The 65th Venice International Film Festival

Venice Film Festival

The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...

, held in Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, was opened on August 27, 2008 by Burn After Reading

Burn After Reading

Burn After Reading is a 2008 black comedy film written, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. The film stars George Clooney, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Brad Pitt. It was released in the United States on September 12, 2008, and it was released on October 17, 2008...

, and closed on September 6, 2008.
International competition jury, led by Wim Wenders

Wim Wenders

Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders is a German film director, playwright, author, photographer and producer.-Early life:Wenders was born in Düsseldorf. He graduated from high school in Oberhausen in the Ruhr area. He then studied medicine and philosophy in Freiburg and Düsseldorf...

, awarded Leone d'Oro to The Wrestler

The Wrestler (2009 film)

The Wrestler is a 2008 sports drama film directed by Darren Aronofsky, written by Robert D. Siegel and starring Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood. Production began in January 2008 and Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired rights to distribute the film in the U.S.; it was released in a...

, directed by Darren Aronofsky

Darren Aronofsky

Darren Aronofsky is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. He attended Harvard University to study film theory and the American Film Institute to study both live-action and animation filmmaking...

.

77-year-old Italian film director Ermanno Olmi

Ermanno Olmi

Ermanno Olmi is a renowned Italian film director.-Biography:Olmi was born in Bergamo, Lombardy. He is married to Loredana Detto, who played Antonietta Masetti in Il Posto....

 received a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.

About the 65th edition of festival

The festival opened on August 27, 2008, with the highly anticipated film directed by the Coen brothers

Coen Brothers

Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers...

, Burn After Reading

Burn After Reading

Burn After Reading is a 2008 black comedy film written, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. The film stars George Clooney, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Brad Pitt. It was released in the United States on September 12, 2008, and it was released on October 17, 2008...

. Burn is not running in the official competition and thus is ineligible to win any prizes, but reaction in Venice will indicate whether Joel and Ethan Coen can repeat their success of 2008 with the Academy Award-winning Venice entry, No Country For Old Men

No Country for Old Men (film)

No Country for Old Men is a 2007 American crime thriller directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin. The film was adapted from the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name...

.

Unlike the Cannes Film Festival

Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...

, American filmmakers have only twice won the coveted prize at Venice (with the majority of prizes going to European or Asian filmmakers over the past 65 years). It is also famine for British films, as none were selected for competition in this year's festival. Despite the dearth of English-speaking films, several films at the fest are likely to make a splash at this year's Oscars in Hollywood. A trend has been that several films launched in Venice have gone on to garner multiple Academy Award nominations. In 2005, Taiwan-born director Ang Lee

Ang Lee

Ang Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...

's film, Brokeback Mountain

Brokeback Mountain

Brokeback Mountain is a 2005 romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee. It is a film adaptation of the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx with the screenplay written by Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry...

earned its director a Best Director Oscar. Lee has won the top prize at Venice twice in the past few years.

The glamour of the Venice Film Festival (attended by many high profile stars) as well as the link with the upcoming Academy Awards has helped raise the Venice Film Festival's profile. Nonetheless, the event has a long-established reputation for showcasing emerging cinema, including films from Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, and this year's lineup proves the same.

Festival organizers have announced that the fest's shorts competition will kick off September 1 with Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman

Natalie Hershlag , better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film Léon, but major success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel...

's directorial debut, Eve. Rising Russian star Kseniya Rappoport

Kseniya Rappoport

Kseniya Aleksandrovna Rappoport is a Russian actress. She graduated in 2000 from Saint Petersburg's Academy of Theatrical Arts and was immediately invited to join the...

 will also host the opening and closing ceremonies.

German independent film director Wim Wenders

Wim Wenders

Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders is a German film director, playwright, author, photographer and producer.-Early life:Wenders was born in Düsseldorf. He graduated from high school in Oberhausen in the Ruhr area. He then studied medicine and philosophy in Freiburg and Düsseldorf...

 (Paris, Texas

Paris, Texas (film)

Paris, Texas is a 1984 drama film directed by Wim Wenders. The screenplay is by L.M. Kit Carson and playwright Sam Shepard, and the distinctive musical score was composed by Ry Cooder. The cinematography is by Robby Müller....

, Wings of Desire

Wings of Desire

Wings of Desire is a 1987 Franco-German romantic fantasy film directed by Wim Wenders. The film is about invisible, immortal angels who populate Berlin and listen to the thoughts of the human inhabitants and comfort those who are in distress...

) will head the Venice film jury.

According to the International Herald Tribune, the Venice Film Festival will not be without its drama if the water-taxi drivers have any say:

"On the eve of the festival, Venice's water-taxi drivers were threatening to go on strike... The city's deputy mayor, Michele Vianello, at first responded in "make-my-day" mode, telling them to go right ahead, a sentiment shared by most of Venice's inhabitants, the vast majority of whom use public water buses and would only consider taking one of these astronomically expensive private conveyances for weddings, funerals, or if they won the lottery. Vianello subsequently declared the strike illegal, but if it goes ahead, ordinary festivalgoers may find themselves traveling with the stars (the Lido can only be reached by boat)."

The festival will close on September 6, 2008.

This year's Venice Film Festival's film selections had been widely criticized as being among the weakest in years, with some publications even describing it as the "worst ever".
Later showings made It improve from bad to better,
but it might have been too late.

