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Boutique international sales and distribution company Parallax Films has boarded world sales on Chinese title “A Dance in Vain,” the second feature from Lee Hong-chi following his 2023 Venice Lion of the Future Award-winning debut “Love is a Gun.”

The film has been selected for the Settimana Internazionale della Critica (Sic), the independent and parallel section of the Venice International Film Festival organized by the Union of Italian Film Critics (Sncci).

The deal marks Parallax’s second collaboration with Lee after handling international sales on “Love is a Gun.” Interestingly, “A Dance in Vain” was actually shot before Lee’s breakthrough success with “Love is a Gun,” but extended post-production delayed its completion, allowing the director’s debut to reach audiences first.

The drama stars Cici Wang as Monkey, a theater company worker struggling to make ends meet in an unnamed big city. The story follows her repetitive daily existence, haunted...

When I spoke to Alan Rudolph a couple months ago, he confirmed that Criterion had sought to release his Remember My Name but were held up by music rights––a situation so complicated that a lawyer hired by the director himself simply gave up. I like to think something’s changed in less than 60 days: the Criterion Channel will stream Remember My Name as part of a quartet featuring Afterglow, Trouble In Mind, and Breakfast of Champions, the latter recently given a 4K restoration. It’s part of a retrospective-heavy month that also includes a 12-title Johnnie To series, numerous films by René Clair, highlights of Amy Holden Jones and Ougie Pak, and Michael Winterbottom’s The Trip saga in both television and theatrical editions. Meanwhile, Gene Hackman is celebrated with six titles.

One of those, Night Moves, gets a Criterion Edition; so do Les Blank’s A Poem Is...

Liliana Cavani's The Night Porterproved to be strong medicine when it was released in 1974. Even at a time when audiences were becoming increasingly receptive to frank explorations of sex and violence, Cavani's story about a sadomasochistic love affair set against the backdrop of the Holocaust was almost too much to take. Yet the film lingered over the decades and has become a favorite of such directors as Jane Campion and Lars Von Trier. It's easy to understand why, since the film boldly goes where few others would in its examination of two desperate individuals bound together by a shared history of pain.

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the scripts behind the year’s most talked-about movies continues with the Venice Film Festival-premiering Babygirl, A24’s erotic thriller from writer-director Halina Reijn that stars Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson. It hit theaters December 20.

In Venice, Kidman won the Best Actress prize for playing Romy, a high-powered CEO whose life is controlled by structure, tight scheduling and an all-too-keen awareness of how she’s perceived at the heights of a male-dominated field. The one thing she cannot control is her sexual urges that haven’t been fulfilled after 19 years of marriage to her husband Jacob (Antonio Banderas).

Romy, trapped in her suppressed desires, is quickly undone after she meets Samuel (Dickinson), an intern at her company who transgresses professional boundaries. This dynamic inadvertently fosters a dominant/submissive power play, providing Romy with an unexpected outlet to explore and indulge her kinks.

Through deliciously playful provocations,...

Illustrations by Stephanie Lane Gage.As the year draws to a close, we’d like to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of our contributors. Here are some of their finest essays, interviews, festival coverage, and more from this year. We’re looking forward to much more in the new one. As always, thank you for reading.ESSAYSIllustration by Zoé Mahamès Peters.The current cinema:Sasha Frere-Jones on Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Eiko Ishibashi’s GIFTPhilippa Snow on Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor ThingsAdam Nayman on Pascal Plante’s Red RoomsCassie da Costa on RaMell Ross’s Nickel BoysAmanda Chen on Trương Minh Quý’s Việt and NamSanoja Bhaumik on Felipe Gálvez Haberle’s The SettlersNathalie Olah on Andrea Arnold’s BirdRobert Rubsam on Alice Rohrwacher’s La chimeraGrace Byron on Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV GlowZach Schonfeld on M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap and Michael Showalter’s The Idea of YouSam...

The Night Porter.Fascism is not only an event of yesterday.… It is with us still, here and elsewhere. As dreams do, my film brings back to the surface a repressed “history.”—Liliana CavaniThe aesthetics of fascism, and how they enable the perversion of cultural memory, are interrogated even as they are instrumentalized in The Night Porter (1974), a film that remains confounding and polarizing 50 years after its release. Its director, Liliana Cavani, knew that portraying the compulsive sexual charge between a young Holocaust survivor and her former Nazi tormentor was bound to turn stomachs. An Italian socialist, best known at the time for her four-hour television documentary, History of the Third Reich (1962–63), Cavani was well positioned to address the shifting modes of historical representation and the nuance-flattening power of the moving image, which can so readily be put in service of propaganda. During research for Women of the Resistance (1965), another television documentary,...

