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Maura Delpero’s Italian WW2 drama Vermiglio won best film at the 70th David Di Donatello awards, Italy’s version of the Oscars, held at Rome’s historic Cinecittà film studio on Wednesday night. Delpero also took best directing honors en route to a 7-trophy sweep.

The film, which had its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival last year, beat out the two award frontrunners, Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope, a sumptuous, occasionally surreal tribute to his hometown of Naples, and Andrea Segre’s The Great Ambition, a political biopic about Italian Communist Party leader Enrico Berlinguer, which lead the pack going into the David awards with 15 nominations each. Parthenope went away empty-handed, but The Great Ambition took two awards: Best actor for Elio Germano, who play Berlinguer, and best editing for Jacopo Quadri.

Tecla Insolia won best actress for her starring role in Nicolangelo Gelormini’s Sicilian...

Women dominated Italy’s David di Donatello Awards with Maura Delpero’s Venice Silver Lion winner “Vermiglio” taking top honors and Valeria Golino’s female empowerment drama “The Art of Joy” and Margherita Vicario’s directorial debut “Gloria!” also scoring multiple statuettes.

“Vermiglio,” which is set at the end of World War II in an Alpine village where the arrival of a soldier causes disruption in the dynamics between three sisters, was the night’s big winner taking best picture, best director, screenplay, producer, cinematography, sound and the David’s newly introduced casting category.

Delpero, who is the first woman to win the best director David in the 70-year history of the awards – and only the third female filmmaker to win best film – underlined the anti-war aspect of “Vermiglio”

“When I thought about writing it, someone asked me if it wasn’t anachronistic to talk about war,” she said.

“Unfortunately,...

Timothée Chalamet underlined the impact of Luca Guadagnino’s “Call Me by Your Name” on his career as he received Italy’s David Award for Cinematic Excellence during the event’s 70th edition on Wednesday evening at Rome’s Cinecittá studios.

“Luca is probably the most important person in my career,” said Chalamet, who attended Italy’s top film award show with girlfriend Kylie Jenner — marking the first time they’ve walked a red carpet together despite being linked for two years — and his father Marc Chalamet. When Chalamet earned his first best actor nomination in 2017 for Guadagnino’s “Call Me” at 22, he was the third-youngest nominee ever in that category.

“I started out as a 20-year-old kid from New York who was having a hard time breaking out in the American film industry,” Chalamet said. “My career happened overnight thanks to Luca Guadagnino and the chance he took on...

Timothée Chalamet will receive the David for Cinematic Excellence during the 70th edition of the David di Donatello Awards, Italy’s leading film prizes.

The honor will be conferred on May 7 during the awards ceremony, aired live in primetime on national broadcaster Rai 1 from the Cinecittà Studios in Rome. The event will be hosted by actor Elena Sofia Ricci and singer Mika. It will also be live on Rai Radio2, hosted by Carolina Di Domenico and Claudio Santamaria.

“Timothée Chalamet’s European origins and American background make him one of the most unpredictable and talented protagonists of international cinema today, capable of being both an auteur performer and a star generating trends and styles,” said Piera Detassis, president and artistic director of the Academy of Italian Cinema.

“The academy is delighted to award him the David for Cinematic Excellence, which is meant to be an acknowledgement of the great...

After several sun-kissed days, Beijing brought out the stars on Saturday night as Lilja Ingolfsdottir’s debut feature, Norwegian marital drama Loveable, won the best feature film honor, plus three additional awards, at a closing ceremony full of Chinese stars and music that wrapped up the 15th edition of the Beijing International Film Festival on a high.

With director Ingolfsdottir not in attendance, it was up to her star Helga Guren to collect not only the best actress award but also the other honors.

Iván Fund’s The Message left the evening with three Tiantan Awards, while Chinese filmmaker Sagara’s Trapped picked up honors in two categories.

Other award winners included Noëlle Bastin and Baptiste Bogaert’s Vitrival – The Most Beautiful Village in the World, Hao Ming and Li Peiran’s Better Me, Better You, and Nawi: Dear Future Me, directed by Tobias Schmutzler, Kevin Schmutzler, Apuu Mourine,...

Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope, the director’s sumptuous, occasionally surreal tribute to his hometown of Naples, and Andrea Segre’s The Great Ambition, a political biopic about Italian Communist Party leader Enrico Berlinguer, are the frontrunners for this year’s David Di Donatello awards, Italy’s version of the Oscars.

Parthenope and The Great Ambition picked up 15 nominations each, including for best film and best director. In the best film category, they will face up against Maura Delpero’s Italian WW2 drama Vermiglio and Valeria Golino and Nicolangelo Gelormini’s L’arte della gioia (The Art of Joy), which received 14 nominations each, and the Francesca Comencini-directed drama The Time It Takes, which received four nominations. Other multiple nominees include Margherita Vicario’s debut feature Gloria!, about women musicians at a Church-run establishment in early-1800s Italy, which scored nine nominations, and Francesco Costabile’s crime thriller Familia, with eight.

