The 75th Annual Venice International Film Festival, which has traditionally kicked off as the first chance to see many of the upcoming fall movies and potential award contenders, is set to begin on August 29th and conclude on September 9th.
Damien Chazelle returns to open the festival, following the writer/director's acclaimed 2016 romantic musical ode to Los Angeles, "La La Land", with his latest, "First Man". This biographical drama focuses on Neil Armstrong (played by Ryan Gosling) and the years leading up to the Apollo 11 space mission in 1969 with him becoming the first man to walk on the moon. Claire Foy, Corey Stoll, Kyle Chandler and Jason Clarke also star. "First Man" will make it's world premiere at Venice and has also been chosen as one of the films to compete for prizes.
There are twenty other films selected for the main international competition and it will feature the latest works from some of the world's most distinguished filmmakers. This list includes Paul Greengrass ("22 July"), Julian Schnabel ("At Eternity's Gate"), Jennifer Kent ("The Nightingale"), Mike Leigh ("Peterloo"), Yorgos Lanthimos ("The Favourite"), Alfonso Cuarón ("Roma"), Olivier Assayas ("Non-Fiction"), Luca Guadagnino ("Suspiria") Jacques Audiard ("The Sisters Brothers") and the Coen Brothers ("The Ballad of Buster Scruggs").
Guillermo del Toro, last year’s Golden Lion winner for "The Shape of Water" which then went on to take the Best Picture Oscar, will be this year's president of the main jury. Also on board as part of the International selection committee for prizes will be Australian actress, Naomi Watts; New Zealand filmmaker, Taika Waititi; Taiwanese actress, Sylvia Chang; Danish actress, Trine Dyrholm; French actress/director Nicole Garcia; Italian director/screenwriter Paolo Genovese; Polish filmmaker Malgorzata Szumowska and Austrian actor and two-time Oscar-winner, Christoph Waltz.
The classic romantic musical drama, "A Star Is Born" has been remade for the fourth time and this new version will make it's world premiere at the fest out of competition. Bradley Cooper directs and stars as a hard-drinking country musician who discovers and falls in love with a struggling young singer, played by pop-star, Lady Gaga.
Orson Welles will be the highlight of two special event screenings. "The Other Side of the Wind", a highly unconventional feature film that Welles had been working on for ten years in the 1970's but was unable to complete in his lifetime due to financial hardships, legal difficulties and his outrageous behavior, will finally make it in to a theater. And a new documentary by Morgan Neville (who is behind the current box-office smash Fred Rogers doc, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?") called "They'll Love Me When I'm Dead", which examines the disastrous and complicated making of "The Other Side of The Wind", will also make it's world premiere.
Vanessa Redgrave and David Cronenberg are this year’s recipients of the Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement. The eight-one year old Oscar-wining, British actress is part of a respected acting family dynasty and is still quite active in film and on stage. Mr Cronenberg, the seventy-five year old Canadian filmmaker, has been involved in creating daring and original works of cinema since the 1970’s with a particular taste for horror and sci-fi.
And the Closing Night Film will be "Driven", Nick Hamm's dark comedic look at the relationship between John DeLorean (Lee Pace), the man behind the iconic motor company and Jim Hoffman (Jason Sudeikis), an ex-con turned FBI informant. Inspired by true events, the film also stars Judy Greer and Corey Stoll.
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