Waited a couple of days to share the selection for the 2016 edition because organizers had to uncover a new website and yes, now is open, new and a lot easier to browse. Congrats to the Institut Français that by-the-way also has other programs to support cultural diversity like the Cinémathèque Afrique (African Film Archive) and Aide aux Cinémas du Monde (World Cinema Support), a fund which is co-managed with the CNC.

As not many are aware of this Festival de Cannes collateral event let's share some basics about the professional program.

La Fabrique des Cinémas du Monde is a professional program helping talented young directors from emerging countries increase their international exposure. Each year this program, developed by the Institut français, in partnership with France Médias Monde – RFI, France 24, Monte Carlo Doualiya- with the support of The International Organization of La Fancophonie, invites ten directors working on their first or second feature films to attend the Festival de Cannes along with their producers.

During work sessions, directors have the opportunity to discuss their project with the programme’s patron, an internationally renowned director. In addition, they have direct access to the festival’s different compétitive selections (La Semaine de la Critique, La Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) and major Professional events and receive accreditation for the Marché du Film (Producers Network…). They also meet the French and international press accompanied by our press officer. Parati Films will coordinate this year’s Fabrique programme at the Festival de Cannes.

In 2016, six films that previously took part in the Fabrique program are ready for distribution at festivals and in theaters. This year, a partnership has been concluded with the Marché du Film's Doc Corner to showcase the Fabrique’s two documentary projects, and to assist directors and
producers with documentary experience.

This year, there were 130 applications for the Fabrique des Cinémas du Monde program. Ten (10) candidates were invited to Cannes to develop their projects: four (4) first feature films, six (6) second feature films, two (2) documentaries, four (4) director-producers, four (4) female directors and two (2) female producers. These projects, from ten countries with emerging film industries, offer powerful visions of enduring traditions and global evolution's. Four countries will be represented for the first time: Angola, Azerbaijan, Costa Rica and Zimbabwe.

These are the 10 projects that include 8 feature-films and 2 documentaries.

Angola: Girlie by Pocas Pascoal
Azerbaijan: Basket by Iman Hasanov
Brazil: The Fever by Maya Da-Rin
Costa Rica: Dirty River by Gustavo Fallas
Egypt: Amal by Mohamed Siam (documentary)
Georgia: Citizen Saint by Tinatin Kajrishvili
Iran: Yalda by Massoud Bakhshi
Morocco: Saint Unknown by Alaa Eddine Aljem
Philippines: A Wrong Season by Carlo Francisco Manatad
Zimbabwe: The Other Half of the African Sky by Tapiwa Chipfupa (documentary)

French industry press announced today that none other than Jia Zhang-ke is succeeding Claire Denis as the godfather (parrain) of the 2016 edition! News are not in the official site but as soon as they become available will update post.



To read about news in the official site go here, available in French and English. News are also at Institut Français official site here, available only in French as of today.

Below find info about the director and her/his project.

Amal by Mohamed Siam


Mohamed Siam is a director, producer and DOP. His previous projects have received support from international institutes such as the Sundance Institute and the IDFA Bertha Fund. He has taken part in the Berlinale and Durban Talents, won the AfriDocs prize at the Durban FilmMart and won the Robert Bosch Academy’s Film Prize in 2015 for his project Amal.

Synopsis: This documentary has followed a teenager for four years as she comes to terms with her identity and sexuality in a male-dominated society and post-revolutionary police state. Amal embodies the chaos reigning in Egypt, where the people try to fulfil their potential despite the authoritarian regime and political upheavals.



Basket by Iman Hasanov

Imam Hasanov is a young filmmaker from Baku, Azerbaijan. For many years, he directed television dramas. His first feature film, Holy Cow, premiered in the First Appearance Competition at IDFA in 2015. Imam is an active member of Baku’s underground scene and founded Azerbaijan’s first independent theatre. He has participated in the Sarajevo and Berlinale Talents.

Synopsis: Deep in the Caucasus Mountains, no one dares to disobey the ancient customs. To free their parents souls, children must abandon them at the mercy of vultures to be devoured. Sahran, the village’s teacher, disallows this funeral rite.



Citizen Saint by Tinatin Kajrishvili

Tinatin Kajrishvili was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1978. In 2001, she graduated from Georgia’s state theatre and film university as a qualified film director. In 2014, her first feature film Brides premiered and was awarded at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Synopsis: One day, the statue of a crucified saint comes to life. None of the investigators, government officials or locals know what to do with him. The Saint is accused of damaging artwork, ruining the city’s only tourist attraction and being a swindler. Everyone agrees: a saint’s place is on the cross. After interminable discussions, they put him back on his cross and crucify him again. Mary, an employee in a the city’s local museum, wants to protect him.



Girlie by Pocas Pascoal

Pocas Pascoal is Angola’s first camerawoman. She studied cinema in Paris before directing several documentaries and short films. Since 2002, she has participated in a number of contemporary art exhibitions. In 2012, she made her first feature film Alda and Maria, winning seven film festival awards.

Synopsis: Ema (6) lives with her father, a musician, in Lisbon. One day, during an authorised visit, her mother kidnaps her and takes her back to her home country, Cape Verde. Ema’s father attempts to find them, but her mother keeps running away. As Ema travels closer to the country’s heartland, she must face the solitude and mysteries of this new world.



Saint Unknown by Alaa Eddine Aljem

Alaa studied film at ESAV in Morocco and INSAS in Brussels. His films have been selected for festivals around the world, winning several awards. His most recent short film, The Desert Fish, won the critics’, screen-writing and grand prizes at the Moroccan National Film Festival. His first feature film project, Saint Inconnu, featured in the Open Doors section at Locarno Film Festival.

Synopsis: Amine, a thief who has stolen a large sum of money, escapes into the hills with the police hot on his heels. He buries the cash, hiding it under a makeshift tomb, before being arrested. Ten years later, he is released from prison and sets off in search of his money. Meanwhile, a shrine has been built where he buried it to honor an unknown saint.



The Fever by Maya Da-Rin

After studying design and the philosophy of art in Brazil, Maya Da-Rin graduated with honours from the French visual arts school Le Fresnoy. Her work has been shown at film festivals (Locarno) and museums (MoMA). She is working on her first feature, The Fever, selected for a Cinéfondation residence and Torino Script&Pitch, and supported by the Hubert Bals Fund.

Synopsis: Manaus is an industrial city surrounded by the Amazon rainforest. Justino, a 45- year-old Amerindian, works as a security guard at a cargo port and lives with his daughter on the outskirts of town. When she decides to leave to study medicine in the capital, Justino is gripped by a mysterious fever. He believes he is being followed, but he is not sure whether it is by an animal or by a man.



A Wrong Season by Carlo Francisco Manatad

Carlo Francisco Manatad, born in Tacloban City, is an alumnus of the Asian Film Academy, the Berlinale Talent Campus and the DocNet Campus Project. His short film, Junilyn Has, screened at the Locarno and Clermont Ferrand film festivals and since then, has travelled the festivals circuit.

Synopsis: In autumn 2013, in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest typhoon in recorded history, the jail warden temporarily releases the prisoners so they can tend to their families during the disaster. Miguel, one of the released prisoners, looks for his mother and his ex-girlfriend to flee the city. When his mother decides to stay, Miguel’s freedom and life are put in jeopardy.



Yalda by Massoud Bakhshi

Massoud Bakhshi was born in Tehran. Between 1990 and 1998, he worked as a film critic, script writer and producer. He has made ten documentaries and one short film, which have received many prizes. His first feature film, A Respectable Family (distributed by Pyramide in France), was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 2012. Yalda is his second feature film.

Synopsis: Maryam (26) is “temporarily married” to Naser (65). She accidentally kills him, but is pregnant with his child. In Iran, only a victim’s family can pardon the killer. For Maryam, this pardon plays out on the country’s most popular reality show. She quickly realises that nothing is what it seems, including her own family. She must choose between her child and a pardon, in front of millions of viewers.



Dirty River by Gustavo Fallas

Gustavo Fallas, a director, producer and writer, was born in Costa Rica in 1974. He studied screenwriting at UQAM, Canada, before founding Centrosur, a production company that makes documentaries, music videos, commercials and fiction films. The film Puerto Padre received the Silver Zenith award for Best First Fiction Film at the Festival des Films du Monde de Montréal.

Synopsis: Río Sucio tells the story of the meeting of two strangers: an elderly hermit living alone in the mountains where he hates his only neighbor, and his 12-year-old grandson whose mother has left him in his grandfather’s care. During their time together, the grandfather teaches the boy how to survive life in the mountains, but he also learns a lesson about hate and its fatal consequences.



The Other Half of the African Sky by Tapiwa Chipfupa

An original, eclectic and creative filmmaker, Tapiwa Chipfupa worked on various projects in southern Africa before deciding to study. After gaining a Master’s degree from AFDA, Tapiwa received support from HotDocs (2016), Berlinale Talents (2015), Talents Durban (2013) and AfricaDocs (2010). Her projects have been acquired by broadcasters and won awards worldwide.

Synopsis: Estranged from her family by a dispute over her marriage, Tapiwa Chipfupa attempts to reconcile the situation through encounters with other Zimbabwean women from all walks of life also facing their own challenges. The film develops as a brutally honest story of Zimbabwe’s women that paints a vivid and intriguing portrait of contemporary Zimbabwe and its vast contradictions.

To my huge surprise today festival organizers released an article with the short films that will compete for the top honors in the two sections, the Competition and the Cinéfondation! Will start post today but will be in-progress until tomorrow when the feature films will be announced at the press conference which seems will be at 11:00am local time (5am ET) and will stream live via the main social video sites; stream will also be at the festival official site here.

Have to comment that been noticing the great graphic design this year as seems a professional is combining the design elements (colors and graphics) to make the most interesting section presentations. Yesterday noticed the Short Films section use of graphics and this morning the most interesting combination for Cinéfondation and Short Films. Yes, is the one leading the post today, as tomorrow will change.

Short Films Competition

This year the selection committee received 5,008 short films -458 more than in 2015. The Competition comprises ten (10) films, mostly from Europe and Latin America, with one (1) representative from Asia and one (1) from Africa.

These films are all in the running for the 2016 Short Film Palme d’Or, to be awarded by Naomi Kawase, President of the Jury, at the official award ceremony of the 69th Festival de Cannes on May 22th .

4:15 P.M. Sfarsitul Lumii (4:15 P.M. The End of the World), Catalin Rotaru and Gabi Virginia Sarga, Romania, 15'
A moça que dançou com o diabo (The Girl who Danced with the Devil), João Paulo Miranda Maria, Brazil, 14'
Après Suzanne, Félix Moati, France, 15'
Dreamlands, Sara Dunlop, UK, 14'
Fight on a Swedish Beach, Simon Vahlne, Sweden 14'
Il Silenzio (The Silence), Farnoosh Samadi Frooshani and Ali Asgari, Italy, 15'
Imago, Raymund Gutierrez, Philippines, 15'
La Laine sur le dos, Lofti Achour, Tunisia and France, 15'
Madre (Mother), Simón Mesa Soto, Colombia, 14'
Timecode, Juanjo Giménez, Spain, 15"

Cinéfondation Selection

To mark its 19th year, the Cinéfondation Selection has chosen eighteen (18) films (14 works of fiction and 4 animations), from among the 2,300 works submitted this year by film schools from all over the world. Fifteen countries from three continents are represented.

Seven of the films selected come from schools taking part for the first time, and it is also the first time that a film school from Bosnia and Herzegovina and one from Venezuela have seen one of their films reach the selection stage. More than half of this edition's movies are directed by women, with 10 out of the 18 films selected.

The three Cinéfondation prizes will be awarded at a ceremony preceding the screening of the prize-winning films on Friday 20th May in the Buñuel Theater.

1 Kilogram, Park Young-ju, Korea, 29', Korea National Universtity of Arts
A nyalintás nesze (The Noise of Licking), Nadja Andrasev, Hungary, 9', Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design
Ailleurs (Somewhere), Mélody Boulissière, France, 6', École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs
Anna, Or Sinai, Israel, 24', The Sam Spiegel Film & TV School
Aram, Fereshteh Parnian, France, 17', Université Lumière Lyon 2
Bei Wind und Wetter (Whatever the Weather), Remo Scherrer, Switzerland, 11', Hochschule Luzern - Design & Kunst
Business, Malena Vain, Argentina, 20', Universidad del Cine
Dobro (Fine), Marta Hernaiz Pidal, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 15', film.factory
Gabber Lover, Anna Cazenave Cambet, France, 13', La Fémis
Gudh (Nest), Saurav Rai, India, 28', Satyajit Ray Film & TV Institute
In the Hills, Hamid Ahmadi, UK, 21', The London Film School
La Culpa, Probablemente (The Guilt, Probably), Michael Labarca, Venezuela, 14', Universidad de los Andes
La Santa Che Dorme (The Sleeping Saint), Laura Samani, Italy, 19', Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia
Las Razones del Mundo (The Reasons in the World), Ernesto Martínez Bucio, Mexico, 37', Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica
Poubelle (Trash), Alexandre Gilmet, Belgium, 19', INSAS
Submarine, Mounia AKL, USA, 19', Columbia University School of the Arts
The Alan Dimension, Jac Clinch, UK, 8', NFTS
Toate fluviile curg în mare (All Rivers Run to the Sea), Alexandru Badea, Romania, 24', UNATC "I. L. Caragiale"

Short Films and Cinéfondation Jury
President: Naomi Kawase, director, Japan

To check the article at the official site go here. Already know there are some trailers so will post link to whatever info I find as soon as possible.  Enjoy!  The feast started ONE DAY earlier!!! Yay!

Check available trailers and info for Short Films in Competition and Cinéfondation @MOC

Pierre Lescure, President of the Festival de Cannes, and Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate, present the Official Selection of the 69th Festival de Cannes Press Conference on April, 14th 2016 at 11:00 am (Paris time), or 5am ET.