In the best international film category,...

Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope and Andrea Segre’s The Great Ambition have taken the lead at the nomination stage for Italy’s upcoming 70th David di Donatello awards.

The titles have secured 15 nominations each including for best film and director.

Maura Delpero’s Vermiglio and Valeria Golino and Nicolangelo Gelormini’s The Art Of Joy received 14 nominations each, followed by Gloria! and Familia with nine and eight nominations respectively.

Sorrentino’s Parthenope, following a woman from her birth in 1950 to the current day against the backdrop of Naples, world premiered in Cannes.

Biopic The Great Ambition stars Elio Germano as 1970s and 1980s left-wing political leader Enrico Berlinguer, who nearly led the Communist party into power.

Vermiglio world premiered in Venice where it won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize and went on to be Italy’s 2025 Oscars submission. Set in a remote mountain village in 1944, the drama revolves around...

The 15th Beijing International Film Festival has revealed that acclaimed Chinese director and actor Jiang Wen will preside over the Tiantian competition jury, with celebrated Chinese-American actor and filmmaker Joan Chen joining the panel.

The seven-member international jury brings together a cross-section of global film talent, including British director David Yates, Chinese actor Ni Ni, Finnish director Teemu Nikki, Swiss director and actor Vincent Perez, and Hong Kong art director Tim Yip.

Hungarian auteur Béla Tarr will lead the jury for the festival’s Forward Future strand.

The main competition lineup features a diverse slate of films vying for the award, including Hao Ming and Li Peiran’s “Better Me, Better You,” Li Yongyi’s “Deep in the Mountains” and Zhang Qi’s “Trapped,” all from China, and Emine Yildirim’s “Apollon by Day Athena by Night” (Turkey), Sora Hokimoto’s “Baus: The Ship’s Voyage Continues” (Japan), Maria Brendle...

Chinese actor-director Jiang Wen (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Let the Bullets Fly) will serve as the head of the main competition jury at the 15th Beijing International Film Festival, which will hand out its Tiantan Awards.

The jury will also include Chinese American director and actor Joan Chen (The Last Emperor), British director David Yates (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them), Chinese actor Ni Ni, Finnish director Teemu Nikki, Swiss director and actor Vincent Perez, and art director Tim Yip from Hong Kong. The panel will select the winners across 10 award categories, including best feature film, best director and best screenplay.

The festival also unveiled its 15 main competition films, with organizers saying they received a record 1,794 feature film submissions from 103 countries and regions, marking a 19 percent increase over last year.

The three Chinese films in the main competition lineup are Hao Ming and Li Peiran’s Better Me,...

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Mamma Mia!

A trip to the Barberini: Deadline was in Italy this week, as top players from European and North American film and TV descended on the annual Mia Market conference. October is a busy month for Rome, with the film festival also kicking off on Wednesday with a premiere screening of Andrea Segre’s La Grande Ambizione at the Auditorium della Musica. Over at the Cinema Barberini, Mia got underway on Monday with Jesse interviewing Among Us showrunner Owen Dennis on stage about the creative process of turning the Covid-19 pandemic’s favorite mobile game into a comedy-horror animation for CBS Studios. “The game can be unsettling,” Dennis told us in a pre-interview. “You’re walking around what is mostly...

Andrea Segre’s The Great Ambition, the opening film of the Rome Film Festival, tells the story of how the Italian Communist Party came close to governing Italy.

It focuses on Italian politician Enrico Berlinguer, who ran the Communist Party when it reached its peak of popularity in the 1970s. His great ambition was to achieve a democratic path to communism, which meant severing his Party’s ties with Moscow.

Leading the film as Berlinguer is Elio Germano, winner of the best actor prize at the 2020 Berlinale for Hidden Away and at Cannes in 2010 for Our Life. The Great Ambition...

Paola Malanga is the artistic director of the Rome Film Festival which kicks off tomorrow (October 16) with the world premiere of Andrea Segre’s political drama The Great Ambition.

It is Malanga’s third edition at the helm of the festival, having joined in 2022 from Rai Cinema where she was deputy director of its product division spanning production and acquisition. She has also been a journalist, film critic and author throughout her career.

Among the world premieres in Rome’s main Progressive Cinema competition are dark comedy The Trainer by American History X director Tony Kaye and Eran Ricklis’ Reading Lolita In Tehran.

The Rome Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its 19th edition, which takes place from October 16-27.

Rome will present a lifetime achievement award to Johnny Depp, who will present Modi - Three Days on the Wing of Madness, about Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, at the festival.

Viggo Mortensen will also receive a lifetime achievement award, and will present The Dead Don’t Hurt, which he wrote, directed and stars in.

Francis Ford Coppola will also be in Rome for a special ‘pre-opening’ festival presentation of the Italian premiere of Megalopolis at Cinecittà Studios – the Rome studio that hosted him...

Italy’s Fandango Film Sales has taken world rights outside Italy on Andrea Segre’s “The Great Ambition,” a biopic of late Italian political leader Enrico Berlinguer, who during the 1970s was secretary of Western Europe’s largest Communist Party.

