Venice 2013

[Jeff]

Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity will be opening the festival this year.

[Salt The Fries]

William Friedkin is set to receive Golden Lion for lifetime achievement, and a new, digitally restored print of his film-maudit 'Sorcerer' is to have its premiere there. But what can you tell me about the Venice festival? What is its place in film culture? Is it regarded highly? What about its vibe?

[htshell]

But what can you tell me about the Venice festival? What is its place in film culture? Is it regarded highly? What about its vibe?

Here.

[Stefan Andersson]

Restorations to be presented at the 2013 Biennale (source: Screen Daily):

VENEZIA CLASSICI – Restored films

Le mani sulla città (Hands Over the City)
by Francesco Rosi (Italy, 1963, 105’, B/W)
restoration: Csc – Cineteca Nazionale
(pre-opening film in Campo San Polo)

Paisà (Paisan)
by Roberto Rossellini (Italy, 1946, 134’, B/W)
restoration: Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, Csc – Cineteca Nazionale, Coproduction Office and Istituto Luce Cinecittà

Pane e cioccolata (Bread and Chocolate)
by Franco Brusati (Italy, 1973, 100’, Colour)
restoration: Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, Csc – Cineteca Nazionale and Lucky Red

Quién sabe? (A Bullet for the General)
by Damiano Damiani (Italy, 1966, 119’, Colour)
restoration: Csc – Cineteca Nazionale

Vaghe stelle dell’Orsa… (Sandra)
by Luchino Visconti (Italy, 1965, 105’, B/W)
restoration: Sony Pictures Entertainment in collaboration with the Historic Archives of the Contemporary Arts (ASAC)

La proprietà non è più un furto (Property Is No Longer a Theft)
by Elio Petri (Italy, 1973, 126’, Colour)
restoration: Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, Museo Nazionale del Cinema of Turin and Titanus

La bête humaine
by Jean Renoir (France, 1938, 100’, B/W)
restoration: Studiocanal

Providence
by Alain Resnais (France, 1977, 110’, Colour)
restoration: Jupiter Communications in collaboration with the director of photography Ricardo Aronovich

Chantal Akerman programme (total length 106’):

Hotel Monterey
by Chantal Akerman (Belgium, USA, 1972, 65’, Colour)
restoration: Cinematek in Brussels

Le 15 d’Août (The 15th of August)
by Chantal Akerman (Belgium, France, 1973, 41’, B/W)
restoration: Historic Archives of the Contemporary Arts (ASAC) in collaboration with Cinematek in Brussels

Il bacio di Tosca (Tosca’s Kiss)
by Daniel Schmid (Switzerland, 1984, 87’, Colour)
restoration: La Cinémathèque Suisse in collaboration with the director of photography Renato Berta

White Rock
by Tony Maylam (Great Britain, 1977, 76’, Colour)
restoration: International Olympic Committee, Lausanne

Furyo (Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence)
by Nagisa Oshima (United Kingdom, Japan, 1983, 123’, Colour)
restoration: Hanway Films

Sjećaš li se Dolly Bell (Do You Remember Dolly Bell?)
by Emir Kusturica (Yugoslavia, 1981, 107’, Colour)
restoration: Sarajevo Film Centre in collaboration with the Historic Archives of the Contemporary Arts (ASAC)

Moy Drug Ivan Lapshin (My Friend Ivan Lapshin)
by Aleksey Guerman Sr. (Urss, 1984, 100’, B/W)
restoration: Gosfilmofond, Boris and Ināra Teterev Foundation, Open World Fund

Satyajit Ray programme

Mahapurush (The Holy Man)
by Satyajit Ray (India, 1965, 65’, B/W)
restoration: RDB Organization

Kapurush (The Coward)
di Satyajit Ray (India, 1965, 69’, B/W)
restoration: RDB Organization

Nidhanaya (The Treasure)
by Lester James Peries (Sri Lanka, 1973, 110’, B/W)
restoration: World Cinema Foundation

Yangguang Canlan de Rizi (In the Heat of the Sun)
by Jiang Wen (China, Hong Kong, 1993, 140’, Colour)
restoration: Orange Sky, Golden Harvest Entertainment in collaboration with Jiang Wen

Tian mi mi (Comrades: Almost a Love Story)
by Peter Ho-sun Chan (Hong Kong, 1996, 118’, Colour)
restoration: We Pictures in collaboration with Warner Bros. Pictures and Peter Ho-sun Chan

Dogfar nai mae marn (Mysterious Object at Noon)
by Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand, 2000, 89’, B/W)
restoration: World Cinema Foundation, Austrian Film Museum

Higanbana (Equinox Flower)
by Yasujiro Ozu (Japan, 1958, 118’, Colour)
restoration: Shôchiku, Co. LTD

Yoru no henrin (The Shape of Night)
by Noboru Nakamura (Japan, 1964, 109’, Colour)
restoration: Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Arts Council Tokyo and Tokyo Culture Creation Project (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture), and TOKYO FILMeX Organizing Committee in collaboration with Shôchiku, Co. LTD

Let’s Get Lost
by Bruce Weber (USA, 1988, 120’, B/W)
restoration: Little Bear Inc.