Please NOTE the the English stream says: April 14, 2016 4:30 AM.  So, maybe there will be something happening from 4:30am ET.

The Festival de Cannes will be held from May, 11th until May, 22th 2016.  As of this moment the Youtube channel will go live in 16:20:04.  See you tomorrow.

English



French

A few minutes ago organizers released the video with Charles Tesson, Artistic Director, revealing the selection to journalist and film critic Charlotte Lipinska and the rest of the world and perhaps the biggest surprise for me is the total absence of Latin American cinema, except for a short film by a previous Critics' Week participant.

As we know this year La Semaine de la Critique will celebrate its 55th edition by placing spotlight on the films and talents discovered since its 50th anniversary, so their event logo uses the 50+5 iconography to represent the celebration. There are some posters that have appeared during the weeks before the selection announcement, which will include them at the end of this post. Also as a 50+5 celebration, the jury is composed by 5 directors discovered by the Critics' Week during these past 5 years.

Charless Tesson shared that this year 1,500 shorts and 1,100 feature films were received. With seventeen (17) countries represented, the selection includes 10 features plus 15 short medium-length films. Six (6) feature films are film debuts -compete for the Camera d'Or- and four (4) are second films.

My spontaneous reaction to the selection is of amazement as from the seven films, six are French co productions -which obviously pleases me but know to tame my enthusiasm as this is La Semaine and always has weird/strange films. Most interesting to find that most films in the competition come from being projects in film festivals, including the Cinefondation, Berlin, Rotterdam, Doha. Worth mentioning are the three short films that will be screened in the closing night as are done by three well-known actresses with their directorial debut, they are: Laetitia Casta, Sandrine Kiberlain and Chloë Sévigny.

As every year there are seven (7) first or second very particular feature films in Cannes oldest parallel section competition, all competing for the Awards given by the jury, Grand Prize and Visionary Award. Also in the selection 3 feature films in Special Screenings plus 10 short and medium-length films in Competition and 5 short and medium-legth films in Special Screening.

Feature Films

(*) A Yellow Bird, K. Rajagopal, Singapore and France
(*) Albüm, Mehmet Can Mertoğlu , France, Romania and Turkey
Diamond Island, Davy Chou, Cambodia, France and Germany
(*) Grave (Raw), Julia Ducournau, France and Belgium
Mimosas, Oliver Laxe, Spain, Morocco, France and Qatar
(*) שבוע ויום Shavua ve Yom (One Week and a Day), Asaph Polonsky, Israel
(*) ربيع‎ Tramontane, Vatche Boulghourjian, Lebanon and France

Special Screenings
Opening Night: Victoria (In Bed with Victoria), Justine Triet, France
(*) Apnée, Jean-Christophe Murisse, France
I tempi felici verranno presto (Happy Times Will Come Soon), Alessandro Comodin, Italy and France

(*) Compete for the Camera d'Or

Short Films

Short and Medium-Length Films
Arnie, Rina B. Tsou, Taiwan and Philippines, 24'
Ascensão, Pedro Peralta, Portugal, 18'
Campo de Víboras, Cristèle Alves Meira, Portugal and France, 20'
L'Enfance d'Un Chef (Birth of a Leader), Antoine de Bary, France, 15'
Le Soldat Vierge (The Virigin Soldier), Erwan Le Duc, France. 39'
Limbo, Kostantina Kotzamani, Greece and France, 30'
O Delírio é a redenção dos aflitos (Delusion is Redemption to Those in Distress), Fellipe Fernandes, Brazil,21'
Oh What a Wonderful Feeling, François Jaros, Canada, 15'
Prenjak (In the Year of Monkey), Wregas Bhanuteja, Indonesia, 13'
Superbia, Luca Tóth, Hungary, 15'

Short Films in Special Screenings

50+5 Special Screenings
Los Pasos del Agua, César Augusto Acevedo, Colombia, 12'
Myomano Shel Tzalam Hatonot (From the Diary of a Wedding Photographer), Nadav Lapid, Israel, 40'

Closing Night:
Bonne Figure (Smile), Sandrine Kiberlain, France, 13'
En Moi, Laetitia Casta, France, 26'
Kitty, Chloë Sevigny, USA, 14'

Invitation to the Morelia International Film Festival
Selection of 4 short films selected to the 13th edition of the Morelia International Film Festival
El Buzo, Esteban Arrangoiz, Mexico, 16'
Isabel Im Winter, Laura Baumeister de Montis and Teresa Kuhn, Mexico, 6'
Mil Capas, Tess Anastasia Fernández, Mexico, 18'
Rebote, Nuria Menchaca, Mexico, 20'

Jury of the Grand Prize, Visionary Award and Discovery Prize
President: Valérie Donzelli, director, writer and actress, France
Alice Winocour, director,  writer and actress, France
Nadav Lapid, director, writer and editor, Israel
David Robert Mitchell, director, writer, producer, USA
Santiago Mitre, director, writer and actor, Argentina

To read info about each film go to official site here, but will have to wait until links are activated as of today films are just listed.

Check available trailer and info @MOC

La Semaine de la Critique is a hub for emerging directors and it will continue to accompany the 10 short film talents by offering them to take part in the NEXT STEP program, which is a training and supporting workshop to set the path to a feature films.

Video with Charles Tesson announcing the selection (French with English subtitles)



50+5 Looking back at 5 Years of Discoveries

Today the Association du Cinéma Indépendant pour sa Diffusion (ACID) announced the usual nine (9) films in the selection that promotes diffusion of independent films in movie theaters and encourages debates between authors and audiences for the last 23 years.

The selection of nine films has 14 filmmakers, 2 documentaries and 1 animation; three are first films and five are second films plus only three films have already distribution. But most interesting is the fact that the selection is eclectic with diverse approaches, mises en scène, narrations and genres. From the deadpan comedy to incredible paranoid anti-hero, the movies explode the boundaries and make us take a step aside.

The program is crossed by a major reason, that the uniqueness of the characters that reverse the patterns that surround them: the fragile, the dissimilar, the melancholic, the lonely, the eccentric are endowed with wise words of unalterable will, of fertile imagination, refreshing humor ...

Isola, Fabianny Deschamps, France
La Jeune Fille Sans Mains, Sébastien Laudenbach, France (1st film)
Madame B, Histoire d'Une Nord-Coreene (Mrs. B.), Jero Yun, France and South Korea (documentary)
Le Parc (The Park), Damien Manivel, France
Sac La Mort, Emmanuel Parraud, France
Swagger, Olivier Babinet, France (documentary)
Tombé du Ciel, Wissam Charaf, France and Lebanon (1st film)
Le Voyage Au Groenland, Sébastien Betbeder, France
Willy 1er, Ludovic & Zoran Boukherma, Marielle Gautier and Hugo P. Thomas, France (1st film)

To check the announcement at the official site go here, eventually will be in English but today is available only in French.

Isola(aka Isola Che Non C'è) by Fabianny Deschamps
Une Chinoise échouée sur un ile perdue au fin fond de l'Italie attend un mari qui ne vient pas. Un Africain naufragé sur les côtes du nord de la Chine attend de rejoindre l’Europe tant espérée. Isola conte les parcours absurdes et cruels des mouvements migratoires d’aujourd’hui. Une histoire faite de rêve mais sans féerie qui s’écrit chaque jour, ici et maintenant, aux portes de l’Europe.

English synopsis: Feature film about the absurd and cruel trajectories of people’s migrations today. A story made of dreams without fairies that happens everyday at the gates of Europe.



La Jeune Fille Sans Mains by Sébastien Laudenbach
With the voices of Anaïs Demoustier and Jérémie Elkaïm
En des temps difficiles, un meunier vend sa fille au Diable. Protégée par sa pureté, elle lui échappe mais est privée de ses mains. Cheminant loin de sa famille, elle rencontre la déesse de l’eau, un doux jardinier et le prince en son château. Un long périple vers la lumière.



Madame B, Histoire d'Une Nord-Coreene (Mrs. B.) by Jero Yun
Portrait of Mrs. B., a tough charismatic North Korean woman who smuggles between North Korea, China and South Korea. With the money she gets, she plans to reunite with her two North Korean sons after years of separation.



Le Parc (The Park) by Damien Manivel
In Summertime: two teenagers have their first date in a park. Both nervous and shy at the beginning, they soon discover a strong attraction to each other; they get closer while wandering in the park and end up falling in love. But the night is coming, so it’s time to leave…



Sac la mort by Emmanuel Parraud
In today's Reunion, Patrice must avenge the death of his brother, who has been brutally murdered. But does he have the strength for it, as he has just lost his home?



Swagger by Olivier Babinet



Tombé du Ciel by Wissam Charaf
Après 20 ans de séparation, Samir, ancien milicien présumé mort, réapparaît dans la vie d’Omar, son petit frère devenu garde du corps à Beyrouth. Entre drame et comédie, Samir doit se confronter à un pays qui ne lui appartient plus et retisser des liens avec sa famille.



Le Voyage Au Groenland by Sébastien Betbeder



Willy 1er by Ludovic & Zoran Boukherma, Marielle Gautier and Hugo P. Thomas
Synopsis : à la mort de son frère jumeau, Willy Pruvost, la cinquantaine, légèrement simple d'esprit, décide de quitter sa famille pour prendre son indépendance. « A Yvetot, j’irai. Un appartement, j’en aurai un. Un scooter, j’en aurai un. Des copains, j’en aurai. Et j’vous emmerde ! ». Pour ce faire, il déménage dans le village voisin, à dix-huit kilomètres de son malheur.

A few minutes ago in Paris, la Quinzaine des Réalisateurs Artistic Director, Edouard Waintrop, announced the films in the parallel section of the Cannes Film Festival run by the Société des réalisateurs de films (French Director's Guild) and I'm glad that some of the films I was looking forward to see in Cannes are in this section. Relief.

Waintrop regretted the passing of outstanding filmmaker and actress Ronit Elkabetz, R.I.P. The news hit me hard as she was very young, 51-years-old, and I highly enjoyed her particular performing style as well as her directing style in films she directed with her brother. I'm sad but know that she will live in her body-of-work.

Back to the selection, there are some snubs that puzzle me as was hoping for French cinema filmmakers Bertrand Bonello's Nocturama, Rebecca Zlotowski's Planeatarium and Katell Quillévéré's Répare les vivants; still glad Lafosse made it, as well as the last film by the late Solveig Anspach. Most interesting is the animated film by Claude Barras co-written by none other than Céline Sciamma and I'm extremely curious about Laura Poiras latest documentary but from all the selection the film that wish to watch the most is Neruda by Pablo Larrain.

As previously announced, this year’s Carrosse d’Or,awarded to a director from the international filmmaking community for the innovative qualities, courage and independent-mindedness of his or her work, goes to one of my favorite directors, outstanding master filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki.

Here are the 18 feature films and 11 short films.

Feature films

Opening Film: Fai bei sogni (Sweet Dreams), Marco Bellocchio, Italy and France
Closing Film: Dog Eat Dog, Paul Schrader, USA

Divines, Uda Benyamina, France
Fiore, Claudio Giovannesi, Italy and France
La Pazza Gioia (Like Crazy), Paolo Virzì, Italy
L’economie du couple (After Love), Joachim Lafosse, France and Belgium
L’Effet aquatique (The Together Project), Solveig Anspach, France and Iceland
Les Vies de Thérese, Sebastien Lifshitz, France (documentary)
Ma vie de courgette (My Life as a Zucchini), Claude Barras, Switzerland and France
Mean Dreams, Nathan Morlando, Canada
Mercenaire, Sacha Wolff, France
Neruda, Pablo Larrain, Argentina, Chile, Spain, USA and France
Poesía Sin Fin (Endless Poesy), Alejandro Jodorosky, Chile, Japan and France
Raman Raghav 2.0, Anurag Kashyap, India
Risk, Laura Poitras, Germany and USA
Tour de France, Rachid Djaïdani, France
Two Lovers and a Bear, Kim Nguyen, Canada
Wolf and Sheep, Shahrbanoo Sadat, Denmark, Sweden and France

Short films

Chasse Royale, Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret, France
Decorado, Alberto Vázquez, Spain
Habat Shel Hakala, Tamar Rudoy, Israel
Happy Endu (Happy End), Jan Saska, Czech Republic, 6'
Hitchhiker, Jero Yun, South Korea, 20'
Import, Ena Sendijarevic, Netherlands
Kindil el Bahr, Damien Ounouri, Algeria
Léthé, Dea Kulumbegashvili, Georgia
Слушая Бетховена Listening to Beethoven, Garri Bardine, Russia
O Segredo De Abigail (Abigail),Isabel Penoni and Valentina Homem, Brazil
Zvir (The Beast), Miroslav Sikavica, Croatia, 14'

Seems the new site has been flooded with requests and was not prepared for the traffic, so it's hard to access it but the list at the official site is here.

This year, after Cannes, the films of the 48th Directors’ Fortnight will be shown in Paris, Marseille, Geneva, Rome, Milan, Florence and Brussels.

The Factory

After the Taipei Factory in 2013, the Nordic Factoryin 2014 and the Chile Factory in 2015 the Directors' Fortnight is glad to continue the adventure this coming year with the South Africa Factory. The Factory project aims at the emergence of new talents on the international scene, allowing young international directors to meet and create together.

The Directors' Fortnight is proud to showcase the result of these exchanges, four (4) 15 minutes short films, co-directed by 4 tandems of young directors.

Zee Ntuli (South Africa) and Isabelle Mayor (France/Switzerland)
Zamo Mkhwanazi (South Africa) and Alejandro Fadel (Argentina)
Sheetal Magan (South Africa) and Martín Morgenfeld (Argentina)
Samantha Nell (South Africa) and Michael Wahrman (Brazil)

Last Wednesday fest organizers announced the Cannes Classics program for this edition and later on Friday, April 22 the news were updated. This post has the updated news for the section and yes, it's almost a cut and paste with all the info released as have added some comments when applicable. If you wish to read it at the official site go here.