The film, which is lead-produced by Rome-based indie Vivo film has been set as the Rome Film Festival opener, as previously announced.

Elio Germano, who won the actor top honors in Cannes with Daniele Luchetti’s “Our Life,” plays Berlinguer, who led the Italian Communist Party (Pci) from 1972 until his death in 1984. Berlinguer nearly brought the Pci to power in the Italian parliamentary elections of 1976.

Germano is currently at Venice Film Festival with the Mafia drama “Sicilian Letters.” Segre was last at Venice with the 2021 drama “Welcome Venice,” which played in Venice Days.

“When a way forward seems impossible to everyone, do you have to stop? Enrico Berlinguer did not,...

Acclaimed Chinese auteur filmmaker Jia Zhang-ke has set “We Shall Be All” as his next feature directing project. It is his first in the five years since his “Ash Is Purest White,” which premiered in Cannes in 2018.

Describing the project as a “dismantling of dystopia,” Jia says that the new film is set across the first two decades of the 21st century and tells the story of how a Chinese woman lives to herself in silence, celebrating the prosperous Belle Epoque with songs and dance.

Some 22 years in the making, the film’s first elements were shot as far back as 2001. The balance will be filmed later this year. No release schedule has been indicated.

The film is co-written by Jia and Wan Jiahuan, a pairing that previously worked together on Jia’s 2020 documentary film “Swimming Out Till The Sea Turns Blue.”

It will star Zhao Tao, who is both...

The Venice Film Festival is exerting a positive impact on the Italian box office where Mario Martone’s “The King of Laughter” (“Qui Rido Io”) got a boost over the weekend from its Lido launch that landed the Toni Servillo-starrer in the number two spot after Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.”

Italy’s box office results this past weekend saw “King of Laughter,” in which Servillo plays Neapolitan theater luminary Eduardo Scarpetta, score €314,840 from 291 screens via 01 Distribution for a €1,079 per screen average. That’s not bad considering that Italian movie theaters are operating at 50% capacity due to Covid-19 health safety measures and that Martone’s pic didn’t win any Venice prizes.

To put Martone’s “King” post-Venice result into perspective, “Shang-Chi,” in its second Italian frame, pulled €692,791, for a €1,143 per-screen average, and a total €2.7 million ($3.1 million) Italian haul to date via Disney.

The programme for the 2021 Venice Film Festival has been unveiled, and includes new films from Pedro Almodóvar, Jane Campion, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michelangelo Frammartino, Pablo Larraín, Paul Schrader, Ridley Scott, and more.Parallel MothersCOMPETITIONParallel Mothers (Pedro Almodóvar)Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon (Ana Lily Amirpour)Un Autre Monde (Stephane Brize)The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion)America LatinaL’Evenement (Audrey Diwan)Official CompetitionThe Hole (Michelangelo Frammartino)Sundown (Michel Franco)Lost Illusions (Xavier Giannoli)The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal)Spencer (Pablo Larrain)Freaks Out (Gabriele Mainetti)Qui Rido Io (Mario Martone)On The Job: The Missing 8 (Erik Matti)Leave No Traces (Jan P. Matuszyński)Captain Volkonogov EscapedThe Card Counter (Paul Schrader)The Hand of God (Paolo Sorrentino)Reflection (Valentyn Vasyanovych)The Box (Lorenzo Vigas)Out Of COMPETITIONFeaturesDune (Denis Villeneuve)Il Bambino Nascosto (Roberto Andò)Les Choses Humaines (Yvan Attal)Ariaferma (Leonardo Di Costanzo)Halloween Kills (David Gordon Green...

“The 78th Venice International Film Festival is organized by La Biennale di Venezia and directed by Alberto Barbera. It will take place at Venice Lido from 1 – 11 September 2021. The Festival is officially recognised by the Fiapf (International Federation of Film Producers Association). The aim of the Festival is to raise awareness and promote international cinema in all its forms as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and dialogue. The Festival also organises retrospectives and tributes to major figures as a contribution towards a better understanding of the history of cinema.” Venezia 2021 – Competition Madres Paralelas, dir: Pedro Almodovar Mona Lisa And The Blood Moon, dir: Ana Lily Amirpour Un Autre Monde, dir: Stéphane Brizé The Power Of The Dog, dir: Jane Campion America Latina, dir: Damiano D’Innocenzo, Fabio D’Innocenzo L’Evénement, dir: Audrey Diwan Competencia Oficial, dirs: Gaston Duprat, Mariano Cohn Il Buco, dir: Michelangelo Frammartino Sundown,...

Taking place September 1 through 11, the Venice Film Festival has now unveiled its lineup, after a few teases of what it contains (the opening night selection of Madres Paralelas by Pedro Almodovar and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune). Among the selections are Jane Campion’s The Power of a Dog, Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter, Pablo Larrain’s Spencer, Ana Lily Amirpour’s Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon.

