-thriller "Blood Brothers" by first-time director Alexi Tan.
4) But some Venice veterans will be making a return, including Oscar-winning director Ang Lee, who, two years after previewing "Brokeback Mountain" at the Lido returns with "Lust, Caution," a Chinese-language spy-thriller set in World War II.
5) Venice always courts controversy, and this year it centered around the organizers' notation of Lee's film as originating from "Taiwan, China." Taiwan complained that the label suggests the self-ruled island is part of mainland China.
6) China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949, but Beijing still considers self-ruled Taiwan as its territory and has threatened to retake it by force. Taiwanese officials blamed China for the notation.
7) The film festival press office told The Associated Press that they list the countries as given by the production house.
8) This year's lineup boasts some of the most eagerly anticipated new films of the fall film season -- many making their world premieres at the Lido. More than 90 percent of the 57 featured films and all of the 22 films competing for the Golden Lion are premiers.
9) Under director Marco Mueller, who took over four years ago, the festival also has earned a reputation for spawning major award contenders: Films launched at Venice over the last three years have garnered 51 Oscar nominations.
10) This year's selection are heavily weighted toward Anglo-American productions with an unprecedented seven English-language films. Mueller has been criticized for being under Hollywood's sway, but he has said that some of the strongest films were emerging from the English-language world, often grappling with the issue of politics and war.
11) The theme is expressed in Brian De Palma's oddly titled "Redacted," a series of stories about U.S. soldiers in Iraq, and Paul Haggis' "In the Valley of Elah," which tells the tale of an Iraq war veteran gone missing after his return from a tour of duty.
12) Also vying for the top prize at Venice are "Michael Clayton," starring George Clooney in a legal drama about a corporate firm battling a class-action lawsuit, and "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," starring Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck and Sam Shepherd.
13) Woody Allen premieres his "Cassandra's Dream," which is showing out of competition. Starring Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell, it tells the story of two brothers -- one a chronic gambler and another in love with a beautiful actress -- who try to improve their lives and become entangled in a sinister situation.
14) Kenneth Branagh is presenting a remake of the 1972 film "Sleuth," with Michael Caine appearing this time as a wealthy writer engaged in a battle of wits with a young actor having an affair with his wife. Jude Law reprises Caine's 1972 role as the younger man.
15) Asia is as always well-represented in Venice, with four movies in the main competition. Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike will be showing his "Sukiyaki Western Django," a Japanese interpretation of the Italian Spaghetti Western of the 1960s and 1970s starring Quentin Tarantino -- a complement to the Spaghetti Western retrospective being held on the festival sidelines.
16) American director Tim Burton will be presented with a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement by Johnny Depp, who started in such Burton creations as "Edward Scissorhands."
17) While the Venice festival celebrates its 75th anniversary, it is the 64th edition of the festival, which was periodically canceled due to war and other reasons.
18) The Golden Lion will be presented in a gala ceremony on Sept. 8.


Venice Film Festival turns 75, with George Clooney, Woody Allen and Keira Knightley headlining
(APW_ENG_20070829.0962)
1) The Venice Film Festival opened its 75th anniversary edition Wednesday with an all-world premiere competition for the coveted Golden Lion and a cascade of stars, including George Clooney, Keira Knightley and Woody Allen.
2) In their constant search for new talent and cinematic trends, the organizers of the world's oldest running film festival reached out to young directors this year.
3) Opening the 11-day festival was "Atonement," the screen adaptation of Ian McEwan's best-selling novel starring Knightley and James McAvoy and directed by 35-year-old Joe Wright. Venice closes Sept. 8 with the Hong Kong-Taiwanese gangster-thriller "Blood Brothers" by first-time director Alexi Tan.
4) In all, seven first-time directors and six second-time directors are appearing at the festival.
5) But some Venice veterans will be making a return, including Oscar-winning director Ang Lee, who, two years after previewing "Brokeback Mountain" at the Lido returns with "Lust, Caution," a Chinese-language spy-thriller set in World War II.
6) Venice always courts controversy, and this year it centered around the organizers' notation of Lee's film as originating from "Taiwan, China." Taiwan complained that the label suggests the self-ruled island is part of mainland China.
7) China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949, but Beijing still considers self-ruled Taiwan as its territory and has threatened to retake it by force. Taiwanese officials blamed China for the notation.
8) Festival director Marco Mueller told a news conference that they list countries as presented by the producers -- and that the festival would change the listing if it received a request from all of the various production houses involved in the film.