The author Patricia Highsmith's most well-known character is Tom Ripley, a character who is both rather likable and a steely, psychopathic, cold-blooded killer. Ripley has appeared in countless film adaptations, television series, and radio broadcasts that have featured some of the greatest actors working in the industry. Most famously, Matt Damon starred as the character in Anthony Minghella's luscious The Talented Mr. Ripley from 1999. Dennis Hopper filled the character's shoes in 1977 in the neo-noir The American Friend by German auteur Wim Wenders. John Malkovich came to encounter Ripley when he starred as the character in 2002's Ripley's Game directed by Liliana Cavani, and character actor Barry Pepper took on the character in 2005's Ripley Under Ground from director Roger Spottiswoode. This year, Andrew Scott even starred as the cold-blooded killer in the Netflix series Ripley.

Barcelona-born, Beirut-based Irene Bartolomé’s experimental feature Dream Of Another Summer won the top prize in Locarno Pro’s First Look section which this year focused on works-in-progress from Spain.

Bartolomé, who has worked for the past 10 years as a film editor, received the Antaviana Films First Look Award, covering services towards the completion of films in post-production up to the value of €50,000.

The international First Look jury, comprising Istanbul Film Festival director Kerem Ayan, Venice Critics’ Week artistic director Beatrice Fiorentino and Rotterdam programmer Mercedes Martínez-Abarca, described the co-production between Colibrí Studio, I.B. Films and The Attic Productions as...

Locarno, Switzerland — Two affecting doc-fiction hybrids from Barcelona – “Dream of Another Summer” and “Downriver, a Tiger”– triumphed Sunday at Locarno’s First Look pix-in-post strand, focused on Spain.

In other awards announced by Locarno Pro, the festival’s dynamic industry arm, Liliana Cavani’s 1970 “The Year of the Cannibals” won Locarno Pro’s Historical Restoration Contest.

Laureates at European co-production initiative Alliance 4 Development took in, notably, “Bourgeois Paranoia” by Lukas Nathrath, a former Locarno First Look winner.

Composed of a series of extended fixed-frame shots of the streets of Beirut and parts of am apartment, Irene Bartolomé’s “Dream” builds, often elliptically, as a portrait of a woman returning to Beirut after Lebanon’s 2020 financial crash and a massive chemical explosion in the city’s port.

She’s on an emotional slide; Beirut and Lebanon are – sometimes literally – near to collapse. Doc feature specialist Colibri Studio produces.

“This film could...

Experimental feature Dream of Another Summer has picked up Locarno Pro’s Antaviana Films First Look Award, the biggest prize handed out by the festival’s industry section. The award comes with post-production services up to €50,000.

The feature is helmed by Barcelona-born, Beirut-based filmmaker Irene Bartolomé. Producers on the project are Pere Marzo (Colibrí Studio), Bartolomé (I.B. Films), and Elie Kamal (The Attic Productions).

Discussing their choice, the Locarno Pro jury — comprised of Beatrice Fiorentino, Kerem Ayan, and Mercedes Martínez-Abarca — said the film is “a poetic and rigorous project that elaborates on collective trauma by rewriting the topography of a city wounded many times by history.”

The jury added: “In its dual public and private dimensions, it restores the complexity of a territory marked by the past and the drive for modernity.”

Elsewhere,...

Sigourney Weaver has been awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the upcoming Venice International Film Festival.

Venice chief Alberto Barbera called the thrice Academy Award-nominated Alien star “an actress with few rivals.”

“Strengthened by her significant theatrical training, she won over the great film-going public with Alien, directed by Ridley Scott, soon becoming an emblematic figure of the 1980s,” he added. “As an authentic collaborator, rather than simply a malleable instrument in the hands of a director, she has contributed to the success of movies by James Cameron, Paul Schrader, Peter Weir, Michael Apted, Roman Polanski, Ivan Reitman, Mike Nichols, Ang Lee, and many others, each time imposing the mark of a complex personality — at times contradictory but always authentic — onto her own charismatic presence. Endowed with a remarkable temperament, able to move with delicacy yet without fragility, she has created the image of a woman who is self-assured and determined,...