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut The Lost Daughter, Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel, Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God, and Edgar Wright’s The Last Night in Soho will premiere there, along with new shorts by Radu Jude and Tsai Ming-liang.

Check out the line below for the festival that will feature 50% capacity at screenings.

Venezia 78 – Competition

Madres Paralelas, dir: Pedro Almodovar

Mona Lisa And The Blood Moon, dir: Ana Lily Amirpour

Un Autre Monde, dir: Stéphane Brizé

The Power Of The Dog,...

The 2021 Cannes Film Festival brought the international film circuit back to life in roaring fashion earlier this month (French filmmaker Julia Ducournau became the second woman director to win the Palme d’Or thanks to Neon release “Titane”), and next up are the trio of major fall film festivals in September: the Venice Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, and Toronto International Film Festival. Venice is first out of the gate by launching its 78th edition Wednesday, September 1. The lineup for Venice 2021 has now been revealed.

As previously announced, Pedro Almodóvar will kick off the 2021 Venice Film Festival with the world premiere of his new drama “Parallel Mothers.” The film will debut in competition and vie for the festival’s top prize, the Golden Lion. “Parallel Mothers” is written and directed by Almodóvar, and stars both regular and new collaborators, including Penélope Cruz, Milena Smit, Israel Elejalde, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Julieta Serrano,...

This year’s line-up includes five female directors in competition.

The line-up of the 78th Venice Film Festival (September 1-11) has been announced by festival president Roberto Cicutto and artistic director Alberto Barbera.

Scroll down for the full line-up

This year’s selection saw the festival take a backward step for gender balance, with five female directors selected in the main competition, down from last year’s eight. 26% of films in the overall line-up are directed by women, down from 28% in 2020.

The high-profile titles picked for competition this year include Pablo Larrain’s Spencer; Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand Of God...

The Venice film festival runs September 1-11.

The line-up for the 78th Venice Film Festival (September 1-11) is being unveiled this morning at around 11:00 Cest (10:00 BST) by festival president Roberto Cicutto and artistic director Alberto Barbera.

The press conference will be live-streamed here below, and the story will be updated with the films as they are announced.

As previously announced, Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers will open the festival in competition. Denis Villeneuve’s Dune will also have its world premiere at the festival out of competition on September 3.

Bong Joon Ho will preside over the competition jury that also includes Chloé Zhao,...

The Venice Film Festival has unveiled its official poster by Italian illustrator and author Lorenzo Mattotti, and announced that a film by Venice native Andrea Segre looking at how the fest navigated Covid-19 last year will screen as its pre-opening event.

Titled “La Biennale di Venezia: il cinema al tempo del Covid,” which translates to “The Venice Biennale: Cinema in the time of Covid,” the pre-opener will screen on Aug. 31. The project is a video diary chronicling how Venice pulled off last year’s edition as a physical event, becoming the only top-tier international film festival to do so. Pic is produced by the Venice Biennale, the arts foundation that oversees the Venice fest, with Italy’s Rai Cinema and Istituto Luce Cinecittà.

On its pre-opening night, Venice will also screen a freshly restored copy of 1971 Italian classic “Per grazia ricevuta” (Between Miracles), directed by and starring the late great actor-director Nino Manfredi,...

The Changing Face of Europe program, which is presented by European Film Promotion (Efp) in collaboration with the Hot Docs Canadian Intl. Documentary Festival, reflects a continent in flux, as displacement, immigration, cultural shifts, and the coronavirus pandemic have all played separate roles in pushing millions to rethink and reimagine what it means to live in Europe today.

The program’s fourth edition, which takes place online from April 29 to May 9, features 10 documentaries, including two world, one international, and four North American premieres. Films were nominated by Efp’s 38 member organizations, which include film promotion institutions from across the continent, before the Hot Docs programming team made the final selection. The initiative is supported by the Creative Europe – Media Program of the European Union and the participating member organizations of Efp.

“For the audience, and also for distributors, [the program] gives you a great portrait of what is currently happening in Europe,...

Germany’s Deckert Distribution, a world sales agent on two-time Oscar nominee “Honeyland,” has confirmed first deals on “The Bubble,” “Bellum – Daemon of War” and “Les Enfants terribles,” three world premiere standouts in International Competition at Nyon Switzerland’s Visions du Réel.

“Les Enfants terribles” shared the prestige Swiss doc fest’s Special Jury Prize, announced at a prize ceremony on Saturday night.

The deals, with more in negotiation, prove the commercial fire power of the biggest new world premieres at Visions du Réel. Added to sales on Venice pre-opening film “Molecules,” the accords also confirm the strength of Leipzig-based Deckert’ Distribution’s current sales slate which includes six features at Visions du Réel and three at Cph:dox. Sales details:

“The Bubble,” (Valerie Blankenbyl, Switzerland, Austria)

A measured portrait of the world’s biggest retirement community, Florida’s The Villages, “The Bubble” has confirmed its potential as one of the festival’s biggest commercial plays,...

Documentaries include ‘The Bubble’, a portrait of the world’s largest retirement community.