Little Fugitive
by Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin (USA, 1953, 80’, B/W)
restoration: RIPLEY’S FILM and Orkin and Engel Film and Photo Archive in collaboration with the Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Turin, the Historic Archives of the Contemporary Arts (ASAC) and Carlotta Films

My Darling Clementine
by John Ford (USA, 1946, 97’, B/W)
restoration: 20th Century Fox Film in collaboration with Cineric

Sorcerer
by William Friedkin (USA, 1977, 121’, Colour)
restoration: Warner Bros. Pictures

The Adventures of Hajji Baba
by Don Weis (USA, 1954, 94’, Colour)
restoration: 20th Century Fox Film in collaboration with Cineric

The Most Dangerous Game
by Irving Pichel, Ernest B. Schoedsack (USA, 1932, 63’, B/W)
restoration: Mk2, Lobster Films and L.E. Diapason

[andyli]

Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit! In the Heat of the Sun and Comrades: Almost a Love Story! Two of my most wanted titles finally restored! Good to know the directors are involved in both cases. There has never been a good DVD release for either of them!

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Competition lineup:

Es-Stouh (The Rooftops), Merzak Allouache (Algeria/France)
L'intrepido, Gianni Amelio (Italy)
Miss Violence, Alexandros Avranas (Greece)
Tracks, John Curran (UK/Australia)
Via Castellana Bandiera, Emma Dante (Italy/Switzerland/France)
Tom at the Farm, Xavier Dolan (Canada/France)
Child of God, James Franco (U.S.)
Philomena, Stephen Frears (UK)
La Jalousie, Philippe Garrel (France)
The Zero Theorem, Terry Gilliam (UK/U.S.)
Ana Arabia, Amos Gitai (Israel/France)
Under the Skin, Jonathan Glazer (UK/U.S.)
Joe, David Gordon Green (U.S.)
Die Frau des Polizisten (The Police Officer's Wife), Philip Gröning (Germany)
Kaze tachinu (The Wind Rises), Hayao Miyazaki (Japan)
The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld, Errol Morris (U.S.)
Night Moves, Kelly Reichardt (U.S.)
Sacro GRA, Gianfranco Rosi (Italy)
Jiaoyou (Stray Dogs), Tsai Ming-liang (Taiwan/France)

[repeat]

Jiaoyou (Stray Dogs), Tsai Ming-liang (Taiwan/France)

Well that came out of the blue didn't it Is this also / previously known as Diary of a Young Boy?

I hope those Providence and Ivan Lapshin restorations end up on DVD/BD eventually!

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

It's the same film. It was going to be at Cannes but he didn't finish editing in time. I get the impression the film is more about a family than a young boy specifically, so that might be why the title was changed. The boy himself is apparently played by Lee Kang-sheng's nephew, and Chen Shiang-chyi, Yang Kuei-mei and Lu Yi-ching are all playing the same character (?!). At least that's what I read last year, take it with a grain of salt...

[bdlover]

A lot of really exciting films in there - Miyazaki, Glazer, Reichardt, Schrader, Morris. And another American literary classic goes under James Franco's knife, this has rubbernecking appeal at least!

No sign of the McQueen again, I guess they're settling for Toronto - not even a Gala. With that cast, the film must have some serious problems or must otherwise be seriously misunderstood. The fascination increases...

[domino harvey]

No sign of the McQueen again, I guess they're settling for Toronto - not even a Gala. With that cast, the film must have some serious problems or must otherwise be seriously misunderstood. The fascination increases...

It really must be truly awful to keep getting passed over at these festivals. The trailer was well-received, but if there can be bad trailers for good films, the inverse is also true!

[rohmerin]

Elio Petri's La proprietà non è più un furto, finally back Amazing (almost) masterpiece.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Out of competition:
Gravity, Alfonso Cuarón (U.S.) - opening film
Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Shinji Aramaki (Japan)
Summer 82 When Zappa Came to Sicily, Salvo Cuccia (Italy/U.S.)
Pine Ridge, Anna Eborn (Denmark)
The Armstrong Lie, Alex Gibney (U.S.)
Ukraina ne Bordel (Ukraine Is Not a Brothel), Kitty Green (Australia)
Moebius, Kim Ki-duk (South Korea)
Locke, Steven Knight (UK)
Yurusarezaru mono (Unforgiven), Lee Sang-il (Japan)
Wolf Creek 2, Greg McLean (Australia)
Die andere Heimat: Chronik einer Sehnsucht (Home from Home: Chronicle of a Vision), Edgar Reitz (Germany)
The Canyons, Paul Schrader (U.S.)
Che strano chiamarsi Federico: Scola racconta Fellini, Ettore Scola (Italy)
Wałęsa. Człowiek z nadziei (Walesa, Man of Hope), Andrzej Wajda & Ewa Brodzka (Poland)
Feng Ai ('Til Madness Do Us Part), Wang Bing (Hong Kong/France/Japan)
At Berkeley, Frederick Wiseman (U.S.)
Amazonia, Thierry Ragobert (France/Brazil) - closing film