E.L. James' original "Fifty Shades of Grey" trilogy is undoubtedly the most successful piece of fanfiction ever published. James turned the teen-friendly romance between Bella Swan and Edward Cullen in Stephenie Meyer's wildly popular "Twilight" franchise into an erotic reverie explored by the mysterious (and quite wealthy) entrepreneur Christian Grey and college journalist Kate Kavanaugh. It was a Bdsm gateway drug that opened up a healthy portal for kink-curious young adults. You didn't have to feel like a freak for wanting to do what conservative society deemed freaky.

Was it good literature? Does it matter? James' novels have sold hundreds of millions of copies and been translated into 52 different languages. They are adored by people who never knew they wanted to see Bella and Edward engage in consensual sadomasochism. I am happy they have these stories in their lives. What matters, at least when it comes to my bailiwick,...

Andrew Scott stars in a new adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley for Netflix – here’s the trailer to prove it.

Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley series has enjoyed a storied history on screens big and small, with adaptations including 1960 French film Purple Noon starring Alain Delain and Anthony Minghella’s big budget 1999 version of The Talented Mr Ripley starring Matt Damon.

Perhaps the most intriguing take on the material was when Wim Wenders cast Dennis Hopper as Ripley for his 1974 film The American Friend.

The latest adaptation, which was originally produced for Showtime but is now premiering on Netflix, is called, appropriately enough, Ripley, and it is filmed in black and white.

It appears to be a passion project for Schindler’s List scribe Steven Zaillian, who serves as writer, showrunner, director and executive producer.

Talking to Vanity Fair last month about his decision to film in black and white,...

Experimental French filmmaker Bertrand Mandico isn’t for everyone — i.e. an acquired taste whose visions push boundaries of cinematic expression — but he’s achieved something of a cult fandom over the last three decades. After last pairing with the director on 2022’s “After Blue” and 2017’s uninhibited Venice winner “The Wild Boys” — Cahiers du Cinéma’s top film of 2018 — the distributor Altered Innocence again teams with Mandico on another provocation. His 2023 Cannes premiere “She Is Conann,” nominated for the Queer Palm before going on to play at other festivals including Locarno, is an acid-trip transgressive riff on the Conan the Barbarian myth. IndieWire shares the trailer here.

Influences on the film include Tony Scott’s “The Hunger,” the works of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Liliana Cavani’s “The Night Porter,” and Fellini’s “Satyricon.” Throw Ken Russell in there for good measure, with profane images in “She Is Conann” reminiscent of “The Devils.

The value of international investment in film and TV co-productions was €103m for the 2020-2022 period,

International co-productions are playing an increasingly important role in the Italian film and TV industry, according to research published by the country’s film and audiovisual body Anica and producers’ association the APA.

The research shows that there has been a 51% increase in the number of films and TV series made with international producers when comparing the three-year periods 2017-2019 and 2020-2022.

Italy is also co-producing with more countries: 25 per year in the 2020-2022 period, against 16 in 2017-2022.

France is the country with which...

Research shows a 51% increase in the number of films and TV series made with international producers.

International co-productions are playing an increasingly important role in the Italian film and TV industry, according to research published by the country’s film and audiovisual body Anica and producers’ association the APA.

The research shows that there has been a 51% increase in the number of films and TV series made with international producers when comparing the three-year periods 2017-2019 and 2020-2022.

Italy is also co-producing with more countries: 25 per year in the 2020-2022 period, against 16 in 2017-2022.

France is the country with which...

Execs took part in Netflix showcase panel at Mia Market in Rome.

Netflix VP content for Italy Eleonora ‘Tinny’ Andreatta says she is looking for content that goes beyond the stereotypes about the country that were formed by the success of Italian cinema in the 1960s.

“The biggest challenge we have nowadays is to overcome the big success that Italy had in the 1960s that created some stereotypes about our country. It was so huge,” Andreatta said on a panel at Mia Market in Rome.

“Now the ambition is to relaunch a more modern, more acutal, more true, more out of stereotype image of Italy.

Exec says she is after ‘modern’ and ‘out of stereotype’ content about Italy.