German sales agent Deckert Distribution has boarded a hat-trick of documentaries set to world premiere in competition at Switzerland’s Visions du Réel.

The features include Bellum - The Daemon Of War by Swedish directors David Herdies and Georg Götmark; Les Enfants Terribles by Turkish filmmaker Ahmet Necdet Çupur; and The Bubble by Austria’s Valerie Blankenbyl.

All three will play in the main competition of Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel, which revealed its full line up today and is set to take place from April...

In today’s Global Bulletin, Raindance announces its winners, Göteborg goes hybrid, Movistar Plus announces a new climate change docuseries, and Dopamine hires Maria Garcia-Castrillon to lead the company’s international business.

Festivals

Raindance Film Festival’s virtual awards ceremony unspooled on Thursday, live streamed from the Leicester Square Theater, where Giorgos Georgopoulos’ dark comedy “Not to Be Unpleasant But We Need to Have a Serious Talk” was declared Film of the Festival and Finnish feature “Force of Habit,” seven stories from seven directors about the normality of sexual harassment and abuse in private and society at large, won best international feature and best screenplay.

Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe’s “He Dreams of Giants” and “The State of Texas vs. Melissa” from director Sabrina Van Tassel won best U.K. feature and best documentary feature respectively. In the former, Fulton and Pepe track Terry Gilliam’s long-fought battle to film his most recent feature,...

Several titles looking to follow in the wake of ‘Tenet’.

France, opening Wednesday September 2

The biggest opener in France this week is Anne Fontaine’s Police, first seen at the Berlinale in February. Released by Studiocanal, the drama (also known as Night Shift) centres on three Parisian police officers – played by Omar Sy, Virginie Efira and Grégory Gadebois – who debate whether to deport an illegal immigrant (Payman Maadi) while transporting him to the airport.

Sophie Letourneur’s Enormous will also receive a wide release through Memento Films Distribution. First screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) in January, the...

Above: ApplesThe vaporetto sneaked into the canal and headed east, leaving San Marco to glide toward the Lido, and the foghorn sent seagulls beating out of the bridges and hotel roofs. Of all the sounds that come to mind when I think of Venice, none is as heart-shaking as this: the blare that makes everything official, seconds before the ferry drops you in front of the Casino Palace, and the first winged lions welcome you back. I have heard that foghorn many times already, but this year it sounded different: it rolled and caromed down the canal like something ominous, a kind of warning. This is my sixth year attending the Venice Film Festival, and it’ll be my first major fest after lockdown. As I stepped onto the Lido early in the morning of September 1st, I had no real clue what to expect. Two days later, I still don’t.

The Venice Film Festival stuck to its guns in promising a physical 2020 festival amid a global pandemic, and somehow, it’s pulled it off. While recent Covid-19 shockwaves in Europe made the undertaking even more precarious, the early days of this year’s edition are so far meeting the expectations of its largely European delegates.

Elisabetta Segre travelled from Rome to Venice to support her brother Andrea Segre’s pre-opening night film “Molecole,” a deeply personal documentary about their family and its relationship to Venice that premiered on Tuesday. “I cried the whole time and it’s very complicated to cry with a mask on,” she says, laughing.

Segre, who spoke to Variety after a press screening of Italian director Daniele Luchetti’s festival opener “Lacci,” has attended the festival numerous times. “It’s weird [this year], but everyone respects the rules. You feel safe.”

The fest is “very well organized,” and...

Wife of a SpyThe programme for the 2020 edition of the Venice Film Festival has been unveiled, and includes new films from Gia Coppola, Lav Diaz, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Alice Rohrwacher, Gianfranco Rosi, Frederick Wiseman, Chloé Zhao, and more.COMPETITIONIn Between Dying (Hilal Baydarov)Le sorelle Macluso (Emma Dante)The World to Come (Mona Fastvold)Nuevo Orden (Michel Franco)Lovers (Nicole Garcia)Laila in Haifa (Amos Gitai)Dear Comrades (Andrei Konchalovsky)Wife of a Spy (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)Sun Children (Majid Majidi)Pieces of a Woman (Kornél Mundruczó)Miss Marx (Susanna Nicchiarelli)Padrenostro (Claudio Noce)Notturno (Gianfranco Rosi)Never Gonna Snow AgainThe Disciple (Chaitanya Tamhane)And Tomorrow The Entire World (Julia Von Heinz)Quo Vadis, Aida? (Jasmila Zbanic)Nomadland (Chloé Zhao)Out Of COMPETITIONFeaturesThe Ties (Daniele Luchetti)Lasciami Andare (Stefano Mordini)Mandibules (Quentin Dupieux)Love After Love (Ann Hui)Assandria (Salvatore Mereu)The Duke (Roger Michell)Night in Paradise (Park Hoon-jung)Mosquito...

This year’s pandemic-altered Venice Film Festival will include a record number of competition films directed by women, festival organizers announced on Tuesday. And two of those are also the only Hollywood studio films to make the competition lineup — Mona Fastvold’s “The World to Come” and Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland.”

