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WikiLeaks founder to judge films at the 21st Raindance Film Festival; 2013 line-up unveiled.Scroll down for full line-up of films

Julian Assange has joined the jury of the 21st Raindance Film Festival (Sept 25 - Oct 6), a London-based event that celebrates independent film in the UK and around the world.

The appointment is a controversial one. The Australian editor-in-chief and founder of WikiLeaks took refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning about sexual assault allegations.

It is understood that he fears Sweden would extradite him to the Us, where he believes he is wanted in relation to WikiLeaks’ disclosure of a significant amount of classified Us military and diplomatic documents.

Commenting on Assange’s appointment, Raindance founder Elliot Grove said: “Every year Raindance invites interesting people to join our jury. In the past we have had musicians like Mick Jones, Marky Ramone and [link...

Surprise, surprise! We have Venice Film Festival winners and as usual, we’re here to share the complete list of winners with you!

Now, about that surprise part, here’s the strangest thing in the world of festivals so far. We all knew that Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master was one strong contender for the festival’s top prize, so I guess we were (and still are) all shocked when the jury decided to give Golden Lion to Kim Ki-Duk and his Pieta.

And all that because, well…apparently Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix were just too good in The Master and they both received that acting award a.k.a. Volpi Cup.

That leads us to Festival’s new rule where one film can not win more than two major awards, which basically means only one thing – Thomas Anderson goes home with the Silver Lion for best director.

The awards for the 69th Venice International Film Festival have been announced!

In Competition

Golden Lion – Pieta, directed by Kim Ki-Duk

Silver Lion (Best Director) – The Master, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

Special Jury Prize – Paradise: Faith, directed by Ulrich Seidl

Best Screenplay – Something in the Air, written by Olivier Assayas

Volpi Cup for Best Actor – Joaquin Phoenix & Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master

Volpi Cup for Best Actress – Hadas Yaron, Fill the Void

Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress – Fabrizio Falco, Dormant Beauty & È stato il figlio

Technical Prize – È stato il figlio, directed by Daniele Cipri

Horizons (Orizzonti)

Orizzonti Award – Three Sisters, directed by Wang Bing

Orizzonti Jury Prize – Tango Libre, directed by Frédéric Fonteyne

International Film Critics Week

RaroVideo Audience Award – Eat Sleep Die, directed by Gabriela Pichler

Lion of the Future Award

Best Debut Film – Mold, directed by Ali Aydın

Fipresci

Competition Fipresci Prize – The Master,...

Venice, the festival that acts more like your elementary school tee-ball league than you may have realized. Due to the dozens upon dozens of awards given, pretty much everyone gets at least a “good try”-esque pat on the back — well except maybe Brian De Palma and his poorly received erotic drama Passion.

While you likely only care about the first handful of awards — in which Kim-Ki Duk‘s drama following a debt collector, Pieta, has won the top prize and The Master took home top acting prizes — nearly everyone from Harmony Korine to Robert Redford to Spike Lee have been awarded honors.

In interesting tidbit, THR also reports that Paul Thomas Anderson‘s The Master was set to win the top prize of Golden Lion, but due to a rule change, a film can’t win more than two major awards. So, the jury had to deliberate again (I...