Netflix VP content for Italy Eleonora ‘Tinny’ Andreatta says she is looking for content that goes beyond the stereotypes about the country that were formed by the success of Italian cinema in the 1960s.

“The biggest challenge we have nowadays is to overcome the big success that Italy had in the 1960s that created some stereotypes about our country. It was so huge,” Andreatta said on a panel at Mia Market in Rome.

“Now the ambition is to relaunch a more modern, more acutal, more true, more...

Italy’s Indiana Production – which has just become part of pan-European studio Vuelta Group – is staying true to its roots with production kicking off this month on gender swap movie “Romeo is Juliet,” directed by quality comedy specialist Giovanni Veronesi, just as the company expands its horizons.

This latest title in Indiana’s slate stars A-lister Sergio Castellitto and Pilar Fogliati (“Romantiche”) who plays an actress named Vittoria who after being brutally rejected by a cynical stage director when she auditions to play Juliet in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” decides to reinvent herself as a man to audition for Romeo and gets the part. The film’s lead actors and director are pictured above.

“Romeo is Juliet” is being produced by Indiana, co-produced by Capri Entertainment, and will be distributed in Italian theatres by Vision Distribution. The movie will start production in September.

Founded in 2005, Indiana over the ensuing...

Grand Jury prize goes to Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s ‘Evil Does Not Exist’; ‘Green Border’ wins Special Jury Prize.

Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things has won the Golden Lion for best film at the 2023 Venice Film Festival.

Lanthimos accepted the award for the science fiction black comedy, which received rave reviews following its debut last week on the Lido.

Scroll down for the full list of winners

”Thank you very much, thank you jury, thank you the festival,” said Lanthimos, who went on to address the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, the former of which prevented his cast including Emma Stone from joining him in Venice.

The winners of the 2023 Venice Film Festival are being announced this evening (September 9).

The 80th Venice Film Festival comes to a close today with the awards ceremony, held at the Sala Grande in the Palazzo del Cinema.

Starting at 7pm Cet (6pm BST), viewers can watch the ceremony live in the video above; Screen will be updating this page with the winners as they are announced.

Scroll down for the latest winners

The ceremony will be hosted by Italian actress Caterina Murino, who also hosted the opening ceremony on August 30. A Competition jury led by Damien Chazelle will award eight prizes,...

The 2023 Venice Film Festival is underway, and while the Hollywood strikes have kept the bulk of the stars from attending the lauded fest, the red carpet isn’t entirely devoid of actors and has been host to a number of filmmakers from Wes Anderson to Michael Mann (directors are not on strike). Actors like “Ferrari” star Adam Driver were able to attend after receiving an Interim Agreement from SAG-AFTRA that allows for independent productions that adhere to SAG-AFTRA’s terms to move forward during the strike.

This gallery will be updated as the festival continues, but right now peruse red carpet photos featuring Driver, Mann, Anderson, Patrick Dempsey, Caleb Landry Jones, Jane Campion, Mads Mikkelsen, Anna Diop, David Fincher, Sofia Coppola and more.

Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Leonie Hanne arrives on the red carpet ahead of the “Finalmente L’Alba” screening during the 80th Venice International Film Festival...

Black women have least representation across key creative roles, led fewest projects, received least funding overall.

A major new report released today and funded in part by Telefilm Canada has revealed a decline in the pre-pandemic progress towards parity of representation of women in front of and behind the camera.

Among the headline findings of the 2023 Women in View On Screen Report (WIVOS23) are that Black women have the least representation across all key creative roles, led the fewest projects, and received the least funding overall and on average for projects.

The study also found that Indigenous women and gender...

Adam Driver is one of the major stars attending this year’s Venice, following a SAG-AFTRA waiver for ‘Ferrari’.

US star Adam Driver said he is “very happy” to be in Venice supporting Ferrari, and questioned why independent distributors can meet the SAG-AFTRA demands but major studios such as Netflix and Amazon can’t.

Responding to a question from Screen about his views on the strikes, Driver said, “I’m very happy to be here to support this movie; but also I’m very proud to be here - to be a visual representation of a movie that’s not a part of the AMPTP,...