In all, eight of the 18 competition features have a female director — an improvement from last year, when just two made the cut.

“Nomadland,” a drama starring Frances McDormand released by Searchlight Pictures, will simultaneously premiere through the Toronto Film Festival as well as through the New York Film Festival and the now-canceled Telluride fest (at a special drive-in screening in Southern California). Sony’s “The World to Come” stars Casey Affleck, Vanessa Kirby and Katherine Waterston.

Also Read: Frances McDormand's 'Nomadland' to Get Joint World Premiere From Venice and Toronto Film Festivals

Other top titles screening out...

With Telluride Film Festival forced to cancel their yearly event, what is now the first of the major fall festivals, Venice, has announced their complete lineup. Along with Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, which was revealed yesterday, the lineup includes more of our most-anticipated films of the year, including Frederick Wiseman’s City Hall, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Wife of a Spy, Gia Coppola’s Mainstream, Abel Ferrara’s Sportin’ Life, Lav Diaz’s Genus Pan, Mona Fastvold’s The World to Come, Kornél Mundruczó’s Pieces of a Woman, Gianfranco Rosi’s Notturno, and more.

There were also a few surprises in the lineup. Luca Guadagnino has directed a new documentary titled Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams, while Alice Rohrwacher and Jr have teamed for the new short film, Omelia Contadina. Quentin Dupieux’s Mandibules will also premiere out of competition.

In perhaps the best surprise of all, a new, recently uncovered film by Orson Welles,...

While the coronavirus pandemic has canceled major festivals such as Cannes and Telluride, the 2020 Venice Film Festival is moving ahead as planned and will be the world’s first major film festival since Sundance and Berlin at the start of the year. Venice 2020’s main selection will be split into three sections: Venezia 77 (aka the main competition), Out of Competition, and Horizons. The titles selected for the main competition will compete for the Golden Lion, which was awarded last year to Todd Phillips’ “Joker.”

As previously announced, Daniele Luchetti’s drama “Lacci” will open the 77th Venice Film Festival on September 2. The movie is the first Italian title to open Venice in 11 years. The last Italian opener was Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Baarìa” at the 2009 festival. “Lacci” is included in this year’s Out of Competition section. Chloe Zhao’s “The Rider” follow-up “Nomadland” was also confirmed for a world premiere...

Update, with more detail: As expected, the Venice Film Festival’s 2020 competition lineup is light on studio titles with only Searchligh’s Nomadland and Sony’s The World To Come figuring. Both of those are directed by women in what is a much stronger year for female filmmakers than in the past. Last year, Venice faced criticism for having just two women in competition while this year, there are women behind eight of the 18 features. Venice chief Alberto Barbera noted they were “selected exclusively on the basis of their quality and not as a result of gender protocols.”

Acknowledging the effects of Covid on Hollywood, Barbera also said in an introductory note, “A few spectacular movies will be missing, blocked by the lockdown which still affects the programming of the most-awaited Hollywood releases.” Venice has had great success as a launchpad in recent years,...

Competition line-up includes films by Chloe Zhao, Susanna Nicchiarelli, Kornel Mandruczo and Andrei Konchalovsky.

The line-up of the 77th Venice Film Festival (September 2-12) has been announced.

Scroll down for the full line-up

The big talking points from this year’s selection include an improved gender split, with eight women selected for the competition section (compared to two last year), and a lack of major US projects. Venice will be one of the first major film festivals to take place as a physical event following the Covid-19 outbreak.

Among the big-name auteurs selected are Chloe Zhao (Nomadland), Michel Franco (Nuevo...

The pre-opening film will be Andrea Segre’s Molecole, shot in Venice during the lockdown; the members of the various juries have also been announced. The Ties by Daniele Luchetti will have the honour of opening the 77th edition of the Venice International Film Festival (2-12 September), out of competition. Produced by Beppe Caschetto for Ibc Movie together with Rai Cinema, the new film by the director of My Brother Is an Only Child and Our Life is based on a novel by Domenico Starnone and is described as “a mystery about feelings, a story of loyalty and faithlessness, of resentment and shame”. The main characters are Aldo and Vanda (Alba Rohrwacher), who live in Naples in the early 1980s. Their marriage begins to break down when Aldo falls in love with young...

Vivo Film, the Italian shingle at Berlin with Abel Ferrara’s “Siberia,” has a robust slate in various stages including the next drama by Laura Bispuri, whose “Sworn Virgin” and “Daughter of Mine” both launched from the Berlinale.

Bispuri later this year will shoot her third feature, which is currently titled “Di Lotta e D’Amore” (“Of Battle and Love”), a love story between two teen girls set against the backdrop of squatters’ houses and other spaces occupied by both Italians and immigrants on Rome’s outskirts. She is working with her regular writer Laura Manieri.

The Rome-based indie headed by Marta Donzelli and Gregorio Paonessa — which has the distinction of being the Italian company that landed the most Berlin lineup slots in recent years — has several other new pics by emerging Italian directors in the pipeline.