9) "Unfortunately, being a film festival, our relation is of course with the national representatives, very specifically, with the producers," Mueller said. "So, in the case of Ang Lee ... a very precise communication was received by our office that the country of origin of the film had to be listed in a different way."
10) This year's lineup boasts some of the most eagerly anticipated new films of the fall film season -- many making their world premieres at the Lido. More than 90 percent of the 57 featured films and all 23 films competing for the Golden Lion are premieres.
11) Besides the 22 films already announced, Mueller said a surprise entry into the competition would be announced later in the festival. As it has been the last three years, it will be an Asian film. Last year's surprise entry, which does not appear in the official catalog, won the Golden Lion: The Chinese movie "Still Life."
12) "Actually, the producer is still mixing the film right now," Mueller said. "It won't be from Japan, China or Korea," referring to the countries that contributed the previous surprise entries.
13) Under Mueller, who took over four years ago, the festival also has earned a reputation for spawning major award contenders: Films launched at Venice over the last three years have garnered 51 Oscar nominations.
14) "We went for the gut feeling, we went for the heart and gut emotion -- and only on second thought did we think about how to harmonize the program," Mueller said.
15) This year's selections are heavily weighted toward Anglo-American productions, with an unprecedented seven English-language films. Mueller has been criticized for being under Hollywood's sway, but he has said that some of the strongest films were emerging from the English-language world, often grappling with the issue of politics and war.
16) The theme is expressed in Brian De Palma's oddly titled "Redacted," a series of stories about U.S. soldiers in Iraq, and Paul Haggis' "In the Valley of Elah," which tells the tale of an Iraq war veteran gone missing after his return from a tour of duty.
17) Also vying for the top prize at Venice are "Michael Clayton," starring George Clooney in a legal drama about a corporate firm battling a class-action lawsuit, and "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," starring Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck and Sam Shepherd.
18) Woody Allen premieres his "Cassandra's Dream," which is showing out of competition. Starring Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell, it tells the story of two brothers -- one a chronic gambler and another in love with a beautiful actress -- who try to improve their lives and become entangled in a sinister situation.
19) Kenneth Branagh is presenting a remake of the 1972 film "Sleuth," with Michael Caine appearing this time as a wealthy writer engaged in a battle of wits with a young actor having an affair with his wife. Jude Law reprises Caine's 1972 role as the younger man.
20) Asia is as always well-represented in Venice, with four movies in the main competition. Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike will be showing his "Sukiyaki Western Django," a Japanese interpretation of the Italian Spaghetti Western of the 1960s and 1970s starring Quentin Tarantino -- a complement to the Spaghetti Western retrospective being held on the festival sidelines.
21) American director Tim Burton will be presented with a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement by Johnny Depp, who started in such Burton creations as "Edward Scissorhands."
22) While the Venice festival celebrates its 75th anniversary, it is the 64th edition of the festival, which has been canceled periodically due to war and other reasons.
23) The Golden Lion will be presented in a gala Sept. 8.



2007-08-30
Venice Film Festival turns 75, with George Clooney, Woody Allen and Keira Knightley headlining
(APW_ENG_20070830.0087)
1) The Venice Film Festival opened its 75th anniversary edition with an all-world premiere competition for the coveted Golden Lion and a cascade of stars, including George Clooney, Keira Knightley and Woody Allen.
2) In their constant search for new talent and cinematic trends, the organizers of the world's oldest running film festival reached out to young directors this year.
3) Opening the 11-day festival was "Atonement," the screen adaptation of Ian McEwan's best-selling novel starring Knightley and James McAvoy and directed by 35-year-old Joe Wright. Venice closes Sept. 8 with the Hong Kong-Taiwanese gangster-thriller "Blood Brothers" by first-time director Alexi Tan.
4) In all, seven first-time directors and six second-time directors are appearing at the festival.
5) But some Venice veterans will be making a return, including Oscar-winning director Ang Lee, who, two years after previewing "Brokeback Mountain" at the Lido returns with "Lust, Caution," a Chinese-language spy-thriller set in World War II.
6) Venice always courts controversy, and this year it centered around the organizers' notation of Lee's film as originating from "Taiwan, China." Taiwan complained that the label suggests the self-ruled island is part of mainland China.
7) China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949, but Beijing still considers self-ruled Taiwan as its territory and has threatened to retake it by force. Taiwanese officials blamed China for the notation.
8) Festival director Marco Mueller told a news conference that they list countries as presented by the producers -- and that the festival would change the listing if it received a request from all of the various production houses involved in the film.
