Fall Film Festivals - Canada, Italy, Spain, USA

69th Venice International Film Festival

 The 69th Venice International Film Festival (la Biennale di Venezia - VIFF), directed by Alberto Barbera, kicks off today, Wednesday, August 29, with the Opening Ceremony and the Palazzo del Cinema screening of Mira Nair's The Reluctant Fundamentalist, out of competition. It will run through September 8th. Check out the Screenings schedule.

WEBSITE (English)

Toronto International Film Festival

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Toronto, Canada, opens September 6, and runs through the 16th. The folks at Toronto claim, "The Toronto International Film Festival is the leading public film festival in the world, screening more than 300 films from 60+ countries every September." I have no facts to dispute that. I do know that their cinematic selection each year is one of the best if not, as they claim, the best. The TIFF has another distinction, that of managing to screen the Academy Award-winning  feature movie with regularity. Therefore, when I begin the process of trying to predict that winner, I turn to Toronto.

A small sample of films to be screened: From the U.S.A. Beasts of the Southern Wild, Great Expectations. Quebec writer-diector Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette's Inch’Allah, and the return of Austrian auteur and two-time winner at Cannes, Michael Haneke with Amour.

Ticket packages are available to buy now. Individual tickets go on sale September 2nd.

WEBSITE
 

60th SAN SEBASTIAN FILM FESTIVAL

French filmmaker Georges Franju will be the subject of one of the retrospectives programed for the 60th San Sebastian Festival (SSIFF), September 21 - 29, 2012. Franju would have been 100 this year. 

Georges Franju (April 12, 1912 / November 5, 1987) was an enormously influential figure in French film culture. In 1936 he founded the Cinémathèque Française with Henri Langlois, and his career as a director began in 1949 with documentaries. His early works demonstrated his particular talent for filming reality from unexpected angles, a trait akin to surrealism and expressionism.

American director Oliver Stone and Scottish actor, Ewan McGregor will each receive the Donastia Lifetime Achievement Award for their contributions to cinema.  Both of them have new movies, which will premiere after the presentation of their awards, September 23 for Stone's Savages. The Impossible starring McGregor and Naomi Watts, directed by Juan Antonio Bayona, a young filmmaker from Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, will premiere September 27. Bayona's most recent movie before The Impossible is The Orphanage (El orfanato, 2007), featuring Geraldine Chaplin.

Films in Progress will present six films from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Uruguay. Four films from Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco are selected to participate in Cinema in Motion.

Sixteen Spanish movies will premiere in the Made in Spain section, including Sleepless Knights, a German production in the Spanish Language, due to be released in 2013. The movie has been selected for the 2013 Forum section at the upcoming Berlin Film Festival and the Cine del futuro section at the Buenos Aires Festival. The full screenings schedule for the SSIFF has not yet been released.

The 60th edition of the San Sebastian International Film Festival will include screenings of the eight films selected this year for the Zinemira section, dedicated to films produced for the most part in the Basque Country. The Premiere's section will include six new productions, while Panorama will offer another two titles produced this year.The six premieres will contend for the Serbitzu Award, a new addition this year. The award will also be open to Basque productions presented in any of the other Festival sections.

WEBSITE  (English)

 

SAN DIEGO FILM FESTIVAL

The San Diego Film Festival (SDFF) will run from September 26 - 30, 2012, and has expanded to two locations, downtown San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter and La Jolla.

If you haven't experienced all the San Diego Film Festival events previously, you need to know this festival is known as "The Party Festival." Each night's fete is held at one of the Gaslamp Quarter's hot spots or in the gorgeous setting of La Jolla. Open to Patrons, Sponsors, VIP & Festival day pass holders, each party will feature a one-hour hosted bar. There are many other smaller parties open to all attendees. At any party, attendees must be 21 with a valid ID.

Gus Van Sant

Oscar nominated auteur Gus Van Sant will attend the special tribute and retrospective of his films. The Festival will screen some of his most acclaimed features, including early indie favorites Drugstore Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho and more recent Academy Award winners Good Will Hunting, Milk and Cannes Palme d’Or winner Elephant. He is currently directing Promised Land, written by and starring Matt Damon and John Krasinski.

 A small sample of films to be screened: From the U.S.A. Beasts of the Southern Wild, Great Expectations. Quebec writer-diector Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette's Inch’Allah, and the return of Austrian auteur and two-time winner at Cannes, Michael Haneke with Amour. The full Festival schedule has not yet announced.

WEBSITE

Nicole Kidman will be honored, and there will be a special screening of a newly restored version of Lawrence of Arabia. Only two of the juicy events for the 50th New York Film Festival (NYFF), September 28 - October 14, 2012, under the auspices of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, New York City. More on this one later.