Bertrand Tavernier with a world premiere preview, a conversation with William Friedkin, a 1966 celebration, the 70th anniversary of the Fipresci prize, Wiseman & Depardon, two giant documentary filmmakers, unknown features from far away countries, film libraries honored, Eastern Europe movies, documentaries about cinema, great popular films, genre films, science fiction, comedies, an animation film, gothic horror, westerns: this is Cannes Classics 2016.

Most of the films which will be presented will be released in theaters and on DVD/Blu-ray. In whole or in part, the Cannes Classics program will be screened at Les Fauvettes theater (Paris), at the festival Cinema Rittrovato (Bologna), at the Institut Lumière (Lyon).

World Premiere preview of Bertrand Tavernier's Documentary about French Cinema

Voyage à travers le cinéma français by Bertrand Tavernier (2016, 3h15, France).
“This work as a citizen and spy, as an explorer and as a painter, as a columnist and as an adventurer that have been described so well by many authors, from Casanova to Gilles Perrault, is not a beautiful definition of a filmmaker that we want to apply to Renoir, Becker, to the Vigo of Zéro de Conduite, to the Duvivier of Pépé le Moko, as well as Truffaut, Franju or Demy. To Max Ophuls and also Bresson. And to less known directors whom, during a scene or a film, sparkle an emotion, find some surprising truths. I would like this film to be an act of gratitude to all the filmmakers, writers, actors and musicians that have appeared suddenly in my life. Memory warms up: this film is a bit of coal for winter nights.”

A Little Bear-Gaumont-Pathé coproduction, with the participation of CANAL+, CINE+, of the SACEM. And with the support Région Ile-de-France, in partnership with the CNC. International sales: Gaumont. Distribution in France: Pathé. The film will be released in theaters in October 2016.

Cinema Masterclass: William Friedkin

The American filmmaker will give the annual Cinema Masterclass hosted by film critic Michel Ciment on Wednesday, May, 18th. He will also introduce a restored surprise film at Buñuel Theater and Sorcerer (1977) at the Cinéma de la Plage.

Sorcerer presented by La Rabbia. A Warner Bros Restoration under the supervision of Ned Price, Vice President of Mastering at Warner Bros. and William Friedkin. Scan 4 K from the 35mm négative. Audio restoration by Aaron Levy from 35mm 4-stereo track. Color-grading supervision by Bryan McMahan. Thanks to Bob Finkelstein, Karen Magid, Craig Kornblau, Dan O’Rourke, Traci Caroll, Wallon Green, Bud Smith.

The Double Palme d'Or of 1966

The Battle of the Rails opened this mini-retrospective and the Festival de Cannes has kept on welcoming the restorations of the films which won the Palme d’Or. In 2016 we are going back to the year 1966 and its two winners, Pietro Germi and Claude Lelouch. They were awarded the prize by the jury presided over by Sophia Loren.

Signore & signori (The Birds, the Bees and the Italians) by Pietro Germi (1966, 2h, Italy/France)
Presented by Cineteca di Bologna, Istituto Luce - Cinecittà, DEAR International. Restored by Cineteca di Bologna, Istituto Luce - Cinecittà and DEAR International at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory.

Un Homme et une femme (A Man and a Woman) by Claude Lelouch (1966, 1h42, France)
Presented by Les Films 13. The film has been restored by Eclair laboratory in Vanves. It was scanned and color-graded from the original 35mm color and black and white negative with Claude Lelouch. It was digitally restored and finalized in 2K for the DCP. The sound was restored from the original mono magnetic 35mm.Restoration and digitization with the support of the CNC.

A Crossed Tribute to Raymond Depardon and Frederick Wiseman

Faits divers by Raymond Depardon (1983, 1h30, France)
Presented by Palmeraie et désert with the support of the CNC. Original negative digitized and restored frame by frame in 2K by Eclair. Restoration and color-grading supervised by Raymond Depardon who will introduce his film before the screening.

Hospital by Frederick Wiseman (1969, 1h24, USA)
Presented by Zipporah Films and Blaq Out in partnership with Doc & Film and UniversCiné, Hospital was restored in a 35 mm copy by the Library of Congress Audiovisual Conservation Center from original camera negatives in the Zipporah Films Collection.

Upon this occasion Frederick Wiseman will be present at Cannes and be awarded the Prix Consécration by France Culture radio station.

The First Prize of the FIPRESCI, upon the Ocassion of the Celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Prize of the International Federation of Film Critics

Farrebique by Georges Rouquier (1946, 1h27, France)
Presented by Les Documents cinématographiques. The film was digitized and restored by Eclair with the support of the CNC. The 2K restoration has been made from a nitrate negative and nitrate interpositive. Cristina Martin at the Documents Cinématographiques coordinated and managed the project.

Nine Documentaries About Cinema

Cannes Classics programs documentaries as every year—a way to tell the history of cinema by cinema itself. Let me remind you that the following plus all the other documentaries will be eligible for the second L'Œil d'or (The Golden Eye), the award created in 2015 by SCAM - Société Civile des Auteurs Multimédia

The Cinema Travelers by Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya (2016, 1h36, India)
Presented and produced and by Cave Pictures (India). The portrait of a traveling movie theater in India, which continues to bear the magic of the images to a stunned audience, is faced with technological, numerous and complex changes. A projector repairman narrates film changes with poetry, philosophy and pragmatism.

The Family Whistle by Michele Russo (2016, 1h05, Italy)
Presented by American Zoetrope, produced par Ulisse Cultural Association. The Coppola family—their arrival in the US, their links with their native Italy and their relationship to music. A lot of interviews and malicious anecdotes from one of the greatest clans of today’s cinema. With Francis Coppola and Talia Shire.

Cinema Novo by Eryk Rocha (2016, 1h30, Brazil)
Presented by FiGa Films. Produced by Aruac Filmes & Coqueirão Pictures, co-produced by Canal Brasil & FM Produções. A political and poetic movie essay, focusing on the major films of the Cinema Novo wave in Brazil. Numerous interviews with directors Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Glauber Rocha, Leon Hirszman, Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, Ruy Guerra, Walter Lima Jr. and Paulo César Saraceni.

Midnight Return: The Story of Billy Hayes and Turkey by Sally Sussman (2016, 1h39, USA)
Presented and produced by Midnight Return LLC, in association with Old Forest Hill Productions, Inc. The story of the film Midnight Express by Alan Parker (1978) as told by those who made it: director Alan Parker, screenwriter Oliver Stone and producer David Puttnam. In parallel the real protagonist Billy Hayes discusses his personal journey and how his life has changed. Turkey, the image and the diplomatic relations of which were affected by the film, gives its point of view, as Billy Hayes tries to go back there to rebuild broken links.

Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds by Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens (2016, 1h35, USA)
Presented by HBO Documentary Films, produced by HBO and RatPac Documentary Films. The life and intimate relationship of two actresses: Carrie Fisher, the heroine of Star Wars, and Hollywood legend Debbie Reynolds who starred in Singing in the Rain. The big story and the small story unfold before our eyes. A tender documentary on two golden ages of American cinema.

Gentleman Rissient by Benoît Jacquot, Pascal Mérigeau and Guy Seligmann (2015, 1h14 minutes, France)
Presented and produced by SODAPERAGA and CINE+ (Bruno Deloye). A film co-directed by Benoît Jacquot, Pascal Mérigeau and Guy Seligmann to unveil Pierre Rissient, a man of discovery—publicist, producer, director and tireless ambassador of world cinema.

Close encounters with Vilmos Zsigmond by Pierre Filmon (2016, 1h22, France)
Presented and produced by FastProd, Lost Films and Radiant Images with the participation of TCM Cinéma. To be released in French theaters. The life of cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond. From the streets of Budapest to Hollywood he describes his out of the ordinary journey. Many performers, including John Travolta and Nancy Allen, and famous cinematographers talk, question him and we discover a complete artist.

Et La femme créa Hollywood (Women Who Run Hollywood) by Clara and Julia Kuperberg (2015, 52mn, France)
Presented and produced by Wichita Films and OCS. Exploring the exciting stories of Lois Weber, Mary Pickford and Dorothy Arzner, we discover a passionate gallery of pioneers who also created Hollywood. What do they have in common? They are all women and they have all been almost forgotten.

Bernadette Lafont et Dieu créa la femme libre by Esther Hoffenberg (2016, 65mn, France)
Presented and produced by ARTE France, Lapsus, Inthemood and INA.A journey with Bernadette Lafont, the most atypical French film actress. The film sweeps her life and stunning artistic career. Her granddaughters go back to Bernadette's dreams and her friends Bulle Ogier and Jean-Pierre Kalfon evoke their artistic and human complicity. Throughout the film Bernadette Lafont with her unmistakable voice of character actress weaves the movie of her life.

Restored Prints

As every year Cannes Classics showcases around twenty restored prints. Extra attention has been paid to invite countries which had never been invited for their patrimonial work (Slovenia, Switzerland, Pakistan, Czech Republic, Cuba, Thailand, Hungary, and Poland). Watch out for rare gems! Also, we have great classics, film libraries and films which give us news.

Perhaps not really rare gems but having the opportunity of watching restored versions of films by Tarkovsky and Mizogushi makes this year Cannes Classics edition absolutely out of the ordinary.

Die letzte Chance (The Last Chance) by Leopold Lindtberg (1945, 1h53, Switzerland)
A presentation of the Cinémathèque suisse. A restoration of the Cinémathèque suisse and the Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) with the support of Memoriav at Hiventy laboratory.

Dolina Miru (Valley of Peace) by France Stiglic (1956, 1h30, Slovenia)
A presentation of the Slovenian Film Centre. 2K film and sound restoration from 4K scan of black and white 35 mm intermediate film positive and internegative. Restored sound from a 35mm optical sound negative. Restorations lead by Bojan Mastilović and Janez Ferlan, color grading lead by Janez Ferlan,at Iridium Film, Ljubljana. Sound restoration lead by Matjaž Zdešar. Supervised by project commission: DOP Lev Predan Kowarski and Rado Likon, director Urša Menart.

Ikarie XB 1 by Jindřich Polák (1963, 1h28, Czech Republic)
A presentation of the National Film Archive in Prague (NFA). Source for the digitization were elements preserved in the NFA, image was digitized from the original camera negative and sound from the sound negative. 4K restoration made under the supervision of the NFA in the Hungarian Filmlab. The film was digitally restored within the project "Digital restoration of Czech film heritage" which was supported by a grant from Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway and co-financed by the Czech Ministry of Culture. Project partners were the National Library of Norway and CESNET.

Jago hua savera (Day Shall Dawn) by Aaejay Kardar (1958, 1h34, Pakistan)
A presentation of the Nauman Taseer Foundation. Image and sound restoration from the best elements possible, since the negative has disappeared, by Deluxe Restoration London. It was commissioned by Anjum Taseer.

Memorias del subdesarrollo (Memories of the Underdevelopment) by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea (1968, 1h37, Cuba)
A presentation of Les Films du Camélia and Cineteca di Bologna. Restored by Cineteca di Bologna/ L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos(ICAIC) and Les Films du Camélia. The film will be released in French theaters.

Santi-Vina by Thavi Na Bangchang (1954, 1h54, Thailand)
A presentation of Film Archive (Public Organization) in Thailand. The original material of this film was considered lost. In 2014 the original material was found in the British Film Institute as well as the release print in the China Film Archive and at the Gosfilmofond in Russia. A 4K scan and restoration was carried out from the original camera and sound negatives found at the BFI. The restoration work was carried out at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory.

Szerelem (Love) by Károly Makk (1971, 1h32, Hungary)
A presentation of the Hungarian National Film Fund and of the Hungarian National Digital Film Archive and Film Institute (MaNDA). A 4K Scan and Restoration from the original 35mm negatives. Digitization and restoration of the sound from 35mm magnetic tapes. Restoration made by the Focus-Fox Studio and Hungarian Filmlab. The film will be released in French theaters.

Howards End by James Ivory (1992, 2h20, United Kingdom/Japan)
A presentation of the Cohen Film Collection LLC with director James Ivory and actress Vanessa Redgrave in attendance. Digital restoration from the original camera negative held at the archive of the George Eastman Museum completed in 4K by Cineric Portugal – Simon Lund. Color grading under the supervision of cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts and director James Ivory by Deluxe Restoration (London) - Steve Bearman, Mark Bonnici, Graham Jones. 5.1 audio track restoration by Audio Mechanics (Burbank) - John Polito.

Decakolog 5 (Thou shalt not kill) and 6 (Thou shalt not commit adultery) by Krzysztof Kieślowski (1989, 57mn et 58mn, Poland)
A presentation of MK2 and TVP. Restoration in 2K from original image negatives by TVP in Poland. The color-grading of each episode has been supervised by the DOPs of the episode they photographed.

Momotarô, Umi no shinpei (Momotaro, Sacred Sailors) by Mitsuyo Seo (1945, 1h14, Japan)
A presentation of Shochiku Studio. The digital restoration is scanned in 4K, image restoration and projection in 2K by Shochiku Co., Ltd.

One-Eyed Jacks by Marlon Brando (1961, 2h21, USA)
A presentation of Universal Studios and The Film Foundation. Restored by Universal Studios in collaboration with The Film Foundation. Special thanks to Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg for their consultation on this restoration.

Solyaris (Solaris) by Andreï Tarkovski (1972, 2h47, Russian Federation)
A presentation of Mosfilm Cinema Concern. Digital frame-by-frame restoration of image and sound from 2K scan of the negative. Producer of the restoration: Karen Shakhnazarov.

