“It is now established that the main function of a festival is to choose what we can and must see from among the huge blind mass of production”. Far from wishing to refute this claim, which may well be true, I feel I must add a few comments. Not marginal comments, however, if it is true that one of the reasons that led me to return to serving the Venice Film Festival, turns its gaze - in cross-eyed fashion - in a different direction. Nor am I referring to what's left of the f...

The Reluctant Fundamentalist, the new film directed by Mira Nair, will be the opening film at the 69th Venice International Film Festival (29 August – 8 September 2012), directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by la Biennale di Venezia chaired by Paolo Baratta. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is produced by Lydia Dean Pilcher and presented by Doha Film Institute. Based on the best-selling novel of the same title, translated into 25 languages, The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a...

  Eighty years ago, on the 6th of August 1932 at the Lido di Venezia, on the terrace of the Hotel Excelsior, the first international film festival in the world – conceived and organized by the Biennale di Venezia – was inaugurated. At 9:15 PM, on a screen set up outdoors for the occasion, under sporadic rain showers, it began with a showing of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde by Rouben Mamoulian. The screening was followed by a grand ball in the Excelsior ballroom. “Stemming di...

American filmmaker Spike Lee is the winner of the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker 2012 award of the Venice International Film Festival   The Biennale di Venezia and Jaeger-LeCoultre announce that the great American director, screenwriter, actor and producer Spike Lee has been awarded the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker 2012 award of the Venice International Film Festival, dedicated a personality who has brought great innovation to contemporary cinema.   The Direc...

    Marina Abramovic, Laetitia Casta, Peter Ho-Sun Chan, Ari Folman, Matteo Garrone, Ursula Meier, Samantha Morton, Pablo Trapero to form the Venezia 69 International Jury chaired by Michael Mann The selection has been made for the members of the International Jury for the Competition at the 69th Venice International Film Festival (29 August – 8 September 2012), with American director Michael Mann as president. The decision was made by the Boa...

Italian animator, director and illustrator Simone Massi (who was awarded the 2012 David di Donatello for Best Short Film), is the author of the new opening sequence of the 69th Venice International Film Festival (August 29 - September 8, 2012), directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by La Biennale di Venezia chaired by Paolo Baratta. The new opening sequence (30 seconds obtained from 300 hand-made drawings that hint at Fellini, Angelopoulos, Wenders, Olmi, Tarkovsky, and Dovženko) wi...

The Reluctant Fundamentalist, the new film directed by Mira Nair, will be the opening film at the 69th Venice International Film Festival (29 August – 8 September 2012), directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by la Biennale di Venezia chaired by Paolo Baratta. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is produced by Lydia Dean Pilcher and presented by Doha Film Institute. Based on the best-selling novel of the same title, translated into 25 languages, The Reluctant Fundamentalist  is a riv...

photo from SFF official site: http://www.sff.ba/news/show/id/834 Sarajevo Film Festival Proudly Presents Award Winners 201117th SARAJEVO FILM FESTIVAL – OFFICIAL AWARDS COMPETITION PROGRAMME – FEATURE FILM Jury:Jury President:ARI FOLMAN, Director, Israel Jury members:ALBERTO BARBERA, Director of the National Museum of Cinema, ItalyZANA MARJANOVIĆ, Actress, Bosnia and Herzegovina MICHELE OHAYON, Director, producer, writer, USARIZVAN RADULESCU, Scriptwriter and direct...

The Directors of the Telluride Film Festival are thrilled to announce that Slavoj Zizek will preside as the Guest Director of the Festivals 35th Show, August 29- September 1, 2008. The Slovenian-born irrepressible political philosopher, cultural theorist, academic superstar and impassioned cinephile is certain to stimulate controversy and conversation with his hand-picked film treasures and exhilarating approach to talking about movies, art, culture, politics, and desire.Zizek is the author of m...

A FESTIVAL IS REBORN IN MONTREALOne of the more intriguing announcements made here in Berlin is the establishment of a new film festival in Montreal, to be held from October 12 to 23 of this year. Industry watchers have followed the political drama that has been slowly emerging since August with the announcement that the Montreal World Film Festival, a fixture for several decades, had lost its governmental funding from Telefilm Canada and a host of other professional institutions.Criticism had c...

Le Regroupement pour un festival de cinéma à Montréal and L’Équipe Spectra are pleased to confirm the appointment of international-film luminary Moritz de Hadeln as head delegate, programming of the New Montreal FilmFest. Ms. Erika de Hadeln , who has extensive international film festival experience, will hold the position of assistant director. Mr. De Hadeln, whose appointment gives the Festival instant international credibility, will be backed by a solid Quebec-programming team and a pre...