WEBSITE

As information is released there will be more from time to time on this blog about the above festivals.

Here Comes Cannes 2012

The first edition of the Cannes International Film Festival (CIFF) was originally set to be held in Cannes in 1939 under the presidency of Louis Lumière. However, it was not until over a year after World War II ended that it finally took place, September 20, 1946. It was subsequently held every September – except in 1948 and 1950 – and then every May from 1952 onwards.

This year is the 65th Cannes IFF Anniversary Edition. It will run from May 16 through May 27th. Among those who mainly are associated with American motion pictures and who are expected to walk the red carpet are: Brad Pitt, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn and Matthew McConaughey.

The full line-up for the Festival's Jury, who will judge the 22 motion pictures in competition is: French actress Emmanuelle Devos; German actress Diane Kruger; French designer Jean Paul Gaultier; British actor Ewan McGregor; American director, scriptwriter and producer Alexander Payne; and Haitian director, scriptwriter and producer Raoul Peck.

The Competition Jury will be presided over by Italian director, actor and producer, Nanni Moretti. The task of selecting the best new filmmaker falls to Brazilian filmmaker Carlos Diegues, head of the jury for the Camera d'Or.

President Gilles Jacob, and artistic director Thierry Fremaux, announced the official selection of films in competition, which will include a stronger showing from the U.S. this year than last. Some of the films in competition are from: David Cronenberg (Crash, 1996), Lee Daniels (Precious, 2009), Ken Loach (The Wind That Shakes the Barley, 2006) and Michael Haneke (The White Ribbon, 2009).

Veteran French filmmaker Alain Resnais, who is approaching 90, will bring a new film, You Haven’t Seen Anything Yet (Vous N’avez encore rien vu), an adaptation of Jean Anouilh’s Eurydice from Greek mythology, starring Marion Cotillard and Cannes veteran Mathieu Amalric. Resnais won his fourth Palm d'Or in 2009 for Wild Grass.

 LIST OF FILMS IN COMPETITION

MOONRISE KINGDOM

Two-time Oscar nominated director Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom will open the 65th Anniversary Edition Wednesday, May 16, the opening night of competition. Anderson's previous films include: The Royal Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Rushmore. The Moonrise Kingdom cast includes Kara Hayward, Jared Gilman, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Jason Schwartzman, Harvey Keitel and Bob Balaban. Music by Alexandre Desplat, who was nominated for an Oscar for The King's Speech, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Queen.

Focus Features has acquired the world wide rights to Moonrise Kingdom.  It opens in the U. S. in select theaters May 25th.

French director Claude Miller

Thérèse Desqueyroux (a.k.a., Thérèse D ), a 2012 adaptation of the novel by François Mauriac, the final movie directed by the late French director Claude Miller (20 February 1942 – 4 April 2012), will close the festival Sunday, May 27th. A previous adaptation of the novel was filmed in 1962. No release date in the U.S. has been announced.

Miller, film producer, writer and director, was 70 when he died. His principal mentor was my late friend, French director François Truffaut. The movie features Audrey Tautou in the title role as well as Gilles Lellouche and Anaïs Demoustier. A release date in the U.S. has not been announced. READ MORE

 

Every year, the Cannes Film Festival invites prominent figures from the world of cinema to give “Masterclasses,” Chiefly focusing on directing. Previous directors have included Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Wong Kar-wai, etc. from time to time, the Masterclasses explore other aspects of film-making other than directing.

Masterclasses for the 65th anniversary will be given by Philip Kaufman, Alexandre Desplat and Norman Lloyd (above). Each speak about their work at the Buñuel Theatre followed by a Q&A with the audience.

Sean Penn

The Festival de Cannes will present "Haiti: Carnival in Cannes," a benefit event presented by Giorgio Armani in support of Sean Penn’s J/P HRO, Paul Haggis’ Artists for Peace and Justice and Petra Nemcova’s Happy Heart’s Fund for their united and extraordinary fund raising work in Haiti.

That gala evening, presented by Giorgio Armani, will feature a dinner Friday, May 18th at the Festival Agora. The funds raised at the gala will benefit all three charities and help them to bring sustainable programs to the Haitian people quickly and effectively.

A Haitian show entitled “Carnival in Cannes” will present a concert of authentic RaRa and Racine music, created with the RAM band, Haiti's leading Racine group, brought in for the occasion from Haiti. The event will be co-sponsored by Chopard.

Festival Site in English

Movie Awards Season is Officially Open

Christopher Plummer and Ewan McGregor in Beginners

In an unprecedented tie, Beginners and The Tree of Life shared the prize for best feature at the Gotham Independent Film Awards, one of the two major awards given to independent film. The Gotham Independent Film Awards, were presented last night in New York City, and the Official Movie Awards' Season in the USA is now open!