The 65th Venice International Film Festival will be dedicated to the late Egyptian director Youssef Chahine

Youssef Chahine

Youssef Chahine was an Egyptian film director active in the Egyptian film industry since 1950. He was credited with launching the career of actor Omar Sharif...

. Chahine who died recently at age 82, was a notable in post-war Arab cinema. Festival director Marco Mueller said, "Who else could have succeeded in mixing the philosopher Averroes with Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...

? That's what cinema should be about," Mueller said, referring to Chahine's film "Destiny".

About the films in the festival

Of the 52 films selected to screen at this year's Venice Mostra, only 21 will be competing for the Golden Lion top prize.

Most of the films at Venice will be world premieres, including the "things that go boom" psychological thriller directed by Kathryn Bigelow

Kathryn Bigelow

Kathryn Ann Bigelow is an American film director. Her best-known films are the cult horror film Near Dark , the surfer/bank robbery action picture Point Break , the science fiction/film noir Strange Days , the historical/mystery film The Weight of Water and the war drama The Hurt Locker...

, The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker is a 2009 American war film about a three-man United States Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team during the Iraq War. The film was directed by Kathryn Bigelow and the screenplay was written by Mark Boal, a freelance writer who was embedded as a journalist in 2004 with a US bomb...

. The film deals with the physical and emotional strains faced by EOD bomb squads in Iraq. Also premiering at the festival is home-grown favorite Birdwatcher directed by Italy's own Marco Bechis

Marco Bechis

Marco Bechis is a Chilean-Italian film screenwriter and director. His film Garage Olimpo was screened at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section.-Selected filmography:* Alambrado...

. Other strong contenders for the coveted Golden Lion

Golden Lion

Il Leone d’Oro is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most distinguished prizes...

 award are the Darren Aronofsky

Darren Aronofsky

Darren Aronofsky is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. He attended Harvard University to study film theory and the American Film Institute to study both live-action and animation filmmaking...

 directed film, The Wrestler, and director Barbet Schroeder

Barbet Schroeder

Barbet Schroeder is a Franco-Swiss movie director and producer who started his career in French cinema in the 1960s, working together with directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Jacques Rivette.-Life and career:...

's entry, L'Inju: la Bete dans l'Ombre.

With no British pictures and a diminished U.S. presence, the Venice Film Festival will focus on Italian and Japanese cinema with four films from each country, including Oscar-winning animation maestro Hayao Miyazaki

Hayao Miyazaki

is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...

’s latest, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea.

European films are also set to dominate the festival, due in part to the American Writer's Guild strike

2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike

The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....

 and the effects of the slow down in the film pipeline. Other theories for the lack of American films are the U.S. economy (with dollar’s slump vs. the euro), and Hollywood studio belt-tightening. The major U.S. studios have effectively gobbled up all the small independent labels, then went on to make poor development and/or marketing decisions causing the inevitable shuttering or downsizing of these same "independent" labels. Former "indies" such as Warner Independent, New Line

New Line Cinema

New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...

 and Paramount Vantage are ghosts of the past. The lucrative temptation for studios to bust their budgets with big tent pole films has also meant the hard squeeze on less expensive, but the more challenging-to-market independent films. Risk-averse U.S. majors are seemingly no longer as willing to foot the bill for innovative films made for grownups. Industry trade magazines have pronounced this both as a death and/or a subsequent potential rebirth or "reboot" for independent filmmaking.

"We look for the vitality of cinema where it is hidden, be it in popular works or auteur cinema; it makes no difference to us," festival director Marco Mueller says. Muller added, "The choices I made this year reconfirm an identity for the festival, but I definitely want Venice to stay pluralistic and contradictory." The show this year is packed with Japanese and French titles, and Mueller was compelled to honor domestic films, unfurling the largest Italian contingent on the Lido in ages.

African cinema

African cinema

The term African cinema refers to the film production in Africa, following formal independence. Some of the countries in North Africa developed a national film industry much earlier and are related to West Asian cinema...

 is also well repped with Ethiopian director Haile Gerima

Haile Gerima

Haile Gerima is an Ethiopian filmmaker, who resides in the United States. He is a leading member of the L.A. Rebellion film movement, also known as the Los Angeles School of Black Filmmakers. His films have received wide international acclaim. Gerima has also been an influential film professor at...

's Teza

Teza (film)

Teza is a 2008 Ethiopian drama film about the Derg period in Ethiopia. Teza won the top award at the 2009 Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou. The film was directed and written by Haile Gerima.-Synopsis:...

and Algerian helmer Tariq Teguia is screening Inland.

Asia could win the Golden Lion for best film for the fourth year running. Leading the Japanese line-up is Akires to kame (Achilles and the Tortoise) directed by Takeshi Kitano

Takeshi Kitano

is a Japanese filmmaker, comedian, singer, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, painter, and one-time video game designer who has received critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his highly idiosyncratic cinematic work. The famed Japanese film critic...

. Kitano is
a favored son in Venice, having already won the 1997 Leone d'Oro for Hana-bi

Hana-bi

, released in the US as "Fireworks", is a 1997 Japanese film written, directed and edited by, and starring Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano. The film's score was composed by renowned Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi. This was their fourth collaboration...

(Fireworks) and who was awarded a special prize for his direction of Zatoichi

Zatoichi

is a fictional character featured in one of Japan's longest running series of films and a television series set in the Edo period. The character, a blind masseur and swordmaster, was created by novelist . This originally minor character was developed for the screen by Daiei Studios and actor...

in 2003.