Ugetsu monogatari (Ugetsu) by Kenji Mizoguchi (1953, 1h37, Japan)
Presented by The Film Foundation, KADOKAWA Corporation, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Restored by The Film Foundation and KADOKAWA Corporation at Cineric Laboratories. Special thanks to Masahiro Miyajima and Martin Scorsese for their consultation on this restoration. Restoration funding provided by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in association with The Film Foundation and KADOKAWA Corporation.

Dragées au poivre (Pepper Candy) by Jacques Baratier (1963, 1h34, France)
A presentation of the CNC and the Association Jacques Baratier. Digital restoration made from the digitization in 2K of the 35mm negatives. Restoration made by Mikros Image.

Valmont by Milos Forman (1989, 2h17, France)
A presentation of Pathé. Restoration carried out by Pathé en 2016, made in 4K by L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, with the support of the CNC.

Gueule d’amour by Jean Grémillon (1937, 1h32, France)
Presented by TF1 Droits Audiovisuels with the suppport of the CNC. A 4K restauration from the original negative made at Hiventy.

Masculin féminin by Jean-Luc Godard (1966, 1h50, France)
A presentation of Argos Films and TAMASA. 2K digitization and restoration from the original negative by Eclair, color-grading supervised by cinematographer Willy Kurant. Sound restoration from the sound negative by L.E. Diapason. The film will be released in French theaters.

Indochine by Régis Wargnier (1992, 2h32, France)
A presentation of Studiocanal. Digitization from the original negative and restoration frame by frame in 4K by L’Immagine Ritrovata.

Adieu Bonaparte by Youssef Chahine (1984, 1h55, France/Egypt)
A presentation of the Cinémathèque française, Misr International Films and TF1 Droits Audiovisuels. A restoration of Misr International Films and TF1 Droits Audiovisuels carried out by the Cinémathèque française with the support of the CNC, of the Fonds Culturel Franco-Américain (DGA-MPA-SACEM-WGAW), of the Archives audiovisuelles de Monaco and the Association Youssef Chahine. The works have been made from the image negative and the sound magnetic tapes at Eclair and at L.E.Diapason studio.

Pit and The Pendulum by Roger Corman (1961, 1h20, USA)
A presentation of Alta Vista Productions and MGM Studios/Park Circus. 35mm archival print made in conjunction with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and producer Jon Davison from the original negative at Fotokem Los Angeles with Mato DerAvanessian and supervised by Roger Corman. Damaged shots were restored digitally and re-cut into the film.

Rendez-vous de juillet by Jacques Becker (1949, 1h39, France)
A 2K restoration presented by Gaumont. Image work made by Eclair, sound restored by L.E. Diapason with Eclair. The film will be released in French theaters and on DVD/Blu-ray.

Cannes Classics Special Screenings

Terrore nello spazio (Planet of the Vampires) (1965, 1h28, Italy/Spain) by Mario Bava
A presentation by Fulvio Lucisano, Nicolas Winding Refn and CSC Cineteca Nazionale. The movie has been digitally restored from the original 35mm Kodak Eastman Color negative, courtesy of Italian International Film. The color correction via colorimetry comparison of an original 35mm positive copy courtesy of the Cineteca Nazionale was carried out under the supervision of assistant director Lamberto Bava. The digital intermediate process using 35mm Kodak polyester copies and 35mm color-positive copies by Fotocinema Roma in 2015.

Tiempo de morir by Arturo Ripstein (1966, 1h30, Mexico)
A presentation by ALAMEDA FILMS and César Santos Galindo, Alain Carradore and Sidonis Calysta. A sélection by Claudia Bollain y Goytia Alba and Michel Rocher. The film has been restored by ALAMEDA FILMS at LABOFILMS MEXICO under the supervision of Enrique Alagón, Adolfo Alagón and Gabriel Elvira at LABODIGITAL under the supervision of Charles Barthe. The film will be soon released in French theaters by Tamasa distribution and on video by Sidonis Calysta.

Today The French Civil Society for Multimedia Authors (Scam) published the selection of documentaries that will be in competition for the second edition of the award that honors short and feature-lenght documentaries in the Festival de Cannes at the Official Selection, Un Certain Regard, Cannes Classics, Director's Fortnight, Semaine de la Critique, Special Screenings, Out of Competition and Short films.

Let's recall that the ‘L'Œil d’Or’ Documentary Award was created in 2015 by the Scam, in collaboration with the Cannes Festival and its General Delegate Thierry Frémaux, with the support of the INA (the French national audiovisual Institute).

This year the international jury is headed by none other than Gianfranco Rosi, Golden Bear at Berlinale 2016 and is made of the following jury members:
Anne Aghion, French-American director
Natacha Regnier, Belgian actress
Thierry Garrel, guest curator of the International Documentary Festival DOXA
Amar Labaki, brasilian film critic, founder and director of It’s All True ‐International Documentary Film Festival

The L'OEil d’Or and a cash prize will be presented to the creator of the winning film on Saturday 21 May at the Palais des festivals.

En 2015, L'OEil d'Or Prize went to Marcia Tambutti Allende for Allende, mi abuelo Allende. The judging panel of the first‐ever L’OEil d’or documentary film prize was chaired by Rithy Panh and made up of Nicolas Philibert, Irène Jacob, Diana El Jeiroudi and Scott Foundas.

There are seventeen (17) documentaries running for the award this year

Special Screenings
Hissène Habré, une tragédie tchadienne (Hissiein Habre, A Chadian Tragedy), Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Chad, Senegal and France
L'Ultima Spiaggia (The Last Resort), Thanos Anastopoulos and Davide del Degan, Italy, France and Greece
Wrong Elements, Jonathan Littell, USA

Cannes Classics
Bernadette Lafont et Dieu créa la femme libre, Esther Hofffenberg, France
Cinema Novo, Eryk Rocha, Brasil
Close encounters with Vilmos Zsigmond, Pierre Filmon, France
Et La femme créa Hollywood (Women Who Run Hollywood), Clara and Julia Kuperberg, France
Exil, Rithy Panh, France
Gentleman Rissient, Benoît Jacquot, Pascal Mérigeau and Guy Seligmann, France
Midnight Return: The Story of Billy Hayes and Turkey, Sally Sussman, USA
The Cinema Travelers, Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya, India
The Family Whistle, Michele Russo, Italy
Voyage à travers le cinéma français, Bertrand Tavernier, France

Quinzaine des Réalisateurs
Les Vies de Thérèse, Sébastien Lifshitz. France
Risk, Laura Poitras, Germany and USA

Two other documentaries are to be presented at Cannes Out of Competition for the L’OEil d’Or; no doubt these additional screenings reflect the growing popularity of documentary films in cinemas

ACID
Swagger, Olivier Babinet, France
Madame B, Histoire d'Une Nord-Coreene (Mrs. B.), Jero Yun, France and South Korea

Elated by the large presence of documentary features, with a high quality selection, LaScam is also delighted by the homage to two major figures of documentary cinema, both already recompensed by LaScam with a lifetime achievement award for their films: Raymond Depardon and Frederick Wiseman.

To check the announcement at official site go here.

Many things have been written about women and Cannes 2016 but got the feeling that not many articles gave a positive light into the future of female participation in world cinema. While this time I’m not trying to save the world of females in cinema, will share what I consider a positive reaction to the female directors and actresses that will attend this edition of the festival.

We already know that there are many great actresses in movies that this year are in the Official Selection as well as in the parallel sections and will try to “count” them for you but will start with the directors that to my surprise and just in the official selection plus Cannes Classics amount a total of 27 female directors with 8 feature films, 5 documentaries and 11 short films.

As a matter of fact, the parallel sections also have some female directors’ presence with 11 in the Quinzaine and 9 in la Semaine de la Critique. So when we consider all movies in Cannes we find 47 female directors with films in this year's edition. No, will not count the male directors as then will do what all others are doing, but estimate that the percentage will follow the industry with 25% or less.

Nevertheless talking about 47 directors is no easy task, so will give more info about directors of feature films and less about the directors of short films, but will give links to read bios at official site if you're interested in learning more about these filmmakers of the future.

There is one very unpleasant surprise with the new Cannes site, yes looks fantastic with all the new photo-centrism pages BUT there is so much info lost from the past!!! Sigh. Hope they fix site to include info from previous editions as the old site use to have. I do appreciate info from the past and present so it's quite upsetting for me to discover that most links to old site are broken now and do not transfer to equivalent in new site. GRRRRR.

Unfortunately I'm traveling so what I was trying to do will be a lot shorter, still enjoy the photos from the 47 directors and info about the three directors in the main competition. Sigh.

Meet the Female Filmmakers

Official Selection - In Competition

There are three (3) films by female directors in the main competition, what follows is a brief bio plus info of the films they had in Cannes before, if applicable.

Andrea Arnold with American Honey

She was born in Dartford and not only directs but also writes screenplays. She made her debut with two short films, Milk in 1998 and Dog in 2001. She gained international recognition when she won in 2005 the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film with Wasp.

Her first feature film, Red Road won in 2006 the Jury Prize in Cannes and most impressive her 2009 film Fish Tank won once again the Jury Prize. In 2011, she directed an adaptation of Emily Bronte¹s Wuthering Heights, the film was shown at the 68th Venice International Film Festival where it won the Golden Osella for Best Cinematography.

Believe that with American Honey Arnold has great chances of wining an award again this year but as we know 2016 international jury is very-very heterogeneous so, somehow, I expect some surprises from jury; nevertheless Arnold has great credentials to collect honors.

Nicole Garcia with Mal de Pierres (From the Land of the Moon)

Born in Oran, France (now Algeria) on April 22, 1946. She studied philosophy and then drama before she began to tread the boards. With a first prize in acting from the Conservatoire under her belt, she appeared in a number of theater plays before breaking into to the French film scene with her role in the Alain Resnais 1979 film Mon oncle d'Amérique (My American Uncle; but, there are many more performances before and after that film as according to IMDb she has 80 credits as an actress.

In 1985, she ventured into directing her first feature film Un week-end sur deux (Every Other Weekend) but her first experience was directing a short, 15 août, that was in competition at 1986 Cannes.

The world she chose to illuminate was a very private one, full of vibrant and complex characters such as those played by Gérard Lanvin in Le Fils préféré (1993) or Catherine Deneuve in Place Vendôme (1997). Nicole Garcia confirmed her talents as a filmmaker with L’Adversaire (2002), starring Daniel Auteuil, and Selon Charlie (2005), a film based around a chorus of seven male characters. In 2009, she revisited the Algeria of her childhood with Un balcon sur la mer starring Jean Dujardin. Her latest film, Going Away, starring Louise Bourgoin and Pierre Rochefort was released in 2014.

Her film in Cannes is one of the two in competition starring none other than Marion Cotillard; also in film, one of my favorite French actors, Louis Garrel.  Not sure how film will be accepted in Cannes as is an epic complex romance based on a novel by Milena Angus, but there are always chances as she has collected many honors as a director in the festival circuit and French awards.

Maren Ade with Toni Erdmann

She was born on December 12, 1976 in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. She first studied film production and media management and then later, film direction at the University of Television and Film in Munich. In 2001 co-founded Komplizen Film a film production company that produced her final student film Der Wald vor lauter Bäumen (The Forest of the Trees) that went to win the Special Jury Prize at 2005 Sundance fest.

Her second feature film, Alle Anderen (Everyone Else) premiered in competition at the 2009 Berlinale and won the Jury Grand Prize plus the Best Actress Silver Bear for Birgit Minichmayr. She's a very act5ive producer and perhaps her most eye-poping production work is for 2015 Arabian Nights trilogy by Miguel Gomes. No doubt she has the most impressive credentials, so after winning accolades in Sundance and Berlin now is the turn of Cannes with her third feature film that believe has high chances of collecting an award.

Un Certain Regard

Four films and five directors.



In photo: Delphine and Muriel Coulin with their film Voir du Pays (Stopover), Stephanie DiGiusto with La Danseuse (The Dancer), Andrea Testa co-director of La Larga Noche de Francisco Sanctis (Francisco Sancti's Long Night), and Maha Haj with עומאר שקסייה Omor Shakhsiya (Personal Affairs.)

Out of Competition

One film and one director, but she's none other than Jodie Foster with Money Monster.



No, there are no female directors in the Special Screenings nor in the Midnight Screenings, but when it comes to short films there are plenty.

Short Films Competition

Three directors with three short films but only one has a single director, the other two are co-directed with a male director.



In photo: Gabi Virginia Sarga co-director of 4:15 P.M. Sfarsitul Lumii (4:15 P.M. The End of the World), Sara Dunlop with Dreamlands and Farnoosh Samadi Frooshani co-director of Il Silenzio (The Silence).

Cinéfondation Selection

Nine directors with nine short films.



In photo, first row: Nadja Andrasev with A nyalintás nesze (The Noise of Licking), Mélody Boulissière with Ailleurs (Somewhere), Malena Vain with Business,  Marta Hernaiz Pidal with Dobro (Fine), Anna Cazenave Cambet with Gabber Lover.
Second row: Laura Samani with La Santa Che Dorme (The Sleeping Saint), Mounia AKL with Submarine, Fereshteh Parnian with Aram, and Or Sinai with Anna.

Cannes Classics

There are six directors with five feature documentaries about cinema.



In photo, first row: Shirley Abraham co-director of The Cinema Travelers, Sally Sussman with Midnight Return: The Story of Billy Hayes and Turkey, and Alexis Bloom co-director of Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fischer and Debbie Reynolds.
Second row:  Julia Kuperberg and Clara Kuperberg co directors of Et La femme créa Hollywood (Women Who Run Hollywood), and Esther Hoffenberg with Bernadette Lafont et Dieu créa la femme libre

Quinzaine des Réalisateurs Selection

There are eleven (11) female directors in the Quinzaine this year, four with feature films and seven with short films.

Feature Films

There are four directors with four films.



In photo: Laura Poitras with Risk, Shahrbanoo Sadat with Wolf and Sheep, Houda Benyamina with Divines and Sólveig Anspach (R.I.P.) with L'effet aquatique (The Together Project).