They include:

“Miss Marx” — Susanna Nicchiarelli, whose “Nico, 1988,” about the late German chanteuse...

Martin EdenThe programme for the 2019 edition of the Venice Film Festival has been unveiled, and includes new films from Olivier Assayas, Robert Guédiguian, Pietro Marcello, and many more.COMPETITIONThe Truth (Hirokazu Kore-eda): About a stormy reunion between a daughter and her actress mother, Catherine, against the backdrop of Catherine’s latest role in a sci-fi picture as a mother who never grows old.The Perfect Candidate (Haifaa Al-Mansour)About Endlessness (Roy Andersson): The film contains a mix of scenes that takes place in the past and present and we meet several historical people, including Prince Ivan the Terrible and Adolf Hitler.Wasp Network (Olivier Assayas): The story of five Cuban political prisoners who had been imprisoned by the United States since the late 1990s on charges of espionage and murder.Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach): A stage director and his actor wife struggle through a gruelling, coast-to-coast...

The lineup has been unveiled for year’s edition of the Venice International Film Festival, taking place August 28 through September 7. Aside from films previously announced as coming to Tiff, some major new announcements include Olivier Assayas’ Wasp Network, James Gray’s Ad Astra, Roy Andersson’s About Endlessness, Ciro Guerra’s Waiting for the Barbarians, David Michôd’s The King, Benedict Andrews’ Kristen Stewart-led biopic Seberg, and Roman Polanski’s J’accuse. Only two films by female directors made into the competition lineup: Haifaa Al-Mansour’s The Perfect Candidate and Shannon Murphy’s Babyteeth.

Check out the lineup below (hat tip to Mubi), which also includes other sections at the festival.

Competition

The Truth (Hirokazu Kore-eda)

The Perfect Candidate (Haifaa Al-Mansour)

About Endlessness (Roy Andersson)

Wasp Network (Olivier Assayas)

Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach)

Guest of Honour (Atom Egoyan)

Ad Astra (James Gray)

A Herdade (Tiago Guedes)

Gloria Mundi (Robert Guédiguian...

Update: Much of the Venice Film Festival’s 2019 competition field, which was announced this morning in Rome, lines up as expected with Warner Bros/DC origns story Joker; Fox/Disney’s Brad Pitt space drama Ad Astra; Steven Soderbergh’s starry Netflix dark comedy, The Laundromat; and Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story from Netflix making the cut to begin potential awards-season runs.

Kristen Stewart drama Seberg (formerly Against All Enemies) is also an official selection entry, though in something of a surprise is taking an out-of-competition slot. Other intriguing titles include Haifaa Al-Mansour’s The Perfect Candidate (she is one of just two female filmmakers in the competition); Olivier Assayas’ Wasp Network, a thriller with Penelope Cruz and Edgar Ramirez; and Pablo Larrain’s Ema.

Fest chief Alberto Barbera is already facing criticism from European Cinema groups over the inclusion of three Netflix titles. He’s also likely to stir...

There are only two films by female directors in competition.

The line-up of the 76th Venice Film Festival (August 28 – September 7) has been announced.

Scroll down for the full line-up

This year features some high-profile projects including Todd Phillips’ Joker and James Gray’s Ad Astra, a lack of female directors in competition once again, and the controversial selection of Roman Polanski’s latest film.

Australian title Babyteeth, from first-time director Shannon Murphy, and Saudi filmmaker Haifaa Al-Mansour’s The Perfect Candidate are the two films in the 21-strong competition from female filmmakers. Last year festival chief Alberto Barbera was heavily...

The Venice Film Festival has announced the selections for its 76th edition, which is set to take place from August 29 to September 7. The announcement marks the week’s second major film festival lineup to confirm titles following the Toronto International Film Festival. With both official selections for Venice and Tiff now revealed, the upcoming 2019-20 awards season is quickly taking shape.

As previously announced, Venice 2019 will open with the world premiere of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s new film “The Truth.” The family drama stars Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve, and Ethan Hawke. “The Truth” is Kore-eda’s first directorial effort since winning the Palme d’Or in 2018 with “Shoplifters.” This year’s festival will close with “The Burnt Orange Heresy,” the latest feature from Giuseppe Capotondi. The movie stars Claes Bang, Elizabeth Debicki, and Mick Jagger.

Venice has already announced that Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel will serve as the president of this year’s competition jury.

Crime thriller remake will be presented Out of Competition.

The Venice International Film Festival has rounded off the programme of its 74th edition with three world premieres.

John Woo’s Zhuibu (Manhunt) will be presented Out of Competition and marks the director’s return to crime thrillers such as The Killer and Hardboiled.

The film is a remake of a Japanese classic, telling the story of a Chinese man who is framed for murder in Japan who has to dodge a manhunt and the attacks of mysterious killers as he tries to clear his name.

Woo received the Golden Lion for Career Achievement in Venice in 2010.