9) "Unfortunately, being a film festival, our relation is of course with the national representatives, very specifically, with the producers," Mueller said. "So, in the case of Ang Lee ... a very precise communication was received by our office that the country of origin of the film had to be listed in a different way."
10) This year's lineup boasts some of the most eagerly anticipated new films of the fall film season -- many making their world premieres at the Lido. More than 90 percent of the 57 featured films and all 23 films competing for the Golden Lion are premieres.
11) Besides the 22 films already announced, Mueller said a surprise entry into the competition would be announced later in the festival. As it has been the last three years, it will be an Asian film. Last year's surprise entry, which does not appear in the official catalog, won the Golden Lion: The Chinese movie "Still Life."
12) "Actually, the producer is still mixing the film right now," Mueller said. "It won't be from Japan, China or Korea," referring to the countries that contributed the previous surprise entries.
13) Under Mueller, who took over four years ago, the festival also has earned a reputation for spawning major award contenders: Films launched at Venice over the last three years have garnered 51 Oscar nominations.
14) "We went for the gut feeling, we went for the heart and gut emotion -- and only on second thought did we think about how to harmonize the program," Mueller said.
15) This year's selections are heavily weighted toward Anglo-American productions, with an unprecedented seven English-language films. Mueller has been criticized for being under Hollywood's sway, but he has said that some of the strongest films were emerging from the English-language world, often grappling with the issue of politics and war.
16) The theme is expressed in Brian De Palma's oddly titled "Redacted," a series of stories about U.S. soldiers in Iraq, and Paul Haggis' "In the Valley of Elah," which tells the tale of an Iraq war veteran gone missing after his return from a tour of duty.
17) Also vying for the top prize at Venice are "Michael Clayton," starring George Clooney in a legal drama about a corporate firm battling a class-action lawsuit, and "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," starring Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck and Sam Shepherd.
18) Woody Allen premieres his "Cassandra's Dream," which is showing out of competition. Starring Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell, it tells the story of two brothers -- one a chronic gambler and another in love with a beautiful actress -- who try to improve their lives and become entangled in a sinister situation.
19) Kenneth Branagh is presenting a remake of the 1972 film "Sleuth," with Michael Caine appearing this time as a wealthy writer engaged in a battle of wits with a young actor having an affair with his wife. Jude Law reprises Caine's 1972 role as the younger man.
20) Asia is as always well-represented in Venice, with four movies in the main competition. Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike will be showing his "Sukiyaki Western Django," a Japanese interpretation of the Italian Spaghetti Western of the 1960s and 1970s starring Quentin Tarantino -- a complement to the Spaghetti Western retrospective being held on the festival sidelines.
21) American director Tim Burton will be presented with a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement by Johnny Depp, who started in such Burton creations as "Edward Scissorhands."
22) While the Venice festival celebrates its 75th anniversary, it is the 64th edition of the festival, which has been canceled periodically due to war and other reasons.
23) The Golden Lion will be presented in a gala Sept. 8.



2008-09-08
Venice Film Festival to start a week later in 2009
(APW_ENG_20080908.0637)
1) The Venice Film Festival is pushing its annual calendar by a week next year to avoid the traditional holiday rush in Italy.
2) The world's oldest film festival will run Sept. 2-12 next year -- starting a week later than usual.
3) Film festival director Marco Mueller announced the new schedule at a closing news conference on the Lido on Sunday.
4) He says one of the reasons for the change is to avoid the Italian vacation month of August. The new dates could pose a conflict with the Toronto film festival. This year's Toronto festival started Sept. 4.
5) This year's Venice Film Festival closed on Saturday with a Golden Lion to Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler."



2010-07-29
Festival announces 79 world premieres for Venice
(APW_ENG_20100729.0476)
1) Sofia Coppola's comic drama "Somewhere," and Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" will make their world premieres at the Venice Film Festival, among 22 titles that organizers announced Thursday will vie for the prestigious Golden Lion.
2) Festival director Marco Mueller emphasized the young age of the directors competing at the festival's 68th edition -- averaging 47.
3) Coppola, 39, will showcase her movie starring Stephen Dorff as a bad-boy actor struggling through life. Aronofsky, 41, returns to Venice with a psychological thriller two years after winning the top prize for his drama "The Wrestler."
4) "Black Swan" stars Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Winona Ryder.
5) Bringing up the average is 78-year-old U.S. director Monte Hellman, who will be premiering his indie feature "Road to Nowhere," about a young writer who gets caught up in a crime.
6) "The average age drops to 45.52 without him," Mueller quipped.