Short Films

Seven directors with five short films



In photo, first row: Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret co-directors of Chasse Royale, Tamar Rudoy with Habat Shel Hakala, and Dea Kulumbegashvili with Léthé
Second row: Isabel Penoni and Valentina Homem co-directors of O Segredo De Abigail (Abigail) and Ena Sendijarevic with Import.

Semaine de la Critique

Feature Films

There are two female directors, one in the Competition and the other is the opening film screened as Special Screenings.



In photo: Julia Ducournau with Grave (Raw) and Justine Triet with Victoria (In Bed with Victoria).

Short Films

Seven directors with seven short films. Three directors are well-known French and American actresses.



In photo, first row: Rina B. Tsou with Arnie, Cristèle Alves Meira with Campo de Víboras , and Kostantina Kotzamani with Limbo.
Second row: Sandrine Kiberlain with Bonne Figure (Smile), Laetitia Casta with En Moi, and Chloë Sevigny with Kitty.

No excuse, but when not home, not easy to do posts; BUT thank you very much to blog reader that found the 47 director I couldn't find yesterday.  One director and one short film in La Semaine, Luca Tóth with Superbia.



Not exactly what I had in mind for honoring female directors but since I'm traveling ... this is it. Sigh.

The Actresses

Wish to close with a showcase of the many female actresses that will walk the red carpet and Cannes streets. Worth mentioning is Marion Cotillard comes back to Cannes in TWO (2) films In Competition, one by Nicole Garcia and the other by Xavier Dolan. Also with two films, Kristen Stewart, one in competition by Olivier Assayas and another with the honor of being the Opening Film by Woody Allen.

But we also will see just from the films in competition Isabelle Huppert, Juliette Binoche, Léa Seydoux, Adèle Haenel, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Charlize Theron, Elle Fanning, Christina Hendricks and Jenna Malone. Then in the out of competition we will have none other than Julia Roberts in her first ever Cannes visit; plus Blake Lively, Parker Posey, and Catherine Denevue in a Special Screening film.

Today we will play the guessing game, yes we will have to guess IF the new and so much advertised Web TV Live will be open to the World and IF I'll be able to watch where I am...

For starters here are the two links to Dailymotion that offers an English version as well as a French Version ... as of this moment the clock says 5 hours 38 minutes to live stream, but know that Cafe Society press conference is happening right now so seems no live stream of the event. Sigh.

Added Youtube and Canal+ 



Youtube English Version



Youtube French Version




[LIVE] TV Festival de Cannes 2016 - English...by CannesFestTV


[LIVE] TV Festival de Cannes 2016 - Version...by CannesFestTV

Canal +  Embed NOT working go here as it just began!!!

The day started with me trying to watch LIVE Café Society photocall and/or press conference and surprise, surprise: NO luck! This year it's not possible to watch events live, at least as of today, May 11 when the fest officially opens in a few hours.

Perhaps the website will improve in the following days but gee, organizers should knew that the BEST way to go was to keep "old" site in one place with all the perks -like fest archives and LIVE events coverage- and in a different place the new site (alright is expensive BUT is the best way to transition from one quite good site to a very simple site with no info and lots of photos).

Anyway I'm hoping that now opening ceremony will be open to the World especially when something is happening to the relation between Canal+ and the festival. Will find later on if happens or not.

The fest unofficially started last night with cocktails and dinner for the jury and there are many photos of both events, but chose two for post.



In previous editions there was always a balcony photo with all jury members but this year infamous balcony photo got only a few jury members, luckily for us were the ones that are very easy-on-the-eyes!



Also yesterday Café Society cast did the press junkets and selected one particular photo that I like from one junket where Allen and Stewart look relaxed.



The Jury - Photocall



Will talk about the Opening Ceremony after I'm able to watch it; but today is the day of Café Society and the press has already seen it, so there are some news.

Out of Competition - Opening Film

Café Society

Woody Allen opens the festival for the third time after 2002's Hollywood Ending and 2011's Midnight in Paris and this movie has what I can call "very contemporary" cast that includes Kristen Stewart, Jesse Eisenberg, Blake Lively and Corey Stoll -all in Cannes to promote film-. Also in cast but unfortunately not in Cannes great Steve Carell and Parker Posey. Believe the best way to summarize plot is to say that is a nostalgic Hollywood romance set in the 30's written by a sadistic writer (lol), which by-the-way is me paraphrasing a line from the film mentioned at the press conference (actually the line says "life is a comedy written by a sadistic comedy writer").

Photocall

No video yet but there are multiple photos all over the net showcasing Kristen and Blake; but here is the photo with all the cast, where you can see how tall Blake Lively is -lol and another one I like. One hour after the live event, the edited video of the photocall is up and gee, it's funny because Kristen Stewart clearly shows her impatience (lol). There are lots of really beautiful Stewart photos but is the video what shows how uncomfortable she always is with these events specially with the crazy and screaming Cannes photographers, even pregnant Blake Lively looks quite uncomfortable. If you wish to see the short edited photocall video go here.





Press Conference

Really miss the chance to watch events live even when they spoil the movie for me.  No video yet but here is a photo.  Video is up and to my HUGE surprise press conference is very interesting, suggest to watch to learn something about cinematography.



Interview
Check the first interview of the Festival de Cannes, it's fun to watch -not serious and very light; go here.  Gee, Stewart has learn to hussle questions! (lol).

Press reactions to film
Here are some reactions from different language sources. Perhaps what surprises me the most is the postive reactions from American press, been years since they write something positive about Allen's and/or his movies.

"Café Society", plongée nostalgique de Woody Allen dans les années 30 - le point (France)
Un Woody Allen mélancolique - Ecran noir (France)
Woody Allen's amiable, if insubstantial, tribute to golden-age Hollywood - Peter Bradshaw - The Guardian (UK)
Buoyant and lighthearted “Cafe Society” - Ali Naderzad - Screen Comment (USA)
Familiar but charming - Todd McCarthy - THR (USA)
Allen's 47th picture is a consolidation of his usual fixations. - Eric Kohn - indiewire (USA)
Is His Most Charming Film In Years - Jessica King - The Playlist (USA)

But the glitter of the 1930s American beau monde rubs off handsomely in Café Society, a bittersweet comedy of manners that sees Allen pushing the boat out stylistically and in narrative ambition, even as he treads familiar ground. Sumptuous visual execution plus a top-rate ensemble cast should place this in the high altitudes of Allen’s recent commercial successes, especially in France, where it opens simultaneously with its launch of the Cannes official selection. - Jonathan Romney - Screendaily (UK)

Twittersphere
Une ouverture cannoise toute en délicatesse. Olivier Bousquet
Woody Allen, un #CafeSociety romantique et sophistiqué - Marilyne Letertre -metronews (France)

The Red Carpet

Watched live and was ok, that melange of French and English translation that drives me crazy (lol) but at least organizers allowed us to watch live.





Very glad with the mostly positive Cannes press reception of Allen's film. Film also opened today in France and according to French news broke records in one day. All this only tells me that there are hight probabilities that I will enjoy film. Great!

Opening Ceremony

No, I didn't like at all the humor of Laurent Lafitte and he made me feel very uncomfortable, so much that almost stop watching. But enjoyed the movie clips, both from George Miller films as from all the movies in the competition, especially the elusive ones that until this moment had not seen any moving images from film. Even Prince's tribute was odd, so strange that the audience didn't participate when the singer asked them, twice.

The good thing is the fest is open and assume there will be great photos from tonight parties and opening dinner.

Photos of the Day

Very Beautiful Photo


Gong Li


Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake


Jessica Chastain and Vincent Lindon


As soon as it is available will embed here the opening ceremony.

Yesterday organizers announced the films that this year are competing for the LGBT award given in the Festival de Cannes and the announcement was made in a magazine called Clap and to our enjoyment, the magazine has some articles about lgbt films from 2015, with a special mention to Sean Baker's Tangerine that the call "rare, unique, work of art celebrating creative, humane and artistic freedom". Suggest you read the articles available in French and English.

Among the activities surrounding the award we find the Queer Film Market that will be held on Tuesday, May 17 from 2 to 5 pm; also night "activities" happen at the official queer and open minded club in Cannes, Le Vertigo, open from May 11 to 22, from midnight to dawn.

There are 17 films in the selection, twelve (12) are feature films and five (5) are short films

Feature Films

Official Selection

Competition
Agassi (The Handmaiden), Park Chan-wook, Korea (L)
Aquarius, Klebler Mendonca Filho, Brazil and France
Rester Vertical, Alain Guiraudie, France
The Neon Demon, Nicolas Winding Refn, Denmark, France and USA

Special Screenings
Le Cancre, Paul Vecchiali, France

Un Certain Regard
La Danseuse (The Dancer), Stéphanie Di Giusto, France (L)

Quinzaine des Réalisateurs

Divines, Houda Benyamina,
Fiore, Claudio Giovannesi, Italy and France
Les Vies de Thérèse, Sebastien Lifshitz, France

Semaine de la Critique

Competition
Grave (Raw), Julia Ducournau, France and Belgium

Special Screenings
Apnée, Jean-Christophe Murisse, France

ACID
Willy 1er, Ludovic & Zoran Boukherma, Marielle Gautier and Hugo P. Thomas, France

Short Films

Cinéfondation Selection
In the Hills, Hamid Ahmadi, UK
Gabber Lover, Anna Cazenave Cambet, France

Semaine de la Critique
Le Soldat Vierge (The Virigin Soldier), Erwan Le Duc, France
Prenjak (In the Year of Monkey), Wregas Bhanuteja, Indonesia
Superbia, Luca Tóth, Hungary

Jury
Presidents: Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau, directors, France
Émilie Brisavoine, Director, France
Joao Federici, Festival Director, Brazil
Marie Sauvion, Journalist, France



If you wish to check more about this award go to the award facebook page here.

Check the magazine, Enjoy!!!

As the first Cannes awards were given yesterday, decided to start this post that will be in progress until after the festival awards ceremony that seems will be on Sunday as tomorrow, Saturday May 21, there are two in competition films that will have their premiere.

So here are the awards that were announced yesterday and will update post with as soon as the awards are announced today.



Un Certain Regard

Un Certain Regard Award: Hymyilevä mies (The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki), Juho Kuosmanen, Finland
Jury Prize: 小风琴 Fuchi ni Tatsu (Harmonium), Kôji Fukada, Japan
Special Prize Un Certain Regard: La Tortue Rouge (Red Turtle), Michael Dudok de Wit, France and Japan
Award for Best Director: Matt Ross for Captain Fantastic, USA
Award for Best Screenplay: Delphine and Muriel Coulin for Voir du Pays (Stopover), Delphine and Muriel Coulin, France

Quinzaine des Réalisateurs (Directors' Fortnight)

Feature Films
SACD Prize: L'Effet Aquatique (The Together Project), Solveig Anspach, France and Iceland
Special Mention: Divines, Houda Benyamina, France
CICAE Arte Cinema Prize: Wolf and Sheep, Shahrbanoo Sadat, Denmark, Sweden and France
Label Europa Cinemas Prize: Mercenaire, Sacha Wolff, France

Short Films
Illy Prize: Chasse Royale, Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret, France
Special Mention: Zvir (The Beast), Miroslav Sikavica, Croatia

Semaine de la Critique (Critics' Week)

Grand Prix: Mimosas, Oliver Laxe, Spain, Morocco, France and Qatar
Visionary Award: Albüm, Mehmet Can Mertoğlu , France, Romania and Turkey
SACD Award: Diamond Island, Davy Chou, Cambodia, France and Germany
GAN Foundation Support for Distribution Award: שבוע ויום Shavua ve Yom (One Week and a Day), Asaph Polonsky, Israel

Short Films
Canal+ Award: L'Enfance d'Un Chef (Birth of a Leader), Antoine de Bary, France
Cine Discovery Prize: Prenjak (In the Year of Monkey), Wregas Bhanuteja, Indonesia

Cinefondation

First Prize: Anna, Or Sinai, Israel,
Second Prize: In the Hills, Hamid Ahmadi, UK
Third Prize (tie)
A nyalintás nesze (The Noise of Licking), Nadja Andrasev, Hungary
La Culpa, Probablemente (The Guilt, Probably), Michael Labarca, Venezuela

L'Atelier
Prix Arte International: Santiago Mitre for La Cordillera, Argentina

Collateral Awards

FIPRESCI
Main Competition: Toni Erdmann, Maren Ade, Germany and Austria
Un Certain Regard: Câini (Dogs), Bogdan Mirica, Romania, France and Bulgaria
Semaine de la Critique:  Grave (Raw), Julia Ducournau, France and Belgium

Ecumenical Jury Award: Juste La Fin du Monde (It's Only the End of the World), Xavier Dolan, Canada and France
Special Mentions
American Honey, Andrea Arnold, UK
I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach, UK and France

L’Œil d’Or Documentary Award: Cinema Novo, Eryk Rocha, Brasil
Special Mention: The Cinema Travelers, Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya, India

Prix François Chalais: Ученик Uchenik (The Student), Kirill Serebrennikov, Russia

Cannes Soundtrack Awards
Best Composer: Cliff Martinez for Neon Demon, Nicolas Winding Refn
Best Music Supervisor: Bruno Dumont for Ma Loute, Bruno Dumont

14th Prix UniFrance Short Films
Grand Prix: Un Grand Silence, Julie Gourdain, France, 29'
Special Jury Prize: Réplique, Antoine Giorgini, France, 18'
Prix Coup de Coeur RTI: Au bruit des clochettes, Chabname Zariab, France, 25'
Prix Coup de Coeur Movistar+: Colocataires, Delphine Priet-Mahéo, France, 11'
Prix Coup de Coeur Grand Action: Réplique, Antoine Giorgini, France, 18'

Palm Dog Awards
Palm Dog: Nellie plays Marvin in Paterson, Jim Jarmusch, USA
Grand Prix du Jury: Jack in Victoria (In Bed With Victoria), Justine Triet, France
Dogumanitarian Award: Shea in I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach, UK and France

Honorary Palme d'Or: Jean-Pierre Léaud

Prix France Culture Consécration: Frederick Wiseman
Prix France Culture Cinéma des étudiants: Alexander Nanau for Toto et ses soeurs

Women in Motion Awards: Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis
Women in Motion Young Talent Award: Leyla Boujid, Gaya Jiji and Ida Panahandeh

Chopard Trophy
Bel Powley for The Diary of a Teenage Girl
John Boyega for Star Wars Episode VII - The Force Awakens

Videos

Ecumenical Award Ceremony (Xavier Dolan from minute 9)

Check the live streaming of the Red Carpet



French version



English version



Dailymotion French version


[LIVE] TV Festival de Cannes 2016 - Version...por CannesFestTV

Dailymotion English Version


[LIVE] TV Festival de Cannes 2016 - English...por CannesFestTV

Canal +

If video does not work go here to watch, available ONLY in French.