Venice will also host the world premieres of Andrea Segre’s L’ordine Delle Cose in Special Screenings and Marco di Castri, Paolo Favaro and Daniele Pianciola’s documentary L’Enigma Di Jean Rouch A Torino - Cronaca Di Un Film Raté in competitive section Venezia Classici - Documentaries.

The 74th Venice...

Venice Film Festival chief Alberto Barbera has added a trio of titles to the program for the 74th edition which begins later this month. World premiering out of competition is John Woo’s Manhunt, while L’Ordine Delle Cose by Andrea Segre will have a Special Screening and Italian documentary The Enigma Of Jean Rouch In Turin will screen in the Venice Classics section. Woo’s Manhunt (Zhuibu) marks the Hong Kong master’s return to the crime thriller genre. The film is a…...

Three world premieres have been added to the lineup of the 74th Venice International Film Festival to complete the program.

John Woo returns to the crime thriller genre where he started his career with his latest film, Manhunt, set to premiere in Venice in an out-of-competition slot.

In the remake of a 1976 Japanese classic, a Chinese man is framed for murder in Japan and hunted by the authorities and a group of mystery killers. Woo (A Better Tomorrow, Face/Off) is a Lido favorite and was feted at the festival in 2010 with a Golden Lion for Career Achievement.

Andrea Segre (Shun Li...

The initiative will run on private investment, potentially in a reduced form.

Fred at School, the initiative run by Fred Film Radio designed to help educate secondary school children in film literacy, will go ahead in its second year despite having its funding from Creative Europe pulled.

Speaking to ScreenDaily, Fred Film Radio founder Federico Spoletti said: “We are struggling, Creative Europe didn’t confirm the grant for next year, but we are working hard to keep the project alive.”

Taking place between January and May 2015, the first edition of Fred at School involved students in eight countries (the UK, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Croatia, Romania and Iceland) watching four European films selected from previous editions of the Lux Prize and then providing critical responses on Fred Film Radio.

Last year, Creative Europe provided 60% of the project’s funding as part of its Audience Development/Film Literacy initiative, this year they have rejected Fred’s application for backing...

The fall festival rush is upon us. Locarno is currently ramping up. Venice has released their line-up and Thom Powers and the Toronto International Film Festival team have dropped a bomb with a previously unannounced new feature from powerhouse docu-provocateur Michael Moore. It is truly a miracle that the production of a film such as Moore’s upcoming Where To Invade Next (see still above) managed to go completely undetected by the filmmaking community until it was literally announced to world premiere at one of the largest film festivals in the world. Programmed as a one of the key films in the Special Presentations section at Tiff, the film sees Moore telling “the Pentagon to ‘stand down’ — he will do the invading for America from now on.” Also announced to premiere at Tiff was Avi Lewis’ This Changes Everything, which has slowly been rising up this list, as well as...

Luis Tosar thriller to open strand; Laurent Cantet to chair jury; programme includes Agnès Varda, Alice Rohrwacher shorts.Scroll down for full line-up

Dani de la Torre’s debut thriller Retribution, starring Luis Tosar, will open the 2015 Venice Days strand, which announced its line-up today.

The Venice Film Festival’s (September 2 - 12) independently run section will host 21 titles including 18 world premieres in its official selection.

The ten-title competition includes Matias Bize’s The Memory of Water, a drama about a young couple trying to rekindle their relationship after the death of their 4-year-old son, Vincenzo Marra’s fourth feature La Prima Luce, which stars Riccardo Scamarcio as an Italian lawyer tracking down his young son in Chile after an acrimonious divorce; Ascanio Celestini’s drama Long Live The Bride, starring Alba Rohrwacher, and Australian director Michael Rowe’s love drama Early Winter, featuring Suzanne Clement.

Geoffrey Rush, Miranda Otto, Sam Neill and Paul Schneider star in [link...

Hong Sang-soo's Right Now, Wrong Then.The lineup for the 2015 festival has been revealed, including new films by Hong Sang-soo, Andrzej Zulawski, Chantal Akerman, Athina Rachel Tsangari, and others, alongside retrospectives and tributes dedicated to Sam Peckinpah, Michael Cimino, Bulle Ogier, and much more.Piazza GRANDERicki and the Flash (Jonathan Demme, USA)La belle saison (Catherine Corsini, France)Le dernier passage (Pascal Magontier, France)Der staat gegen Fritz Bauer (Lars Kraume, Germany)Southpaw (Antoine Fuqua, USA)Trainwreck (Judd Apatow, USA)Jack (Elisabeth Scharang, Austria)Floride (Philippe Le Guay, France)The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino, UK/USA)Erlkönig (Georges Schwizgebel, Switzerland)Guibord s'en va-t-en guerre (Philippe Falardeau, Canada)Bombay Velvet (Anurag Kashyap, India)Pastorale cilentana (Mario Martone, Italy)La vanite (Lionel Baier, Switzerland/France)The Laundryman (Lee Chung, Taiwan)Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, USA) I pugni ni tasca (Marco Bellocchio, Italy)Heliopolis (Sérgio Machado, Brazil)Amnesia (Barbet Schroeder,...