Films being screen out of competition include 35 Rums by French director Claire Denis

Claire Denis

Claire Denis is a French film director and Professor of Film at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.-Early life:...

, Iranian film-maker Abbas Kiarostami

Abbas Kiarostami

Abbas Kiarostami is an internationally acclaimed Iranian film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer. An active filmmaker since 1970, Kiarostami has been involved in over forty films, including shorts and documentaries...

's film, Shirin and an autobiographical documentary by Belgium-born director Agnes Varda

Agnès Varda

Agnès Varda is a French film director and professor at the European Graduate School. Her movies, photographs, and art installations focus on documentary realism, feminist issues, and social commentary — with a distinct experimental style....

.

The "record" for the longest film at this festival (or maybe any) goes to Philippine director Lav Diaz

Lav Diaz

Lav Diaz or Lavrente Indico Diaz is a Filipino independent filmmaker, born in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao, Mindanao, Philippines, on December 30, 1958....

's Melancholia

Melancholia (2008 film)

Melancholia is a 2008 Philippine film directed by Lav Diaz. It won the Horizons prize at the 65th Venice International Film Festival.-Cast:* Angeli Bayani as Alberta Munoz / Jenine* Perry Dizon as Julian Tomas / pimp* Roeder as Renato Munoz...

, with a running time of some seven-and-a-half hours, and which is included in the Orizzonti (Horizons) section.

A highlight of this year’s Italian retrospective is a restored version of Federico Fellini

Federico Fellini

Federico Fellini, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , was an Italian film director and scriptwriter. Known for a distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images, he is considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers of the 20th century...

’s 1952 comedy The White Sheik

The White Sheik

The White Sheik is a 1952 film by Federico Fellini starring Leopoldo Trieste, Alberto Sordi, and Brunella Bovo.- Plot :Two young newlyweds from a provincial town, Wanda and Ivan Cavalli , arrive in Rome for their honeymoon...

with forty minutes of newly discovered footage.

In competition

International competition of full-length films running for Golden Lion

Golden Lion

Il Leone d’Oro is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most distinguished prizes...

 for best picture are:

• Achilles and the Tortoise
  Achilles and the Tortoise (film)
  is a 2008 Japanese film written, directed, edited by Takeshi Kitano. The film is the third and final part of Kitano's surrealist autobiographical trilogy, starting with Takeshis and continuing with Glory to the Filmmaker!....
  
  by Takeshi Kitano
  Takeshi Kitano
  is a Japanese filmmaker, comedian, singer, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, painter, and one-time video game designer who has received critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his highly idiosyncratic cinematic work. The famed Japanese film critic...
  
   (Japan)
• L’Autre by Patrick Mario Bernard, Pierre Trividic (France)
• Birdwatchers
  BirdWatchers (film)
  BirdWatchers is a 2008 film drama set in Brazil directed by Marco Bechis. It depicts the breakdown of a community of Guarani-Kaiowa native Indians whilst attempting to reclaim their ancestral land from a local farmer....
  
  by Marco Bechis
  Marco Bechis
  Marco Bechis is a Chilean-Italian film screenwriter and director. His film Garage Olimpo was screened at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section.-Selected filmography:* Alambrado...
  
   (Italy)
• The Burning Plain
  The Burning Plain
  The Burning Plain is a 2008 drama film directed and written by Guillermo Arriaga, the screenwriter of Amores perros , 21 Grams , and Babel . The film stars Charlize Theron, Jennifer Lawrence, Kim Basinger and Joaquim de Almeida...
  
  by Guillermo Arriaga
  Guillermo Arriaga
  Guillermo Arriaga Jordán is a Mexican author, screenwriter, director and producer. Self-defined as “a hunter who works as a writer,” he authored Amores Perros, received a BAFTA Best Screenplay nomination for 21 Grams, and received the 2005 Cannes Best Screenplay Award for The Three Burials of...
  
   (U.S.)
• The Hurt Locker
  The Hurt Locker
  The Hurt Locker is a 2009 American war film about a three-man United States Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team during the Iraq War. The film was directed by Kathryn Bigelow and the screenplay was written by Mark Boal, a freelance writer who was embedded as a journalist in 2004 with a US bomb...
  
  by Kathryn Bigelow
  Kathryn Bigelow
  Kathryn Ann Bigelow is an American film director. Her best-known films are the cult horror film Near Dark , the surfer/bank robbery action picture Point Break , the science fiction/film noir Strange Days , the historical/mystery film The Weight of Water and the war drama The Hurt Locker...
  
   (U.S.)
• Inju: The Beast in the Shadow
  Inju: The Beast in the Shadow
  Inju: The Beast in the Shadow is a 2008 film by Barbet Schroeder based on a 1928 novel by Japanese writer Edogawa Rampo...
  
  by Barbet Schroeder
  Barbet Schroeder
  Barbet Schroeder is a Franco-Swiss movie director and producer who started his career in French cinema in the 1960s, working together with directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Jacques Rivette.-Life and career:...
  
   (France)
• Inland by Tariq Teguia (Algeria, France)
• Jerichow
  Jerichow (film)
  Jerichow is a 2008 German drama film directed by Christian Petzold. The film was invited into the competition of the 65th Venice Film Festival and was also nominated for the 2009 German Film Prize in the Best Feature Film and Best Director categories.The official German premiere was on 8 January...
  
  by Christian Petzold
  Christian Petzold
  Christian Petzold was a German composer and organist. He was active primarily in Dresden, and achieved a high reputation during his lifetime, but his surviving works are few...
  