69ème cérémonie de clôture du Festival de...por Cannes-by-Canalplus

In a couple of weeks we will learn the complete 2016 Venice Film Festival lineup, as on July 28 at 11am Rome time the press conference will be held with Alberto Barbera and Paolo Baratta in attendance.

As news have already started to pour let's review what has been released up to today. We already know who is this year's host, the main competition Jury President, the poster, a section that has become official, the opening film, two Presidents of a Jury and a TV show that will premiere its two first episodes.  What follows is all the available info for each of the released news.

The New Poster of the 73rd Venice Film Festival

Not a fan of previous fest posters but this year the poster calls my attention as the visuals talk to me (not happened in the past) and yes, found poster very-minimalist and clean. Very Good.

What follows is a copy and paste from the official site with the rationale behind the creation of the poster designed by Studio Graph.X in Milan, based on Simone Massi's drawings.

The image of a moment of expectation, and an invitation to watch the imminent screening of the films, is the theme of the official poster for the 73rd Venice International Film Festival, conceived and drawn for the fifth consecutive year by Simone Massi.

In the foreground, an unidentifiable male figure, who could be the artist Simone Massi himself or any other spectator for that matter, grasps the top of a poster/ curtain and begins to reveal what could be the screen on which, for eleven days, the films of the Venice Film Festival will be shown. The scene evokes the curiosity that kindles the expectations of the audience of film buffs before every screening at a film festival.

The 73rd Venice International Film Festival, directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by the Biennale chaired by Paolo Baratta, will be held on the Lido from August 31st to September 10th 2016.

The line-up of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival will be announced during the official press conference to be held in Rome, at the Hotel Excelsior, on Thursday 28th July 2016, 11 am.

The visual identity and corporate image of the Venice Film Festival was designed again this year by Studio Graph.X in Milan, based on Simone Massi’s drawings.

Simone Massi, winner of the 2012 David di Donatello for Best Short Film, is the author of the opening sequence which since 2012 has introduced the official screenings of the Venice Film Festival. The sequence lasts 30 seconds, and was made with 300 hand-drawn illustrations that quote Fellini, Anghelopulos, Wenders, Olmi, Tarkovsky, Dovzhenko and Truffaut. Massi conceived the opening sequence with the help of Fabrizio Tassi. The music was composed and performed by Francesca Badalini, while the sound-design is by Stefano Sasso. Julia Gromskaya did the camera work and Lola Capote-Ortiz was responsible for the post-production.

Massi, born in Pergola in 1970, is one of the last pioneers of “stop motion” animation, and has won over 200 awards in major festivals in Italy and abroad. He is also considered one of the most important authors of animated short films at the international level. He is an independent animator, who studied Animation Film at the Scuola d’arte in Urbino. Over the past 19 years he has conceived and made 19 animation films (alone and entirely by hand), which have been screened in 60 countries and were shown at the 69th Venice Film Festival 2012, along with the premiere screening of Animo resistente. Massi does not use computers in his work, he draws everything by hand on paper, using pencils, charcoal, pastels, coloured pencils, graphite and ink. The “scratch” technique he has developed in his most recent works – which allows him to make no more than 6 or 7 drawings in one day, working uninterruptedly from morning until evening - requires up to two and a half years of work to make an 8-minute film.

La La Land by Damien Chazelle Opening Film of the 2016 Biennale

Have to admit that was a pleasant surprise to learn the opening film of 2016 La Mostra as is a major accomplish for a young director to open one of the largest film festivals in the world. Damien Chazelle's follow up to outstanding Whiplash will open the festival and film is In Competition.

Not sure what to think about film as know that leads -Stone and Gosling- make feel-good entertaining movies but hope Chazelle brings something different to actors usual rom-com fare. Still the musical element makes me worry a bit (lol).

The following is what the fest announced on their press release.

La La Land, written and directed by Damien Chazelle and starring Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, John Legend and J. K. Simmons, is the opening film, in Competition, of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival.

“La La Land is a surprising tribute to the golden age of American musicals, from An American in Paris by Vincent Minnelli to New York, New York by Martin Scorsese,” says Festival director Alberto Barbera. “It is a film that does not merely reinvent the musical genre, it gives it a brand new start. If Whiplash was the revelation of a new filmmaker, La La Land is his definitive, albeit precocious, consecration among the great directors of Hollywood’s new firmament.”

Damien Chazelle says “On behalf of the cast and crew of La La Land, I am both thrilled and honored by the festival’s invitation. It is deeply humbling for us to join the company of their previous opening night films, and we could not be more excited to share our movie with the audience in Venice”.

La La Land will have its world premiere screening on August 31st in the Sala Grande at the Palazzo del Cinema on the Lido di Venezia. La La Land is a modern take on the classic Hollywood romance, which is heightened by spectacular song-and-dance numbers, as two dreamers struggle to make ends meet while they pursue their passions in a city known for destroying hopes and breaking hearts. Mia (Emma Stone), an aspiring actress, serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions, and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a dedicated jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail piano gigs in dingy bars, but as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart.

La La Land is produced by Lionsgate in partnership with Black Label Media, Gilbert Films, Impostor Pictures, and Marc Platt Productions. The film stars Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, J. K. Simmons, Finn Wittrock, Sandra Rosko, and John Legend. La La Land will be distributed in the USA by Lionsgate on December 16th 2016, and in Italy by 01Distribution in collaboration with Leone Film Group.

The Young Pope by Paolo Sorrentino at the Venice Film Festival

Yes, it is happening.  Television has changed so much that since a few years ago has been irregular part of major film festivals.  Ten years ago not many could think that great directors will be doing TV and much less than TV shows will become like a "long" movie as will be produced with very-high production values and performed by outstanding cinema actors.  Remember Jane Campion's Top of the Lake,  Susanne Bier's Night Manager, visual outstanding Hannibal starring Mads Mikkelsen,  and so many more, especially those from Scandinavian cinema.  Well, now is Sorrentino turn to go into TV miniseries territory with what could be a good story performed by an outstanding international cast and according to what have seen, with high production values.  So, no surprise made it to one of the three top festivals in the world.

The first two episodes of the original series The Young Pope, written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino and starring  Jude Law, Diane Keaton, Silvio Orlando, Scott Shepherd, Cécile de France, Javier Cámara, Ludivine Sagnier, Tony Bertorelli and James Cromwell, will be the Out-of-Competition special event at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival.

Says Alberto Barbera, “It is a great pleasure, as well as a privilege, to present at the Venice Film Festival the world premiere of the first two episodes of Paolo Sorrentino’s much-awaited television series. He is a filmmaker who dares to take risks, who – fearlessly and with his customary creative and innovative spirit – tackles the language of television series, the new expressive frontier which many filmmakers, primarily foreign, have already tried their hand at. The result will not fail to kindle sincere emotion and, above all, invigorating and boundless surprise.”

Notes Paolo Sorrentino: “It is an honor for me to return to Venice. I was here with my first film and now I’m returning with my first television series. Since I don’t believe in coincidences, I prefer to think that, today like back then, the Festival is daring to choose. Fifteen years ago, it did so by selecting a young director’s first movie; this year by reaffirming its open-mindedness toward television, recognizing the role that series play in the evolution of visual communication.”

The world premiere of the first two episodes of The Young Pope will be screened on September 3rd in the Sala Grande of the Palazzo del Cinema at the Lido di Venezia. The Young Pope is an original production of Sky, HBO and Canal+ and, starting in October, will be broadcast on Sky Atlantic in 5 countries (Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland and Austria) and in France on Canal+.

The Young Pope tells the story of Lenny Belardo, alias Pius XIII, the first American Pope. Young and charming, his election seems to be the result of a simple yet effective media strategy on the part of the College of Cardinals. But appearances can be deceptive. Above all, in the place and among the people who have chosen the great mystery of God as the compass guiding their existence. That place is the Vatican and those people are the leaders of the Church. And Pius XIII proves to be the most mysterious and contradictory of them all. Shrewd and naïve, ironical and pedantic, primeval and cutting-edge, doubting and resolute, melancholy and ruthless, Pius XIII tries to cross the endless river of human solitude to find a God he can give to mankind. And to himself.

Director Sam Mendes to head the Venezia 73 International Jury

Early as April 2016 the fest announced Sam Mendes as the president of Venezia 73 main competition and was the first news released about the 2016 edition.

British director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Skyfall, Spectre) will be the president of the International Jury of the Competition at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival, which will assign the Golden Lion for best film, as well as other official awards. The decision was made by the Board of Directors of the Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta, on the recommendation of the Festival’s Director, Alberto Barbera.

Right from his 1988 debut as a theatrical director, Sam Mendes made a name for himself as one of the outstanding figures in British theatre, winning numerous awards. He later also established himself as one of the most highly respected film directors of recent years. His debut behind the movie camera was dazzling: in 2000, American Beauty won five Oscars, including best director and best picture. He next directed Road to Perdition, which competed at the 2002 Venice Film Festival. Since then, Sam Mendes has been a regular on London’s stages and on the sets of Hollywood films, all the way up to the extraordinary success of the 23rd James Bond movie, Skyfall, confirmed by the next in the series, Spectre, also directed by Mendes.

Says Festival Director Alberto Barbera, “Sam Mendes’ work is a particularly effective and convincing synthesis of a vocation for distinctive theatre and cinema, combined with research into methods of communication with increasingly large numbers of spectators. His productions, whether destined for stage or screen, are able to reconcile the expectations of the most exacting critics with the tastes of a vast audience which seems to transcend all geographical and cultural boundaries.”

Says Sam Mendes, “I’m very honoured to have been asked by Alberto to lead the International Jury for Venezia 73. I’ve always had a strong personal connection with Venice; as a student I worked for three months at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection way back in 1984, and my happiest film festival memory is launching Road To Perdition at Venice in 2002. I am thoroughly delighted to be coming back to the Lido this year and welcoming a wealth of international filmmaking talent.”

On the final night of the upcoming 73rd Film Festival (September 10, 2016) the International Jury of Venezia 73, chaired by Sam Mendes and composed of nine international celebrities in the spheres of film and culture, will assign the following official prizes to feature-length films in the Competition:
Golden Lion for best film
Grand Jury Prize
Best Director
Volpi Cup for Best Actor
Volpi Cup for Best Actress
Best Screenplay
Special Jury Prize
Marcello Mastroianni Award to an emerging actor or actress

Robert Guédiguian and Kim Rossi Stuart to head two international juries

French director Robert Guédiguian (Marius et Jeannette, La ville est tranquille, Les neiges du Kilimandjaro) and Italian actor and director Kim Rossi Stuart (Le chiavi di casa, Romanzo criminale, Anche libero va bene) have been chosen as the Presidents of two Juries for the 73rd Venice International Film Festival, respectively for the Orizzonti section and for the "Luigi De Laurentiis" Venice Award for a Debut Film - Lion of the Future. As announced earlier, the President of the Jury for the Venezia 73 Competition is director Sam Mendes.

Director Robert Guédiguian can be considered the modern minstrel of Marseilles, the city where he was born and lived, and where he set his film La ville est tranquille, presented in Venice in 2000. Guédiguian's filmography is a sort of saga of his city, with stories set in the microcosm of the neighbourhood he was born in, focusing on the lives of common people.

One of the most important actors in Italian cinema, Kim Rossi Stuart has often been featured at the Venice Film Festival with some of his most famous performances, including Le chiavi di casa (2004) by Gianni Amelio and Vallanzasca (2010) by Michele Placido. For Anche libero va bene (2006), his debut as a director, Rossi Stuart won the David di Donatello and the Nastro d'Argento as best new director.

The international Jury of the Orizzonti section, with President Robert Guédiguian, composed of no more than 7 members, will award the following prizes, with no joint awards permitted: Orizzonti Award for Best Film; Orizzonti Award for Best Director; Special Orizzonti Jury Prize; Orizzonti Award for Best Actor or Actress; Orizzonti Award for Best Screenplay; Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film.

The international Jury of the "Luigi De Laurentiis" Venice Award for a Debut Film - Lion of the Future, with President Kim Rossi Stuart, composed of no more than 5 members including one producer, will award, with no joint prizes permitted, a cash sum of 100,000 dollars donated by Filmauro, to be divided equally between the director and the producer of one of the debut feature-length films presented in the various competition sections of the Venice International Film Festival (Official Selection and Independent and Parallel Sections).

Cinema nel Giardino section at Venezia73

After last year success, the open to the public non-competitive section has become official and Cinema nel Giardino will be part of the festival from now on. The following is the official press release.

The new Regulations of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival confirm and formalize the introduction of the Cinema nel Giardino section, which was such a great success at last year’s edition of the festival.

This non-competitive section will feature a selection of films of various genres and lengths, to be preceded or accompanied by encounters and discussions with directors, stars or personalities in the fields of art and culture. Only films to be screened as world premieres may be submitted for selection.