7) Also showing is Richard J. Lewis' adaptation of Mordecai Richler's comic novel "Barney's Version," starring Paul Giamatti and Dustin Hoffman, and U.S. indie director Kelly Reichardt with an Oregon Train period drama "Meek's Cutoff."
8) German director Tom Tykwer will premier his movie "Drei" and Tunisian-born director Abdellatif Kechiche will be back in Venice with "Venus Noire." The French director premiered "La Graine et Le Mulet" (The Secret of the Grain) at Venice in 2007.
9) Lido regular and part-time Italy-resident George Clooney isn't expected again this year. Aronofsky's movie got tagged for the opening slot, and the U.S. release of Clooney's new film, "The American," was already scheduled for Sept. 1 -- the opening day of the festival.
10) "We put together an opening night of which we are very proud," Mueller said.
11) In the end, Clooney's picture, a thriller shot largely in the quake-stricken region of Abruzzo, is absent from the festival lineup.
12) In all, 79 world premieres will be shown at Venice from Sept. 1-11.
13) The Affleck brothers -- Ben and Casey -- both will be in Venice, but on separate projects. Ben Affleck is premiering "The Town," out of competition, his second film as director after "Gone Baby Gone." He also stars in the movie as a bank robber who has fallen for a bank manager he met on a heist.
14) Casey Affleck will be showing his documentary "I Am Still Here: The Lost Year of Joaquin Phoenix."
15) Director Quentin Tarantino is heading the jury that will award the festival's top prize on Sept. 11, and director John Woo will be awarded a Golden Lion for his career.
16) Four films will be competing separately for the festival's second 3-D award. And Venice this year has revamped the Horizons competition to focus more on experimental film, which Mueller said was a reflection of risk-taking resulting from the economic crisis.


Festival announces 79 world premieres for Venice
(APW_ENG_20100729.0573)
1) Sofia Coppola's comic drama "Somewhere," and Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" will make their world premieres at the Venice Film Festival, among 22 titles that organizers announced Thursday will vie for the prestigious Golden Lion.
2) Festival director Marco Mueller emphasized the young age of the directors competing at the festival's 67th edition -- averaging 47, the youngest ever.
3) Despite their age, many of the young directors come to Venice experienced. Oscar-winner Coppola, 39, will showcase her movie starring Stephen Dorff as a bad-boy actor struggling through life. Aronofsky, 41, returns to Venice with a psychological thriller two years after winning the top prize for his drama "The Wrestler."
4) "Black Swan" stars Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Winona Ryder.
5) Bringing up the average is 78-year-old U.S. director Monte Hellman, who will be premiering his indie feature "Road to Nowhere," about a young writer who gets caught up in a crime.
6) "The average age drops to 45.52 without him," Mueller quipped.
7) Only one director is making his debut, Ascanio Celestini with "La Pecora Nera" (Black Sheep), a play that has been redone for film. That compares with five directorial debuts last year.
8) Also showing is Richard J. Lewis' adaptation of Mordecai Richler's comic novel "Barney's Version," starring Paul Giamatti and Dustin Hoffman, and U.S. indie director Kelly Reichardt with the period drama "Meek's Cutoff."
9) German director Tom Tykwer will premier his movie "Drei" and Tunisian-born director Abdellatif Kechiche will be back in Venice with "Venus Noire." The French director premiered "La Graine et Le Mulet" (The Secret of the Grain) at Venice in 2007.
10) Lido regular and part-time Italian resident George Clooney isn't expected again this year. Aronofsky's movie got tagged for the opening slot, and the U.S. release of Clooney's new film, "The American," was already scheduled for Sept. 1 -- the opening day of the festival.
11) "We put together an opening night of which we are very proud," Mueller said.
12) In the end, Clooney's picture, a thriller shot largely in the quake-stricken region of Abruzzo, is absent from the festival lineup.
13) In all, 79 world premieres will be shown at Venice from Sept. 1-11.
14) The Affleck brothers -- Ben and Casey -- both will be in Venice, but on separate projects. Ben Affleck is premiering "The Town," out of competition, his second film as director after "Gone Baby Gone." He also stars in the movie as a bank robber who has fallen for a bank manager he met on a heist.
15) Casey Affleck will be showing his documentary "I Am Still Here: The Lost Year of Joaquin Phoenix."
16) Director Quentin Tarantino is heading the jury that will award the festival's top prize on Sept. 11, and director John Woo will be awarded a Golden Lion for his career.
17) Four films will be competing separately for the festival's second 3-D award. And Venice this year has revamped the Horizons competition to focus more on experimental film, which Mueller said was a reflection of risk-taking resulting from the economic crisis.