Beginners, starring Christopher Plummer, Ewan McGregor, Melanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic, Kai Lennox, Mary Page Keller and Keegan Boos, won the best ensemble performance award. Also, Beginners has been nominated for the Film Independent Spirit award. Scroll down.

Here is the list:

Best Feature: Beginners and The Tree of Life (tie)
Best Documentary: Better This World **
Best Ensemble Performance: Beginners (Christopher Plummer, Ewan McGregor, Melanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic, Kai Lennox, Mary Page Keller, Keegan Boos)
Breakthrough Director: Dee Rees, Pariah
Breakthrough Actor: Felicity Jones, Like Crazy
Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You: Scenes of a Crime
Audience Award: Girlfriend
Spotlight on Women Filmmakers Live the Dream , and Grant: Lucy Mulloy, Una Noche (One Night)

**Documentary did not make the short list for an Oscar nomination.

For more on The Gotham Awards visit their Web Site.

  The Tree of Life won the Palme d'Or at Cannes earlier this year. Directed by Terrence Malick (Badlands, The Thin Red Line, The New World), it stars Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain (The Help).

There are only two organizations in the U.S. that solely specialize in recognizing independent film, The Gotham Independent Film Awards, and the Film Independent Spirit Awards, which is bigger and better known than The Gotham Awards. However, The Gotham's are presented earlier, traditionally mark the opening of the film awards season, are very respected, and every bit as prestigious as the Spirit Awards.
 

The Film Independent Spirit nominations were announced today, Tuesday, in Los Angeles. Take Shelter and the black-and-white silent film, The Artist, both with five nominations each, are the top nominees for the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards. Both are nominated for the best feature award.

Others nominated in the the best feature category are: Beginners, 50/50, The Descendants and Drive.

Films receiving four nominations each are: Beginners, Drive, The Descendants and Martha Marcy May Marlene. For all Independent Spirit Film nominations, click the title of this post, which links to a PDF file.

Winners of the 27th annual award will be announced at the Film Independent Spirit Awards ceremony on Saturday, February 25, 2012, at a daytime luncheon in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica, California. The premiere broadcast will air later that evening at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on IFC. Visit the FIS Awards Web Site.

AMELIA, The Movie, Also Crashes

I was looking forward to seeing AMELIA this weekend, the biopic about the late Amelia Earhart, but it is not playing near me. So far, the reviews have not been kind to the movie, and I am disappointed.

Most think the subject is worthy but that neither the director Mira Nair, or the script has the moxie to match that of the late aviatrix. Descriptions of the movie run from cookie-cutter, paint-by-the-number, to generated by a computer screenwriting program. One critic even grandstands declaring, "This movie proves the Biopic is dead."

Director Mira Nair (THE NAMESAKE) is Indian. One of her most recent movies is BOLLYWOOD. I suspect that a cultural divide between the director and the esteem with which Americans hold Earhart could account for some of the negative criticism. In other words, something was lost in translation.

The film is lauded for its beautiful cinematography and for actress Hilary Swank's performance, but passion, probably due to the poor dialog in the script, is lacking. That's sad, because Amelia Earhart, by most accounts, was a passionate woman - - passionate about flying, being the best, love, sex, money, and being a celebrity. Above all, she had to fly!

Richard Gere stars as Earhart's older husband and promoter, Publisher Richard Putnam. Ewan McGregor plays Gene Vidal, father of Gore, who was one of Earhart's real-life flings. Apparently, the only fling she is allowed in this movie.

Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly, was very critical of the movie. She asks, "How could so tradition-busing a role model have resulted in so square, stiff, and earthbound a movie?"

All the critics seem to agree that the main problem is with the script by Ron Bass and Anna Hamilton Phelan, which is based on biographies by Susan Butler and Mary S. Lovell. However, the director could have changed those things in the script that, as Schwarzbaum states, "overload the picture with a cargo of messages, so much so that she [Nair] deadens her subject's spirit."

Schwarzbaum isn't the only critic that disliked the musical score for the movie which, apparently, telegraphs impending action and makes one wish for the score of OUT OF AFRICA instead.

Also, not one review mentioned that they flew a real vintage Lockheed Electra in the movie, the type of plane Earhart flew. It was the first turboprop airliner produced in the United States. Unfortunately, it gained the nickname of "Killer Airliner" because of so many crashes. Fifteen still fly today, mostly as cargo planes. Apparently, the Electra is the only authentic aspect of this movie.

I went to a local movie theater Monday and noticed that AMELIA was not among the posters of "coming attractions." I asked the manager when AMELIA might be showing. He replied, "Well. I don't think we will show it. The reviewers this weekend clobbered it." I admitted that I had noticed.

Meanwhile, enjoy this:

For more videos about Earhart, click title of post.