Time After Time: Cavani Commits Time Crimes in Overwrought Farce

What does time mean when we’re all out of it? Thus is the quagmire at the heart of The Order of Time, the first theatrical narrative feature from provocative Italian auteur Liliana Cavani in over two decades. Inspired by (rather than adapted from) Italian physicist Carlo Rovelli’s 2017 publication of the same name, which explicates notions regarding the flow of time through various opposing theories, from Aristotle and Newton, to Einstein, suggesting there is no one singular ‘now,’ but rather a multitude, Cavani approaches these elements through situational drama.

Rovelli, who co-wrote the script with Cavani and Paolo Costella, now exists in the fumes of a hypothetical predicament, his explorations of space-time, the theory of relativity, and thermodynamics instead forming the basis for some leaden passages of dialogue between a group of friends uniting for an annual birthday celebration...

The Venice Film Festival kicked off its 80th edition Wednesday night on a somewhat muted note, with the dual Hollywood strike casting a pall over the glitz and glamour that typically exemplify the world’s oldest cinema fest. Instead of Luca Guadagnino’s Zendaya starrer Challengers — which was scheduled to open Venice pre-strike, getting pulled amid the walkout — Venice was forced to go with a more locally focused feature, Edoardo De Angelis’ Italian World War II submarine drama, Comandante.

Italian actress Caterina Murino hosted the festival’s grand opening ceremony with a retrospective spanning eight decades of Venice cinema, featuring clips highlighting past Golden Lion winners. The audience burst into applause at the sight of the late William Friedkin, whose last film, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, will premiere on the Lido this year.

Comandante tells the true story of Salvatore Todaro, a submarine captain under Italy’s fascist government who...

In an alternate universe, Zendaya would be breaking the Internet with her red carpet fashion as she promoted Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers,” the movie that was supposed to open the 80th annual Venice Film Festival.

But the SAG-AFTRA strike made it impossible for the tennis movie, starring one of the world’s buzziest movie stars, to come to the Lido.

So instead, Venice kicked off with World War II drama “Comandante” by young Italian auteur Edoardo De Angelis. The movie, mostly set on a submarine, landed a brief 90-second standing ovation as actor Pierfrancesco Favino — who plays naval officer Salvatore Todaro — took a bow.

Indeed, the lack of star power was strongly felt at Venice opening night. The size of the crowds that lined up outside the Sala Grande Theatre was modest, and the biggest cheers went to Damien Chazelle, who is presiding over the Venice jury. Jane Campion,...

Even without major stars or Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” to buoy it, the opening night of the Venice Film Festival’s 80th edition was high on nostalgia for cinema’s past and excitement for the eight days of movies ahead.

A black-tie crowd gathered in the Palazzo del Cinema’s Sala Grande on the Lido for the presentation of Edoardo De Angelis’ World War II Battle of the Atlantic epic “Comandante,” the opener that replaced Guadagnino’s “Challengers” after that film was moved by MGM/Amazon to April due to the strikes.

First, though, elegant minimalist and icon Charlotte Rampling presented the festival’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to Liliana Cavani, the Italian director of psychosexual Holocaust drama “The Night Porter,” starring Rampling and from 1974. (Wong Kar Wai muse Tony Leung Chiu-wai will also receive a Lifetime Achievement anointment later in the fest.) Rampling played a concentration camp survivor who finds her ex,...

Updated with more details: The 80th Venice Film Festival officially kicked off Wednesday evening with the world premiere screening of Edoardo De Angelis’ Italian World War II submarine drama Comandante. Running in competition, the film took over the slot vacated by Luca Guadagnino’s tennis drama Challengers, which backed out of the spot amid the actors strike.

Before the Pierfrancesco Favino-starring movie unspooled to a warm welcome and a brief post-credit standing ovation, Italian actress Caterina Murino launched the festival’s opening ceremony featuring a retrospective covering the 80 years of the event. That included glimpses of previous Golden Lion and awards winners, with the audience erupting when the late William Friedkin appeared in the montage.

Friedkin, who died August 7, has his final work, the Showtime film The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, screening later this week out of competition.

Biennalle president Roberto Cicutto then came on the stage to introduce Charlotte Rampling,...

“Women writers and directors are working as hard as men. It’s not right if we don’t give them chance to be seen.”

Legendary Italian filmmaker Liliana Cavani called for greater recognition of female filmmakers at the opening ceremony for the 80th Venice Film Festival this evening (August 30).