   (Germany)
• Nuit de Chien by Werner Schroeter
  Werner Schroeter
  Werner Schroeter was a German film director and screenwriter, who some consider among the most important German writer-directors of the post-war period.-Biography:...
  
   (France, Germany, Portugal)
• Giovanna's Father
  Giovanna's Father
  Giovanna's Father is a 2008 Italian drama film directed by Pupi Avati.- Plot :In Bologna in the late '30s, Michele Casali teaches design at the same institute where his daughter Giovanna studies. Michele is a loving father but overprotective...
  
  by Pupi Avati
  Pupi Avati
  Giuseppe Avati, better known as Pupi Avati is an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter.-Early life and career:...
  
   (Italy)
• Paper Soldier by Aleksei German
  Aleksei German
  Aleksei Yuryevich German is a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, most active as a director and screenwriter. His last name is pronounced with a hard "g" and in English is frequently spelled Guerman or Gherman to avoid confusion.Almost all of German's films have been set during the Stalin era and have...
  
   (Russia)
• Perfect Day
  Perfect Day
  "Perfect Day" is a song written by Lou Reed in 1972, originally featured on Transformer, Reed's second post-Velvet Underground solo album. Its fame was given a boost in the 1990s when it was featured in the 1996 film Trainspotting, and after its release as a star-studded BBC charity single in...
  
  by Ferzan Ozpetek
  Ferzan Özpetek
  Ferzan Özpetek is an Italian-Turkish film director and screenwriter, residing in Italy.- Biography :Ferzan Ozpetek was born in Istanbul in 1959. When he was a young student in 1976, he decided to move to Italy to study Cinema History at Sapienza University of Rome...
  
   (Italy)
• Plastic City
  Plastic City
  Plastic City, a German record label located in Mannheim, releases since 1993 various artists and DJs in tech house f.ex. The Timewriter and Terry Lee Brown Junior, Marshall Jefferson, AWeX , Steve Poindexter, Kriss Dior aka Bassface Sascha, David Alvarado, Andry Nalin , Alexi Delano und G-Pal....
  
  by Yu Lik-wai
  Yu Lik-wai
  Yu Lik-wai is a Hong Kong cinematographer, film director, and occasional film producer. Born in Hong Kong, Yu was educated at Belgium's INSAS where he graduated with a degree in cinematography in 1994...
  
   (Brazil, China, Hong Kong/China, Japan)
• Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
  Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
  , initially titled in English as Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, is a 2008 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli. It is Miyazaki's eighth film for Ghibli, and his tenth overall...
  
  by Hayao Miyazaki
  Hayao Miyazaki
  is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...
  
   (Japan)
• Rachel Getting Married
  Rachel Getting Married
  Rachel Getting Married is a 2008 drama film directed by Jonathan Demme, and starring Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin and Debra Winger. The film was released in the U.S. to select theaters on October 3, 2008. The film opened the 65th Venice International Film Festival. The film also...
  
  by Jonathan Demme
  Jonathan Demme
  Robert Jonathan Demme is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. Best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs, which won him the Academy Award for Best Director, he has also directed the acclaimed movies Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married, the Talking Heads concert movie Stop...
  
   (U.S.)
• Il seme della discordia
  Il seme della discordia
  Il seme della discordia is a Golden Lion-nominated 2008 Italian film.The film is a modernisation of Heinrich von Kleist's novel The Marquise of O.- Plot :...
  
  by Pappi Corsicato (Italy)
• The Sky Crawlers
  The Sky Crawlers
  is a Japanese novel series by Hiroshi Mori. First published by Chuōkōron-shinsha in June 2001 and spanning five books, it follows the journeys and tribulations of a group of young fighter pilots involved in dogfight warfare, and is set during an alternate historical period. The series is unlike...
  
  by Mamoru Oshii
  Mamoru Oshii
  Mamoru Oshii is a Japanese filmmaker, television director, and writer. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of popular anime, including Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, Ghost in the Shell, and Patlabor 2...
  
   (Japan)
• Süt
  SUT
  SUT may refer to:* System Under Test in the context of software testing* Sport Utility Truck, essentially an SUV with a truck bed* Sport Utility Tractor, a light truck similar to a semi-truck, but smaller...
  
  by Semih Kaplanoglu
  Semih Kaplanoglu
  Semih Kaplanoğlu is a Turkish playwright, film director and producer.-Career:He graduated from the Cinema and Television Section of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Dokuz Eylül University in his hometown...
  
   (Turkey, France, Germany)
• Teza
  Teza (film)
  Teza is a 2008 Ethiopian drama film about the Derg period in Ethiopia. Teza won the top award at the 2009 Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou. The film was directed and written by Haile Gerima.-Synopsis:...
  
  by Haile Gerima
  Haile Gerima
  Haile Gerima is an Ethiopian filmmaker, who resides in the United States. He is a leading member of the L.A. Rebellion film movement, also known as the Los Angeles School of Black Filmmakers. His films have received wide international acclaim. Gerima has also been an influential film professor at...
  