Orizzonti (Horizons):
Je m'appelle Hmmm..., Agnès B. (France)
Bauyr (Little Brother), Serik Aprymov (Kazakhstan)
Il terzo tempo, Enrico Maria Artale (Italy)
Eastern Boys, Robin Campillo (France)
Palo Alto, Gia Coppola (U.S.)
Ruin, Amiel Courtin-Wilson & Michael Cody (Australia)
Mahi va Gorbeh (Fish & Cat), Shahram Mokri (Iran)
Vi är bäst! (We Are the Best!), Lukas Moodysson (Sweden/Denmark)
Wolfskinder (Wolfschildren), Rick Ostermann (Germany)
La vida despues, David Pablos (Mexico)
Algunas chicas, Santiago Palavecino (Argentina)
Medeas, Andrea Pallaoro (U.S./Italy)
Still Life, Uberto Pasolini (UK)
Piccola Patria, Alessandro Rossetto (Italy)
La prima neve, Andrea Segre (Italy)
Jigoku de naze warui (Why Don't You Play in Hell?), Sion Sono (Japan)
The Sacrament, Ti West (U.S.)

Also, I left Parkland (Peter Landesman, U.S.) off the competition list, and there's at least one "surprise film" still to be announced. The full jury is still TBC, but the names Andrea Arnold, Martina Gedeck, Jiang Wen, Virginie Ledoyen, and Ryuichi Sakamoto are being thrown around.

[Jeff]

The Reichardt sounds fantastic.

Sounds like a great festival this year. Kelly Reichardt's Night Moves and David Gordon Green's Joe are getting especially good reviews.

[Jeff]

By all accounts, Stephen Frears is back on his game with Philomena.

[ianungstad]

You can't have a major festival without at least 1 film directed by James Franco that gets laughed at by critics. Child of God seems to be fitting the bill nicely.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

No sign of the McQueen again, I guess they're settling for Toronto - not even a Gala. With that cast, the film must have some serious problems or must otherwise be seriously misunderstood. The fascination increases...

It really must be truly awful to keep getting passed over at these festivals. The trailer was well-received, but if there can be bad trailers for good films, the inverse is also true!

We have a dedicated thread for the film now, but since this post is here, I'll post this belated reply here: This is all just internet hearsay, but a couple of weeks ago I posted on another site asking why this wasn't at Cannes or Venice, even though the MPAA rated it all the way back in early April. Someone replied that it wasn't at Cannes because the score and ADR weren't done (meaning the MPAA rated a version with an unfinished soundtrack). They didn't seem sure why it wasn't at Venice, but this Variety article—with some snappy remarks from festival head Alberto Barbera—suggests very strongly that Venice wanted it but couldn't seal the deal.

[bdlover]

Child of God has had mixed rather than bad reviews I think. Night Moves seems to be going down better with American critics, Under the Skin striking more of a chord with the British. Philomena is appealing more across the board. Can't rule out The Wind Rises.

Norweigan, the Variety article is also speculative, since Barbera is actually talking about Captain Phillips. If the film was ready to screen to the MPAA in April that would have given them at least a month to get the soundtrack in good enough shape for Cannes. I'm not convinced myself, although looking forward to making up my own mind about what looks to be quite an interesting film.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Barbera apparently didn't mention 12 Years by name, but note he complains about "these" "strategic mistakes," clearly implying there was more than one studio film they tried to get but couldn't. He's not just talking about Captain Phillips, even if that's the only one he named. As for Cannes, one month isn't necessarily a lot of time to complete a soundtrack if have to schedule ADR sessions around people like Pitt and Fassbender, or if someone like Hans Zimmer (with five films premiering between June and September) is doing your score. And Zimmer wasn't even announced as the composer until early May, suggesting he was a late hire.

[ianungstad]

Most of the reviews for Terry Gilliam's The Zero Theorem have been pretty mixed. Ti West's The Sacrament is getting lousy reviews.

[Oedipax]

Any word yet on Garrel's La jalousie?

Early word on Twitter seems quite positive for Wiseman's At Berkeley (not surprising, of course, but good to hear).

And is there any more detailed information on what Tsai has said about his retirement?

[ianungstad]

A lot of people seem to be upset that Steven Knight's Locke wasn't in competition as it's getting rave reviews.

[Jeff]

Justin Chang has got a great wrap-up in Variety.

[antnield]

Golden Lion: Sacro GRA (Gianfranco Rosi)
Silver Lion for Best Director: Alexandros Avranas (Miss Violence)
Grand Jury Prize: Stray Dogs
Best Actress: Elena Cotta (A Street In Palermo)
Best Actor: Themis Panou (Miss Violence)
Best Screenplay: Philomena
Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor: Tye Sheridan (Joe)
Special Jury Prize: The Police Officer's Wife

[Cronenfly]

A bit surprised the Tsai didn't take the top prize; Variety was not too enthused about the Rosi. Has a doc ever won the Golden Lion before?

[bdlover]

Think it's great they went for such a left-field winner, David beating numerous Goliaths.