4 September 2008 10:36 AM, PDT | From Studio Briefing - Film News | See recent Studio Briefing - Film News news
The Toronto and Venice Film Festivals -- always close rivals and usually overlapping one another -- may become direct competitors next year. Venice artistic director Marco Mueller said Wednesday that next year's festival will start a week later, on September 2, about the same time that Toronto is due to begin. (This year's festival opens today). Mueller indicated that the reason for delaying the start was to give filmmakers a bit of extreme time to put the finishing touches on their entries. But reports noted that it could force some filmmakers, who are unlikely to try to be in two places at the same time, to make a choice between screening their films at Venice or Toronto. USA Today observed today that even without the direct competition from Venice, Toronto's festival "isn't quite its bellwether self this year. Factors such as rising travel costs, delays caused by the writers' strike and weakened art-house divisions have kept the most likely best-picture candidates out of the lineup."