   (Ethiopia, Germany, France)
• Vegas: Based on a True Story by Amir Naderi
  Amir Naderi
  Amir Naderi is a notable Iranian film director, screenwriter and one of the most influential figures of 20th-century Persian cinema. Mr Naderi is currently in Japan working on CUT, his new feature film, starring Hidetoshi Nishijima and Takako Tokiwa, due to be released in 2011.Naderi developed his...
  
   (U.S.)
• The Wrestler
  The Wrestler (2009 film)
  The Wrestler is a 2008 sports drama film directed by Darren Aronofsky, written by Robert D. Siegel and starring Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood. Production began in January 2008 and Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired rights to distribute the film in the U.S.; it was released in a...
  
  by Darren Aronofsky
  Darren Aronofsky
  Darren Aronofsky is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. He attended Harvard University to study film theory and the American Film Institute to study both live-action and animation filmmaking...
  
   (U.S., France)

Out of competition

New works by directors who have been honored in past festivals, as well as movies shown in the midnight time band.

• 35 Rhums by Claire Denis
  Claire Denis
  Claire Denis is a French film director and Professor of Film at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.-Early life:...
  
   (France, Spain)
• Burn After Reading
  Burn After Reading
  Burn After Reading is a 2008 black comedy film written, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. The film stars George Clooney, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Brad Pitt. It was released in the United States on September 12, 2008, and it was released on October 17, 2008...
  
  by Joel and Ethan Coen (U.S.)
• Encarnação do demônio by Jose Mojica Marins (Brazil)
• Goodbye Solo
  Goodbye Solo
  Goodbye Solo is a 2008 American independent film written and directed by Ramin Bahrani. It premiered as an official selection of the 2008 Venice Film Festival where it won the international film critic's FIPRESCI award for best film, and later had its North American premiere at the 2008 Toronto...
  
  by Ramin Bahrani
  Ramin Bahrani
  Ramin Bahrani is an American director and screenwriter. Film critic Roger Ebert listed Bahrani's film Chop Shop as the 6th best film of the decade and hailed Bahrani as "the director of the decade." Bahrani was the recipient of the prestigious 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship, and was the subject of...
  
   (U.S.)
• Jay
  Jay
  The jays are several species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the crow family Corvidae. The names jay and magpie are somewhat interchangeable, and the evolutionary relationships are rather complex...
  
  by Francis Xavier Pasion (Philippines)
• Un lac by Philippe Grandrieux
  Philippe Grandrieux
  Philippe Jesus Grandrieux is a French film director born in 1954.- Biography :He studied movies at the INSAS in Brussels and started his career as a moviemaker by shooting fictional films and documentaries. Grandrieux then worked as an experimental filmmaker in Belgium where he exhibited his...
  
   (France)
• Pa-ra-da by Marco Pontecorvo (Italy/France/Romania)
• Parc
  Parc (film)
  Parc is a 2008 French drama film directed by Arnaud des Pallières. The film is based on John Cheever's 1969 novel, Bullet Park. The film stars Sergi López, Jean-Marc Barr and Geraldine Chaplin...
  
  by Arnaud Des Pallieres (France)
• Les Plages d’Agnes by Agnes Varda
  Agnès Varda
  Agnès Varda is a French film director and professor at the European Graduate School. Her movies, photographs, and art installations focus on documentary realism, feminist issues, and social commentary — with a distinct experimental style....
  
   (France)
• Il primo giorno d'inverno by Mirko Locatelli (Italy)
• Puccini e la fanciulla by Paolo Benvenuti and Paola Baroni (Italy)
• Shirin
  Shirin
  Shirin was a wife of the Sassanid Persian Shahanshah , Khosrau II. In the revolution after the death of Khosrau's father Hormizd IV, the General Bahram Chobin took power over the Persian empire. Shirin fled with Khosrau to Syria where they lived under the protection of Byzantine emperor Maurice...
  
  by Abbas Kiarostami
  Abbas Kiarostami
  Abbas Kiarostami is an internationally acclaimed Iranian film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer. An active filmmaker since 1970, Kiarostami has been involved in over forty films, including shorts and documentaries...
  
   (Iran)
• Tutto e musica by Domenico Modugno
  Domenico Modugno
  Domenico Modugno was an Italian singer, songwriter, actor, and later in life, a member of the Italian Parliament. He is known for his 1958 international hit song "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu "...
  
   (Italy)
• Vinyan
  Vinyan
  Vinyan is a 2008 drama film with horror themes directed and co-written by Fabrice du Welz. The film was du Welz' second as a director. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival on 30 August 2008....
  
  by Fabrice Du Welz
  Fabrice Du Welz
  Fabrice Du Welz is a Belgian film director and screenwriter.- Biography :Du Welz studied at the Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Liège and at INSAS, a film school in Brussels. In the 90's he directed many films in Super 8 and wrote humorous sequences for Canal +...
  
   (France, U.K., Belgium)
• Volare by Piero Tellini (Italy)
• Voy a explotar by Gerardo Naranjo (Mexico)
• Wild Field by Mikhail Kalatozov
  Mikhail Kalatozov
  Mikhail Kalatozov born Mikheil Kalatozishvili was a Georgian/Russian film director. Born in Tiflis , he studied economics before starting his film career as an actor and later cinematographer....
  
