The Venice film festival will celebrate its 75th birthday this year with a star-packed lineup and top directors like Kenneth Branagh, Brian De Palma, Ken Loach, Peter Greenaway and Ang Lee vying for its top prize.
U.S. and British films dominate the program of the world's oldest movie contest, totaling 11 titles out of the 22 films -- all world premieres -- in the main competition.
"We wanted to show that there is an Anglo-Saxon cinema that is different from the mainstream one," Marco Mueller, the festival's director, told reporters as he unveiled the program on Thursday.
"Our main criterion was originality, and we found that British and U.S. films still manage to offer something new and dare more than others. What I find extraordinary is that the films in the lineup are incredibly innovative and yet full of stars," he said.
Among the nine U.S. productions hoping to win the coveted Golden Lion award are De Palma's "Redacted," Paul Haggis's "The Valley of Elah" and Branagh's "Sleuth."
Joe Wright's "Atonement," based on British author Ian McEwan's acclaimed novel, will open the festival. Ang Lee, whose gay cowboy film "Brokeback Mountain" won Venice's top prize in 2005, returns to the Lido with "Lust, Caution."
British films in the main contest include Greenaway's "Nightwatching" and Loach's "It's a Free World...." Three Italian movies from lesser known, emerging filmmakers are also vying for the Golden Lion as is France's Eric Rohmer.
Outside the competition, Woody Allen's "Cassandra's Dream" , Claude Chabrol's "La Fille Coupee en Deux" and Takeshi Kitano's "Glory to the Filmmaker!" are among the most eagerly awaited titles.
RED CARPET
Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Richard Gere, Cate Blanchett, Vanessa Redgrave, Scarlett Johansson, Charlize Theron and Susan Sarandon are some of the celebrities who could hit the red carpet during the festival, which runs from August 29 to September 8 and will screen a total of 57 films.
As far as big names go, the lineup is one of the most impressive to hit the Lido in recent years.
Organizers of the festival, who have been dogged by logistical problems and reacted nervously when a rival film contest was launched in Rome last year, said the quality of the selection showed Venice had a bright future ahead.
"It just means that big directors and big producers trust us," said Mueller, who will end his four-year stint at the helm of the venerable Mostra del Cinema after this year's edition.
Davide Croff, director of the Biennale art foundation that oversees the Venice festival, said the Lido competition was now "better organized, better loved and more authoritative both at home and abroad."
He also said that a long-delayed project, the building of a new Palazzo del Cinema that should replace the Lido's ageing, moldy theatres, had found financial backing and should be completed in two or three years.
By Yahoo
U.S. and British films dominate the program of the world's oldest movie contest, totaling 11 titles out of the 22 films -- all world premieres -- in the main competition.
"We wanted to show that there is an Anglo-Saxon cinema that is different from the mainstream one," Marco Mueller, the festival's director, told reporters as he unveiled the program on Thursday.
"Our main criterion was originality, and we found that British and U.S. films still manage to offer something new and dare more than others. What I find extraordinary is that the films in the lineup are incredibly innovative and yet full of stars," he said.
Among the nine U.S. productions hoping to win the coveted Golden Lion award are De Palma's "Redacted," Paul Haggis's "The Valley of Elah" and Branagh's "Sleuth."
Joe Wright's "Atonement," based on British author Ian McEwan's acclaimed novel, will open the festival. Ang Lee, whose gay cowboy film "Brokeback Mountain" won Venice's top prize in 2005, returns to the Lido with "Lust, Caution."
British films in the main contest include Greenaway's "Nightwatching" and Loach's "It's a Free World...." Three Italian movies from lesser known, emerging filmmakers are also vying for the Golden Lion as is France's Eric Rohmer.
Outside the competition, Woody Allen's "Cassandra's Dream" , Claude Chabrol's "La Fille Coupee en Deux" and Takeshi Kitano's "Glory to the Filmmaker!" are among the most eagerly awaited titles.
RED CARPET
Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Richard Gere, Cate Blanchett, Vanessa Redgrave, Scarlett Johansson, Charlize Theron and Susan Sarandon are some of the celebrities who could hit the red carpet during the festival, which runs from August 29 to September 8 and will screen a total of 57 films.
As far as big names go, the lineup is one of the most impressive to hit the Lido in recent years.
Organizers of the festival, who have been dogged by logistical problems and reacted nervously when a rival film contest was launched in Rome last year, said the quality of the selection showed Venice had a bright future ahead.
"It just means that big directors and big producers trust us," said Mueller, who will end his four-year stint at the helm of the venerable Mostra del Cinema after this year's edition.
Davide Croff, director of the Biennale art foundation that oversees the Venice festival, said the Lido competition was now "better organized, better loved and more authoritative both at home and abroad."
He also said that a long-delayed project, the building of a new Palazzo del Cinema that should replace the Lido's ageing, moldy theatres, had found financial backing and should be completed in two or three years.
By Yahoo
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