The Cinema nel Giardino section was conceived in 2015 to fill an urgent need to broaden the activities of the Venice Film Festival with a new space that could open the Festival to everyone: occasional spectators and non-accredited visitors in addition, naturally, to the thousands of film fans that usually crowd the screening rooms. Offering everyone (residents of the Lido and Venice, curious onlookers who have come to see what a festival feels like, young people in search of cinematographic emotions) the opportunity to experience the atmosphere of the Venice Film Festival in the evening, for a moment of entertainment that combines an encounter with one or more personalities and the screening of a film. A place where many different activities might take place: discussions and encounters with the world of film and entertainment, screenings and film series. With the idea of bringing new life to the Venice Film Festival as a festival for the people too, and not just for accredited professionals.

The success of this experience which began in 2015 with the arena in the garden of the Casinò, prompted La Biennale to pursue the initiative on a larger scale. The opportunity that will arise as the City of Venice finally seals the “big hole” and turns it into a usable public square, will make it possible to build a modern and technologically advanced structure in this new outdoor space (450 seats) a screening room fit to host world premiere previews of films and their makers, ready to meet the audience before or after the screening.

Sonia Bergamasco set to host the opening and closing nights of the 73rd Festival

Sonia Bergamasco will open the 73rd Venice Film Festival on the evening of Wednesday August 31st, on the stage of the Sala Grande (Palazzo del Cinema on the Lido) for the opening ceremony, and on September 10th the actress will host the closing ceremony during which the winners of the Lions and the other official awards of the 73rd Venice Film Festival will be announced.

The 73rd Venice Film Festival will be held on the Lido from August 31st to September 10th 2016, directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by the Biennale di Venezia chaired by Paolo Baratta.

Sonia Bergamasco is one of Italy’s most versatile actresses. She was born in Milan, where she graduated in piano from the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi, and in acting from the Scuola del Piccolo Teatro. She made her debut in Arlecchino servitore di due padroni with Giorgio Strehler, and was the Blue Fairy in Carmelo Bene’s last version of Pinocchio for theatre and television. In theatre, she has also worked with Theodoros Terzopoulos, Massimo Castri and Glauco Mauri. Since 2001 she has starred in or directed productions in which the experience of music is more deeply entwined with the theatre. Winner of the Premio Duse 2014 for her work as an actress, in 2015 she directed and starred in the production Il ballo (from the short story by Irène Nemirovsky). She made her cinema debut in 2001 in L’amore probabilmente by Giuseppe Bertolucci, presented at the Venice Film Festival.

Winner of the Nastro d’argento 2004 for Best Actress in La meglio gioventù by Marco Tullio Giordana, she also worked with Bernardo Bertolucci in Io e te (2012), with Giuseppe Piccioni in Giulia non esce la sera (2009), with Silvio Soldini in the short film D’estate (1994), with Franco Battiato in Musikanten (2006). She won the Premio Flaiano award as best actress in the film for television De Gasperi, l’uomo della speranza (2005) by Liliana Cavani; also in television, she won great acclaim for the hit series Tutti pazzi per amore (2008-2010) and Una grande famiglia (2012-2015) by Riccardo Milani.

Her most recent accomplishments include her roles in the film Quo vado? with Checco Zalone, directed by Gennaro Nunziante, for which she won the Alida Valli Prize at the Bari Film Festival, and the new episodes of Commissario Montalbano, with Luca Zingaretti.

A few months ago the Portuguese Academy of Cinema organized the first ever exposition of the trophies given by Cinema Academies in the World. The exposition was part of the celebration of the Portuguese Academy Fifth Anniversary and consisted of twenty-eight trophies, including infamous Oscar but also less known statues like, for example, the one from the Lithuanian academy.

If you're a blog regular reader, you will know more awards than those listed but believe this effort should be emulated by Academies from larger cinema as is a great idea for those that enjoy the auto-celebration of cinema.

What follows is the expo catalog with trophy info in Portuguese and English. Enjoy!



The very interesting photo is of the Portuguese award Sophia seen from the bottom while laying down. Next Sophia awards ceremony will be on March 22.

Today Carlo Chatrian, Artistic Director of Locarno festival, announced the lineup with films that renew the tradition of an event devoted to cinematic discoveries. But most interesting is also the tribute to Abbas Kiarostami and Michael Cimino, both winners of Locarno awards.

Also today fest organizers announced some surprises and guests of Locarno69 and if you wish to read the official announcement go here, some of the news is the screening of The Girl with All the Gifts by Com McCarthy, Bill Pullman will receive the Execellence Award, David Linde will receive the Premio Raimondo Rezzonico, Alejandro Jodorowsky gets the Pardo d'Onore, Howard Shore the Vision Award, plus more.

Announced earlier, The Concorso Cineasti del Presente will open with I Had Nowhere to Go by Douglas Gordon, a film based on Jonas Mekas's diary. Carlo Chatrian, Artistic Director comments: “This year we decided to open the Concorso Cineasti del presente with a film that is the outcome of a collaboration between two internationally famous artists: Douglas Gordon, who for some years now has been interested in the “filmic event”, and Jonas Mekas, a magnificent 93-year-old, full of energy and still a fabulous storyteller. Although I do not want to reveal any more about this extraordinary project, I can say that Douglas Gordon offers us a truly sensorial experience, which challenges the concept of seeing, and links the idea of the present with that of memory”.

Announced last week, Roger Corman is the guest of honor at the Filmmakers Academy. Roger Corman will be paid tribute during the 69th edition of the Festival del film Locarno via screenings of two of his films. Guest of honor at the Filmmakers Academy, the training project for young directors, Corman has long been considered a cult filmmaker who helped change the way films are conceived, produced and directed.

Concorso Internazionale

In an edition of the festival powered by an energy that brooks no borders, the Concorso Internazionale presents 17 films that blow in from Japan to Portugal, from Bulgaria to Thailand.

Seventeen films and as many world premieres of which eight are directed by women. Newcomers vs returnees, experience vs youthfulness, discoveries vs already established talents, fiction, documentaries and hybrids. Seventeen different visions competing for the Pardo d’Oro.

Al Ma'wal Khodra Wal Wajh el Hassan (Brooks, Meadows and Lovely Faces), Yousry Nasrallah, Egypt
Bangkok Nites, Katsuya Tomita, Japan, France, Thailand, Laos
Correspondências, Rita Azevedo Gomes, Portugal (documentary)
ดาวคะนอง Dao Khanong (By the Time it Gets Dark), Anocha Suwichakornpong, Thailand, Netherlands, France and Qatar
Der Traumhafte Weg (The Dreamlike Path), Angela Schanelec, Germany
Godless, Ralitza Petrova, Bulgaria, Denmark and France
Hermia & Helena, Matías Piñeiro, USA and Argentina
Inimi Cicatrizate (Scarred Hearts), Radu Jude, Romania and Germany
Jeunesse (The Young One), Julien Samani, France and Portugal
風に濡れた女 Kaze ni Nureta Onna (Wet Woman in the Wind), Akihiko Shiota, Japan
La Idea de un Lago (The Idea of A Lake), Milagros Mumenthaler, Switzerland, Argentina and Qatar
La Prunelle de Mes Yeux (The Apple of My Eye), Axelle Ropert, France
Marija (Maria), Michael Koch, Germany and Switzerland
Mister Universo, Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel, Austria and Italy
O Ornitólogo (The Ornithologist), João Pedro Rodrigues, Portugal, France and Brazil
Ostatnia Rodzina (The Last Family), Jan P. Matuszyński, Poland
Slava (Glory), Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, Bulgaria and Greece

Piazza Grande

An effervescent variety of blockbusters, arthouse films, debut movies, works by established masters. This is the main characteristic of a big screen which will lit up Piazza Grande from August 3 to August 13.

If the opening film of the Scottish director Colm McCarthy, The Girl with All the Gifts, will lead us into a dystopian future which is strictly connected to contemporary issues, the closing film - Ashutosh Gowariker's Mohenjo Daro - will see the return to Locarno of a big Indian production with a beautiful mix made of epics, music and dances.

Am Tag Als der Regen Kam (The Day It Rained), Gerd Oswald, Germany, 1959
Cessez-le-feu (Ceasefire), Emmanuel Courcol, France
Comboio de Sal e Açucar, Licínio de Azevedo, Portugal, Mozambique, France, South Africa and Brazil
Dans la forêt, Gilles Marchand, France and Sweden
I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loack, UK, France and Belgium
Interchange, Dain Iskandar Said, Malaysia and Indonesia
Jason Bourne, Paul Greengrass, USA
Le Ciel Attendra (Heaven Will Wait), Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, France
Mohenjo Daro, Ashutosh Gowariker, India
Moka by Frédéric Mermoud, France and Switzerland
Paula, Christian Schwochow, Germany and France
Poesia Sin Fin (Endless Poetry), Alejandro Jodorowsky, France and Chile
터널 Teo-Neol (The Tunnel), Kim Seong-hun, South Korea
The Girl With All the Gifts, Colm McCarthy, UK
Vincent, Christophe Van Rompaey, France and Belgium
Vor der Morgenröte - Stefan Zweig in Amerika (Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe), Maria Schraders, Germany, France and Austria

Check available info and trailers @MOC

If you wish to learn the Concorso Cineasti del Presente lineup with 15 first and second films, go official site here.  Also to check the short films lineup for the Pardi di Domani in two different competition, one international and another national (Swiss), go official site here.

Carlo Chatrian announces the program, in English.



This is the first time that we get a clear idea of what must be going in parallel to all cinema activities as believe is the first time we can see what goes on in La Rotonda and gee, seems the Swiss really know how to party (LOL), take a look.



On top, La Rotonda absolutely has the best graphic identity with the leopard in an unbelievably good jumping position (or perhaps not jumping, just in a tree branch or maybe doing something else, lol). Enjoy!

The coming edition of the San Sebastian Festival will include screening of the winner of the Sebastiane Latino Award, presented by the Basque gay, lesbian, transsexual and bisexual association, GEHITU.

The Award goes to the Latin American feature film released during the previous year to best defend the demands and values of lesbian, gay, transsexual and bisexual people.

The Sebastiane Latino Award Jury, composed of members of GEHITU, has selected as finalists the films Amores Urbanos, Mãe só há uma, Nunca vas a estar solo, Rara, Santa y Andrés and Uio: sácame a pasear. Four of the six finalist films are directed by women.

This fourth edition of the award renews its support of Latin American cinema at the San Sebastian Festival, an event well known for its backing of Latin American productions. In addition to presenting the award to the winner, to be announced on the 18th, the 2nd Meeting of Ibero-American LGBT Film Festivals will also take place at the coming edition of the Festival.

No surprise when I say the most interesting film is the one from Ecuador as was not aware of film and is unusual to find a lesbian interest film made in Ecuador; on top, film already has won some local production awards. Interesting.

Amores Urbanos (Restless Love), Vera Egito, Brazil
Amores Urbanos is a comedy-drama telling the tale of three friends who live in the same building in the city of São Paulo. Julia, Diego and Micaela are young anti-heroes who deal with their ups and downs in love and work with humour and heaps of personality.



Mãe só há uma (Don't Call Me Son), Anna Muylaert, Brazil
On discovering that he was stolen as a child by the woman he thought was his mother, Pierre (also known as Felipe) must face up to the consequences of his mother’s actions and try to deal with his biological family.



Nunca Vas a Estar Solo (You'll Never Be Alone), Alex Anwandter, Chile
After the violent assault of his gay teenage son Juan, a withdrawn manager at a mannequin factory, struggles between paying his son’s exhorbitant medical bills and his last attempt at becoming partner with his boss. As he runs into dead-ends and unexpected betrayals, he discovers that the world he thought he knew was waiting to be violent with him too. Juan has already made too many mistakes, but his son can still be saved.



Rara, Pepa San Martín, Chile and Argentina
A story taking its inspiration from the real-life case of a Chilean judge who lost custody of her children for being a lesbian, narrated from the point of view of her eldest daughter, Sara, aged 13. The screenplay is based on a true story which could be told as a tale of lawyers and courts, of lawsuits, plaintiffs, defendants and victims, but is, instead, the story of a family.



Santa y Andrés, Carlos Lechuga, Cuba, France and Colombia
1988, Andrés is a homosexual writer with counterrevolutionary ideas. He lives confined by the government in a cabin deep in the mountains of eastern Cuba. When a political meeting is about to be held they send Santa, a local girl, to keep an eye on him for three days. Although the odds seem to be stacked against them, they soon realize that they have far more in common than they thought.



Uio: Sácame a Pasear (UIO: Take Me For a Ride), Micaela Rueda, Ecuador, Mexico and Colombia
Sara is in her last year of high school, doesn't have many friends and is trapped between a dominating mother and an inattentive father. But everything changes when she meets Andrea, her new schoolmate, and the two become involved in a secret intimate relationship.




To read the news at the official site go here, available only in Spanish.

The Chilean film Rara, directed by Pepa San Martín, will receive the Sebastiane Latino Award at the coming edition of the San Sebastian Festival. The Award goes to the Latin American feature film released during the previous year to best defend the demands and values of lesbian, gay, transsexual and bisexual people.

The accolade also reflects the support lent to Latin American productions by the Sebastiane Award, now in its 17th edition, and the San Sebastian Festival.

The Jury, made up of members of GEHITU, the Basque gay, lesbian, transsexual and bisexual association, opted for the film, to be presented in the coming Horizontes Latinos section, telling from a teenager’s point of view the story of her mother, the lesbian judge Karen Atala, who had the custody of her children taken from her by the Chilean justice because of her sexual orientation. Atala took her struggle to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which finally condemned Chile.

The Jury also rated the way the film conveys “the internal enemy that all we LGBT people have, the internalized homophobia, that feeling which after years of repression may have taken brutal root inside us, preventing us from expressing healthy affectivity in society”. San Martín prompts her leading character, “for fear of non-existent rejection, to unleash a succession of events leading to an unpleasant situation for all those around her”.