   (Russia)
• Yuppi du
  Yuppi du
  Yuppi du is a 1975 Italian comedy film directed by Adriano Celentano. It was entered into the 1975 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Claudia Mori - Adelaide* Charlotte Rampling - Silvia* Gino Santercole - Napoleone* Adriano Celentano - Felice Della Pietà...
  
  by Adriano Celentano
  Adriano Celentano
  Adriano Celentano is an Italian singer, songwriter, comedian, actor, film director and TV host.-Biography:Celentano was born in Milan at 14 Via Gluck, about which he later wrote the famous song "Il ragazzo della via Gluck"...
  
   (Italy)
• Zero Bridge by Tariq Tapa (India/US)

Critics Week (In Competition)

• L'apprenti by Samuel Collardey  (France)
• Čuvari noći by Namik Kabil (Bosnia)
• Huanggua by Zhou Yaowu (China)
• Iki Cizgi by Selim Evci (Turkey)
• Kabuli Kid by Barmak Akram (France/Afghanistan)
• Mid-August Lunch by Gianni Di Gregorio (Italy)
• Sell Out! Sell Out! by Yeo Joonhan (Malaysia)

Critics Week (Out of Competition/Closing Film)

• Pinuccio Lovero - Sogno di una morte di mezza estate by Pippo Mezzapesa (Italy)

Venice Days (Giornate Degli Autori)

• Un altro pianeta by Stefano Tummolini (Italy)
• Broken Lines by Sallie Aprahamian (UK)
• Machan by Uberto Pasolini
  Uberto Pasolini
  Uberto Pasolini Dall'Onda is an Italian film producer, director, and former investment banker known for producing the 1997 film The Full Monty and directing and producing the 2008 film Machan.-Career:...
  
   (Italy/Germany)
• Muukalainen by Jukka-Pekka Valkeapaeae (Finland)
• (N)iemand by Patrice Toye (Belgium)
• Pescuit sportiv by Adrian Sitaru
  Adrian Sitaru
  Adrian Sitaru is a Romanian director, producer and actor, born in 1971. He is the author of several short films, of which Valuri , the most well-known, has received numerous prizes....
  
   (Romania)
• Pokrajina št. 2 by Vinko Möderndorfer (Slovenia)
• Rysa by Michał Rosa (Poland)
• Una semana solos by Celina Murga (Argentina)
• Stella
  Stella (2008 film)
  - Plot :Paris, 1977. Eleven year old Stella knows poker better than grammar when she starts the year at a prestigious new school. There, she discovers the possibilities of a whole new world outside her parents' bar.- Cast :* Léora Barbara - Stella...
  
  by Sylvie Verheyde (France)
• Venkovský učitel by Bohdan Sláma
  Bohdan Sláma
  Bohdan Sláma is a Czech film director. He studied at the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague .- Filmography :* 2008 – Venkovský učitel...
  
   (Czech Republic)

Venice Days (Giornate Degli Autori) Documentaries

• Che saccio - Directed by Camille d'Arcimoles (Italy)
• - Directed by Silvio Soldini
  Silvio Soldini
  Silvio Soldini is an Italian film director.Soldini has received 11 awards in his career as of June 2007 and 14 nominations.-Filmography:*Drimage *Paesaggio con figure *Giulia in ottobre...
  
   (Italy)
• Il Passato e' il mio bastone - Directed by Flavia Mastrella and Antonio Rezza (Italy)

Short Films

• Cry Me a River
  Cry Me a River (film)
  Cry Me a River is a 2008 short film directed by Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke. The film is a romance based around the reunion of four college friends and lovers after ten years. The leads are played by Jia regulars Zhao Tao and Wang Hongwei, and Hao Lei and Guo Xiaodong, who starred together in Lou...
  
  - Directed by Jia Zhangke
  Jia Zhangke
  Jia Zhangke is a Chinese film director. He is generally regarded as a leading figure of the "Sixth Generation" movement of Chinese cinema, a group that also includes such figures as Wang Xiaoshuai and Zhang Yuan....
  
   (China, Spain, France)
• Eve
  Eve (film)
  Eve is a short film directed by Natalie Portman, starring Olivia Thirlby, Lauren Bacall and Ben Gazzara. The film, Portman's directorial debut, premiered at the 65th Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2008 in Venice, Italy; Portman attended the premiere...
  
  - Directed by Natalie Portman
  Natalie Portman
  Natalie Hershlag , better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film Léon, but major success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel...
  
   (U.S.)
• Vicino al Colosseo...c’e Monti - Directed by Mario Monicelli
  Mario Monicelli
  Mario Monicelli was an Italian director and screenwriter and one of the masters of the Commedia all'Italiana , three times nominated for Oscar.-Biography:...
  
   (Italy)
• Do Visivel ao Invisivel - Directed by Manoel de Oliveira
  Manoel de Oliveira
  Manoel Cândido Pinto de Oliveira, GCSE is a Portuguese film director born in Cedofeita, Porto. He began working on films in the late 1920s, but did not receive international recognition until the early 1970s. Since the late 1980s he has been one of the most prolific working film directors and...
  
   (Brazil, Portugal)

Orizzonti (New Horizons)

New trends of cinema

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 with full-length films in 35mm and digital

Digital

A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...

 format, and documentary

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

-movies.

• Antonioni su Antonioni - Directed by Carlo Di Carlo (Italy)
• Below Sea Level - Directed by Gianfranco Rosi
  Gianfranco Rosi
  Gianfranco Rosi was an Italian boxer at middleweight.- Professional career :Rosi turned pro in 1979 and won the WBC Light Middleweight Title in 1987 by decisioning Lupe Aquino. He lost the belt in 1988 when he was dominated by Donald Curry...
  