They also highlighted the fact that Rara is a work directed, written and performed largely by women, “an obvious example of the strong presence of women in many films” participating in the fourth edition of the Sebastiane Latino Award.

Synopsis from Berlinale 2016 
“So ... do your Mom and Lia kiss in public?” · “Sometimes. Not that much.”

Since their parents split up, Sara and her younger sister live with their mother, whose new partner is a woman. Everyday life for the four of them is hardly any different than it is for other families. The situation is actually totally fine with Sara. But not everyone sees it that way – her father in particular has his doubts. As Sara’s 13th birthday approaches, she’s feeling rather overwhelmed: her first crush, a body in the midst of changes and to top it off, conflicts over loyalty with her parents ... Everything feels wrong. The empathetic feature-length debut of director Pepa San Martín is based on a true story.

Pepa San Martín





The poster that reminds us film was in 2016 Berlinale where won the International Jury Grand Prix for Best Film in the Generation Kplus section.


To check news at official site go here, available only in Spanish.

The calm before the storm is coming to an end next week when fest organizers announce #Venezia73 selection in the many sections of the 2016 festival and to seal the calm, today was the announcement of the juries.

There are some very pleasant news as during the festival we will be able to often see great European actresses like Nina Hoss and none other than Chiara Mastroianni plus the Golden Lion winner of last year is now part of the Venezia 73 jury. But before getting into the juries for Venezia 73, Orizzonti, Opera Prima and Venezia Classici, will do an update on some of the news that were released since the last news blog post.

Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jerzy Skolimowski Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement

French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo and Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski are the recipients of the Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival.
The decision was made by the Board of Directors of the Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta, upon recommendation of the Director of the Venice Film Festival Alberto Barbera.

The Board of Directors has decided to award two Golden Lions for Career Achievement at every future edition of the Film Festival, starting this year. One will be given to a director or someone from the world of film production; the second will be awarded to an actor or an actress, i.e., to someone who belongs to the world of acting.

Jean-Paul Belmondo, an icon of French and international cinema, is one of the actors who best interpreted the hallmark modernity of the Nouvelle Vague in his representation of alienated characters, in Leda (À double tour, 1959) by Claude Chabrol; Breathless (1960) and Pierrot le Fou (1965, presented in Competition at the Venice Film Festival), both by Jean-Luc Godard; or Mississippi Mermaid (1969) by François Truffaut. In particular, in his portrayal of Michel Poiccard/László Kovács in Breathless, Belmondo brought to the fore the figure of the provocative and seductive antihero, a far cry from the Hollywood stereotypes on which Godard himself had based the character. His extroverted acting style secured him some of the best roles in French gangster movies, such as in The Big Risk (1960) by Claude Sautet, Le Doulos (1962) by Jean-Pierre Melville and Hit Man (1972) by José Giovanni, and he achieved enormous success in many of his later movies, from That Man from Rio (1964) by Philippe de Broca to The Night Caller (1975) by Henri Verneuil, from The Professional (1981) by Georges Lautner to Itinerary of a Spoiled Child (1988) by Claude Lelouch. Says Festival Director Alberto Barbera, “Thanks to his fascinating face, irresistible charm and extraordinary versatility, he has played roles in dramas, adventure movies and even comedies, making him a star who is universally respected, by committed directors and escapist cinema alike.”

Says Festival Director Alberto Barbera, “Jerzy Skolimowski is one of the most representative exponents of the modern cinema born during the nouvelles vagues of the 1960s. He and Roman Polanski are the two filmmakers who contributed most to the renewal of Polish cinema during that same period.” Polanski himself (who called him in to write the screenplay of his debut movie, Knife in the Water) predicted: “Skolimowski will stand head and shoulders above his generation.” Actually, the fifty year career of the “boxing poet” (as he was dubbed by Andrezj Munk, Skolimowski’s cinematographic “father”), during which he made seventeen feature-length films, has been anything but easy, and his opus was marked by continuous moves – from Poland to Belgium, from England to the United States, before returning to his homeland less than ten years ago. Although his body of works is seemingly stateless, due to heterogeneous and apparently dissimilar production styles, each one of his movies is actually highly personal and original. The trilogy he made in Poland during his debut years – Rysopis (1964), Walkover (1965) and Barrier (1966) - were to the Eastern Bloc countries what Godard’s earliest movies were to Western cinema, whereas his later masterpieces - The Departure (1967, Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival), Deep End (1970), The Shout (1978, Grand Prix at Cannes Film Festival), Hands Up! (1981) and Moonlighting (1982, Best Screenplay at Cannes Film Festival) – are still top examples of a type of cinema which is modern, free and innovative, radically nonconformist and bold. The last films he made after returning to his homeland – Four Nights With Anna (2008), Essential Killing (2010, Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival), presented in competition at the Venice Film Festival as his following movie 11 Minutes (2015) – display an unexhausted and surprising capacity for renewal which rightfully places him among the most combative and original directors of contemporary cinema.

Pre-opening event of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival

Dedicated to the great director Luigi Comencini (1916 - 2007) on the centennial of his birth, the Pre-opening event of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival will be held on Tuesday August 30th at the Sala Darsena (Palazzo del Cinema) on the Lido.

Featured will be the screening of Comencini's masterpiece Tutti a casa (Everybody Go Home, Italy/France, 1960) in the copy digitally restored by Filmauro and CSC - Cineteca Nazionale di Roma, starring Alberto Sordi, Serge Reggiani, Carla Gravina and Eduardo De Filippo, produced by Dino De Laurentiis, with screenplay by Age and Scarpelli, winner at the time of two David di Donatello awards and one Nastro d'argento.

The restored version will be presented in its world premiere screening, remastered in 4K on the basis of the original negatives provided by Filmauro. The digital processing was performed in the laboratories of Cinecittà Digital Factory in Rome. The transfer to 35mm film was done in the laboratories of Augustus Color in Rome.

The restored films of Venezia Classici

Italian director Roberto Andò (The Confessions, Long Live Freedom, The Prince’s Manuscript) will chair the Jury of Cinema History Students which – for the fourth time – will award the Venezia Classici Award for the Bet Restored Film and the Best Documentary on Cinema.

The numerous restored masterpieces in the Venezia Classici section of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival include classic films by Robert Bresson, John Ford, Woody Allen, Nikita Michalkov, Akira Kurosawa, Louis Malle plus more, but none is so relevant -to me and world cinema- as the restoration of Stalker by Andrei Tarkovski. If you wish to check the list with all restored films go official site here.

As we know the Venezia Classici section will also feature the presentation of a selection of documentaries about cinema and its filmmakers; the complete list will be announced next Thursday along with the Official Selection.

The three international Juries of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival

Venezia 73

As we know, the President of the Jury is director Sam Mendes and here are the filmmakers that will help him to decide on the fest top awards.

German actress Nina Hoss, who works in both film and the theatre, won the Silver Bear as Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival in 2007 with Yella (2007) by Christian Petzold, a director with whom she has worked many times: in Jerichow (2008), screened in Competition in Venice, and in the recent Phoenix (2014), a performance for which she won many important international awards.

French actress Chiara Mastroianni, a famous star of European auteur films, who acted alongside her mother Catherine Deneuve at a very young age in Ma maison préférée by André Téchiné (1993, nominated at the César awards for Most Promising Actress). In 2010 she won the Excellence Award at the Locarno Film Festival. In 2014 she participated in the Venice International Film Festival with two films in Competition, Trois Coeurs by Benoît Jacquot and La Rançon de la gloire by Xavier Beauvois.

American artist, singer, director and writer Laurie Anderson, one of the most important and courageous exponents of the creative avant-garde in America today. She is renowned for her vocal and multimedia performances, which cross-pollinate art, theatre and experimental music. In 2015 she directed Heart of a Dog, screenedin Competition in Venice, which won unanimous critical acclaim around the world.

British actress Gemma Arterton moved into the limelight in 2008 when she appeared as a Bond Girl in the film Quantum of Solace by Marc Forster. In 2009 she won the Empire Award for Best Newcomer. The star of Tamara Drewe (2010) by Stephen Frears and of Byzantium (2012) by Neil Jordan, she has also appeared in major productions such as Prince of Persia (2010) by Mike Newell.

American director Joshua Oppenheimer, who attracted international attention with his two documentaries, both nominated for an Oscar, The Act of Killing (2012) and The Look of Silence (2014), the latter in Competition at the Venice Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize. Since then, the film has won 70 awards, including the Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary.

Venezuelan director Lorenzo Vigas, who won the Golden Lion for Best Film at last year's Venice International Film Festival with his debut film Desde allà, the first Latin-American director to win the most important prize on the Lido. The film was later screened at many international festivals and won many awards.

Chinese actress, director and singer Zhao Wei, who rose to international fame in the films of Stephen Chow, Ann Hui, He Ping, John Woo and Johnnie To. For her role in Dearest (2014) by Peter Chan, screened Out of Competition at the Venice Film Festival, she won Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards. In 2013 she made her debut as a director with So Young, the highest-grossing film ever in China for a female director.

The Italian magistrate, writer, playwright and screenwriter Giancarlo De Cataldo, author of the best-selling novel Romanzo criminale (2002) which inspired the film by Michele Placido (2005) and the television series by Stefano Sollima (2008). He is a two-time winner of the David di Donatello for the screenplays of Romanzo criminale, and of Noi credevamo (2010) by Mario Martone (which also won a Nastro d'argento for the screenplay).

The Jury will award the following official prizes to the feature films in Competition: Golden Lion for Best Film; Silver Lion - Grand Jury Prize; Silver Lion for Best Director; Coppa Volpi for Best Actor; Coppa Volpi for Best Actress; “Marcello Mastroianni” Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress; Award for Best Screenplay; and the Special Jury Prize.

Orizzonti

The members of the international Jury of the Orizzonti section, in addition to its president, French director Robert Guédiguian, are:

American film critic and historian Jim Hoberman, long the "senior critic" of the "Village Voice" in New York, who writes a column in "The New York Times", and is one of the most influential voices in international film criticism. A teacher and exhibition curator, he has been a member of international juries and of the selection committee for the New York Film Festival. He has written thirteen books on cinema.

Egyptian actress Nelly Karim, who won the Best Actress Award at the Cairo International Film Festival in 2004 for My Soulmate by Khaled Youssef. In 2012, her performance in Cairo 678 by Mohamed Diab, won her the Best Actress Award at the Arab Film Festival. She took part in the penultimate film by Youssef Chahine, Alexandria...New York (2004).

Italian actress Valentina Lodovini, one of the most important actresses in Italian cinema in recent years, starting with her role as the star of La giusta distanza (2007) by Carlo Mazzacurati. Winner of the David di Donatello in 2010 for Benvenuti al Sud by Luca Miniero, in 2011 she starred in Cose dell’altro mondo by Francesco Patierno, presented at the Venice Film Festival.

The Korean actress and director Moon So-ri has set a milestone in Korean film history with her passionate acting in Lee Chang-dong's Oasis which earned her the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Emerging Actress at the 2002 Venice Film Festival, for the first time as a Korean actress.

Spanish film critic and scholar José Maria (Chema) Prado, the long-standing director (since 1989) of the Filmoteca Española in Madrid. He has been a member of the jury at many international film festivals, including Cannes and Locarno, and has collaborated with the San Sebastian Festival. In 2015 he won the Premio Fénix por la Contribución a la Cultura Cinematográfica de Iberoamérica.

Indian director Chaitanya Tamhane, whose debut feature film, Court (2014), premiered at the 71st Venice Film Festival, where it won the Lion of the Future award and the Orizzonti award for Best film. Since then, the film has gone on to win 32 international awards, and it was India’s official entry to the Oscars. He has recently been selected for the Rolex Mentor-Protégé Arts Initiative under the mentorship of Alfonso Cuarón.

The Jury will award the following prizes, with no ex-aequo awards permitted: Orizzonti Award for Best Film; Orizzonti Award for Best Director; Special Orizzonti Jury Prize; Orizzonti Award for Best Actor or Actress; Orizzonti Award for Best Screenplay; Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film; Venice Short Film Nomination for the European Film Awards 2016.

Debut Film – Lion of the Future

The members of the international Jury of the “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film – Lion of the Future, in addition to its president, Italian actor Kim Rossi Stuart, are:

Spanish producer Rosa Bosch, former Deputy Director of the London Film Festival/National Film Theatre. As a producer, she has worked with directors such as Wim Wenders, Guillermo Del Toro, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu and Gus Van Sant. In 2003 she became co-managing director of HBO Films in London.

American actor and director Brady Corbet won the “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film – Lion of the Future at the 2015 Venice Film Festival and the Orizzonti Award for Best Director. Previously he had been one of America's most interesting young actors, as the star, among others, of Mysterious Skin (2004) by Gregg Araki, presented at the Venice Film Festival.

Spanish actress Pilar López de Ayala, one of the most highly considered and beloved Iberian stars, won the Silver Shell at the San Sebastian Film Festival and the Goya Prize for her performance as Queen Juana de Castilla in Mad Love (2001)by Vicente Aranda. She was the star of The Strange Case of Angelica (2010) by Manoel de Oliveira, presented in the Un certain regard section of the Cannes Film Festival.

French film critic Serge Toubiana, one of the most important film scholars of his generation, critic for Cahiers du cinéma from 1974 to 2000 (and its director for many years), director of the Cinémathèque Française from 2003 through January 2016. He is the author of many books and documentaries. With Kent Jones, he co-authored the documentary Hitchcock Truffaut (2015).

The Jury will award, with no ex-aequo awards permitted, the Lion of the Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film to one of the debut feature-length films selected from the various competition sections of the Venice Film Festival (Official Selection and Independent and Parallel Sidebars). It comes with a cash prize of 100,000 USD donated by Filmauro di Aurelio e Luigi De Laurentiis, to be divided equally between the director and the producer.