   (Italy/US)
• A Erva do Rato - Directed by Julio Bressane & Rosa Dias (Brazil)
• L'Exil et le royaume - Directed by Andrei Schtakleff & Jonathan Le Fourn (France)
• La fabbrica dei tedeschi - Directed by Mimmo Calopresti (Italy)
• Los Herederos - Directed by Eugenio Polgovsky (Mexico)
• Melancholia
  Melancholia (2008 film)
  Melancholia is a 2008 Philippine film directed by Lav Diaz. It won the Horizons prize at the 65th Venice International Film Festival.-Cast:* Angeli Bayani as Alberta Munoz / Jenine* Perry Dizon as Julian Tomas / pimp* Roeder as Renato Munoz...
  
  - Directed by Lav Diaz
  Lav Diaz
  Lav Diaz or Lavrente Indico Diaz is a Filipino independent filmmaker, born in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao, Mindanao, Philippines, on December 30, 1958....
  
   (Philippines)
• In Paraguay - Directed by Ross McElwee
  Ross McElwee
  Ross McElwee is an American documentary filmmaker and cinematographer, and Harvard professor, known for his autobiographical films about his family and personal life, usually interwoven with an episodic journey of some sort. Many cultural aspects of his southern upbringing are present in his...
  
   (U.S.)
• Puisque nous sommes nes - Directed by Jean-Pierre Duret & Andrea Santana (France/Brazil)
• Soltanto un nome nei titoli di testa - Directed by Daniele Di Biasio (Italy)
• ThyssenKrupp Blues - Directed by Pietro Balla & Monica Repetto (Italy)
• Valentino: The Last Emperor
  Valentino: The Last Emperor
  Valentino: The Last Emperor is a documentary film about the life of Valentino Garavani. It was produced and directed by Matt Tyrnauer, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine. The film is an exploration of the singular world of one of Italy's most famous men, Valentino Garavani...
  
  (documentary) - Directed by Matt Tyrnauer (U.S.)
• Venezia '68 (documentary) - Directed by Antonello Sarno, Steve Della Casa (Italy)
• Verso Est - Directed by Laura Angiulli (Italy/Bosnia)
• Wo men - Directed by Huang Wenhai (China/Switzerland)
• Z32 - Directed by Avi Mograbi
  Avi Mograbi
  Avi Mograbi is an Israeli documentary filmmaker. His films are often experimental in form and are highly critical of Israel's treatment of the Palestinian people....
  
   (Israel/France)
• Khastegi
  Khastegi
  Khastegi is a 2008 Iranian independent film written and directed by Bahman Motamedian and produced in Iran...
  
   - Directed by Bahman Motamedian
  Bahman Motamedian
  Bahman Motamedian is an Iranian film maker, photographer, writer and script writer. He was born in Tehran, Iran. Motamedian belongs to the so called "new wave" of Iranian cinema....
  
   (Iran)

Jury

The international juries of the 65th Venice International Film Festival were composed as follows:

Official Competition Jury

• Wim Wenders
  Wim Wenders
  Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders is a German film director, playwright, author, photographer and producer.-Early life:Wenders was born in Düsseldorf. He graduated from high school in Oberhausen in the Ruhr area. He then studied medicine and philosophy in Freiburg and Düsseldorf...
  
   - Jury President
• Juriy Arabov - Jurist
• Valeria Golino
  Valeria Golino
  Valeria Golino is an Italian-Greek film and television actress. She is best known to English language audiences for the 1988 film Rain Man, and the Hot Shots! films...
  
   - Jurist
• Douglas Gordon
  Douglas Gordon
  Douglas Gordon is a Scottish artist; he won the Turner Prize in 1996 and the following year he represented Britain at the Venice Biennale...
  
   - Jurist
• John Landis
  John Landis
  John David Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer. He is known for his comedies, his horror films, and his music videos with singer Michael Jackson.-Early life and career:...
  
   - Jurist
• Lucrecia Martel
  Lucrecia Martel
  Lucrecia Martel is a film director, screenplay writer, and producer.According to film critic Joel Poblete, who writes for Mabuse, a cinema magazine, Lucrecia Martel is one of the members of the so-called "New Argentina Cinema" which began c...
  
   - Jurist
• Johnnie To
  Johnnie To
  Johnnie To Kei-Fung, born 22 April 1955, is a Hong Kong film director and producer. Popular in his native Hong Kong, To has also found acclaim overseas...
  
   - Jurist

Orizzonti / Horizons Jury

• Chantal Akerman
  Chantal Akerman
  Chantal Anne Akerman is a Belgian film director, artist, and professor of film at the European Graduate School. Akerman's best-known film, Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles , exemplifies a dedication to the ellipses of conventional narrative cinema.-Early life:Akerman was born to...
  
   - Jury President
• Nicole Brenez - Jurist
• Barbara Cupisti
  Barbara Cupisti
  Barbara Cupisti used to be an Italian television and film actress who is well known outside of her native country by Horror fans. They will most likely recognize her from her films with director Michele Soavi.Since 2002 she started to direct....
  
   - Jurist
• Jose' Luis Guerin - Jurist
• Veiko Õunpuu - Jurist

Premio Luigi De Laurentiis for Best Debut Feature Jury

• Abdellatif Kechiche - Jury President
• Alice Braga
  Alice Braga
  Alice Braga Moraes is a Brazilian actress. She has appeared in several Brazilian films, most notably as Angélica in 2002's highly acclaimed City of God and as Karina in 2005's Lower City...
  
   - Jurist
• Gregory Jacobs - Jurist
• Donald Ranvaud
  Donald Ranvaud
  Donald Ranvaud is a British film producer and film journalist.He has had producing roles on a number of Oscar-nominated films including The Constant Gardener , City of God , Central Station and Farewell My Concubine...
  
   - Jurist
• Heidrun Schleef - Jurist

Venezia 65

• Leone d'Oro (Golden Lion) for the best film: The Wrestler by Darren Aronofsky
• Leone d'Argento (Silver Lion) for the best director: Aleksey German Jr. for Bumažnyj Soldat (Paper Soldier)
• Special Jury Prize: Teza by Haile Gerima
• Coppa Volpi for the best actor: Silvio Orlando, for Il papà di Giovanna
• Coppa Volpi for the best actress: Dominique Blanc, for L'autre
• Premio Marcello Mastroianni, for the best emerging actor or actress: Jennifer Lawrence for Burning Plain
• Osella for Best Cinematography: Alisher Khamidhodjaev and Maxim Drozdov for Bumažnyj Soldat (Paper Soldier)
• Osella for Best Screenplay: Haile Gerima for Teza
• Special Lion for Overall Work: Werner Schroeter

• "Luigi de Laurentis" Award for a Debut Film: Mid-August Lunch by Gianni Di Gregorio

Horizons - 'Premio orrizonti'

• Premio Orizzonti (Orizzonti prize): Melancholia
  Melancholia (2008 film)
  Melancholia is a 2008 Philippine film directed by Lav Diaz. It won the Horizons prize at the 65th Venice International Film Festival.-Cast:* Angeli Bayani as Alberta Munoz / Jenine* Perry Dizon as Julian Tomas / pimp* Roeder as Renato Munoz...
  
  by Lav Diaz (Philippines)
• Premio Orizzonti Doc: Below Sea Level by Gianfranco Rosi
  Gianfranco Rosi
  Gianfranco Rosi was an Italian boxer at middleweight.- Professional career :Rosi turned pro in 1979 and won the WBC Light Middleweight Title in 1987 by decisioning Lupe Aquino. He lost the belt in 1988 when he was dominated by Donald Curry...
  
  
  • Special mention to: Un Lac by Philippe Grandrieux
  • Special mention to: Wo men (We) by Huang Wenhai

Short Films (Corto Cortissimo)

• Golden Lion for Best Short: Tierra y Pan by Carlos Armella
  • Special mention: Vacsora by Karchi Perlmann
  • U.I.P. Award for Best European Short: De onbaatzuchtigen by Koen Dejaegher

FIPRESCI Award

• Best Film Venezia 65: Gabbla (Inland) by Tariq Teguia
• FIPRESCI Award Best Film Horizons and International Critics' Week: Goodbye Solo by Ramin Bahrani

SIGNIS Award

• The Hurt Locker by Kathryn Bigelow
  • special mention to Vegas: Based on a True Story by Amir Naderi
  • special mention to Teza by Haile Gerima

Francesco Pasinetti (SNGCI) Award

• Best Film: Mid-August Lunch by Gianni Di Gregorio
  • Special mention to Pa-ra-da by Marco Pontecorvo
• Best Male Actor: Silvio Orlando for Il papà di Giovanna
• Best Female Actor: Isabella Ferrari for Un giorno perfetto

Doc/it Award – Sicilia Film Commission

• Below Sea Level by Gianfranco Rosi
  • special mention to L’Apprenti by Samuel Collardey

Leoncino d'oro Award 2008 (Agiscuola)

• Il papà di Giovanna by Pupi Avati
• Cinema for UNICEF commendation: Teza by Haile Gerima

C.I.C.T. UNESCO Enrico Fulchignoni Award

• BirdWatchers
  BirdWatchers (film)
  BirdWatchers is a 2008 film drama set in Brazil directed by Marco Bechis. It depicts the breakdown of a community of Guarani-Kaiowa native Indians whilst attempting to reclaim their ancestral land from a local farmer....
  
  – La terra degli uomini rossi by Marco Bechis

Don Gnocchi Award

• Pa-ra-da by Marco Pontecorvo
  • special mention to Ezio Greggio for Il papà di Giovanna

Future Film Festival Digital Award

• The Sky Crawlers by Mamoru Oshii
  • special mention to Gake no ue no Ponyo (Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea) by Hayao Miyazaki

CinemAvvenire

• Best Film in Competition: Vegas: Based on a True Story by Amir Naderi
• "The circle is not round. Cinema for peace and the richness of diversity" Award: Teza by Haile Gerima

Bastone Bianco Award (Filmcritica)

• Akires to kame (Achilles and the Tortoise) by Takeshi Kitano

Arca Cinemagiovani Award

• Best Film Venezia 65: The Hurt Locker by Kathryn Bigelow
• Best Italian Film: Pranzo di Ferragosto by Gianni Di Gregorio
• "Altre Visioni" Award: Sell Out! by Yeo Joon Han

Mimmo Rotella Foundation Award for a film which shows a firm connection with the arts

• Gake no ue no Ponyo (Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea) by Hayao Miyazaki

External links