Ninety-year-old Cavani received the honorary Golden Lion award recognising her career, which spans seven decades.

“I’m the first female person to receive this award,” said Cavani. “There are women writers and directors who are working as well as men. It’s not quite right if we don’t give them a chance to be seen.

The 80th Venice Film Festival gets underway in earnest Wednesday and the landmark edition will be unlike any other, taking place as it does against the backdrop of two Hollywood strikes.

The build-up to the festival has been dominated by talk of which stars will make it to the event and which will stay at home. It hasn’t been as challenging for organizers as the Covid editions, but it’s surely up there in recent memory.

As we revealed Friday, the outlook for U.S. celebrity attendance is patchy, with a handful of big names set to appear and do the usual press obligations. Others have decided to stay away to avoid the accusation of strike breaking or simply “bad optics.” Expect media to be dominated by strike talk, especially on any American films.

Despite initial anxiety about...

Peter Gonzales Falcon, the actor from Texas who portrayed a young Federico Fellini in Roma, the famed Italian director’s 1972 autobiographical film, has died. He was 74.

Gonzales Falcon was found dead at his home Tuesday in La Pryor, Texas, by authorities called there for a safety check, his friend Aurelio Montemayor told The Hollywood Reporter.

After dropping out of college after being cast in Viva Max (1969), a farcical present-day comedy about retaking the Alamo, Gonzales Falcon was hired by Fellini himself for Roma, which featured cameos from Anna Magnani, Marcello Mastroianni and Gore Vidal.

Segments of the film show Gonzales Falcon as Fellini during the 1930s and ’40s after the future filmmaker arrives in Rome to pursue a career as a journalist and wanders the city to experience what it has to offer. He worked on the documentary-style feature for 41 weeks, he told author Tom Lisanti during an expansive 2018 interview.

San Sebastian Fetes Veteran Director Victor Erice

Veteran director Víctor Erice will be honored with the San Sebastian Film Festival’s Donostia Award at its upcoming 71st edition, running from September 22 to 30. Actress Ana Torrent will present the Basque filmmaker with the prize at a ceremony on September 29, preceding a screening of his new film Close Your Eyes. The tribute coincides with the 50th anniversary of Erice winning San Sebastian’s top Golden Shell award for first solo feature The Spirit of the Beehive. Torrent made her big screen debut at the age of seven years old in the film and recently reunited with him in Close Your Eyes. San Sebastian has accompanied Erice across his career. Prior The Spirit of the Beehive, his 1969 directorial debut Los Desafíos, co-directed with José Luis Egea and Claudio Guerín, was selected for Official Selection and received the Silver Shell for Best Director. His...

While it’s still uncertain how many U.S. movie stars will be attending the upcoming Venice Film Festival, the fest has announced a series of masterclasses to be held by top directors including Wes Anderson, Edward Berger, Damien Chazelle and Nicolas Winding Refn.

Several of the Venice masterclasses are dedicated to helmers being lauded by the fest such as “The Night Porter” director Liliana Cavani, who is being celebrated with a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and Anderson, who will receive the fest’s Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker Award.

Refn will pay tribute to late Italian horror master Ruggero Deodato, whose 1980 film “Cannibal Holocaust” is considered one of the goriest movies of all time.

Chazelle, who presides over year’s Venice competition jury, will hold his class with composer and regular collaborator Justin Hurwitz, with whom he has worked on “Whiplash,” “First Man” and “La La Land.” Multiple...

La BêteCOMPETITIONComandante (Edoardo De Angelis)The Promised Land (Nikolaj Arcel)Dogman (Luc Besson) La Bête (Bertrand Bonello) Hors-Saison (Stéphane Brizé) Enea (Pietro Castellitto) Maestro (Bradley Cooper)Priscilla (Sofia Coppola)Finalmente L’Alba (Saverio Costanzo)Lubo (Giorgio Diritti) Origin (Ava DuVernay) The Killer (David Fincher)Memory (Michel Franco)Io capitano (Matteo Garrone)Evil Does Not Exist (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)The Green Border (Agnieszka Holland)The Theory of Everything (Timm Kröger)Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos)El conde (Pablo Larrain)Ferrari (Michael Mann)Adagio (Stefano Sollima)Woman OfHolly (Fien Troch)Out Of COMPETITIONFictionSociety of the Snow (J.A. Bayona)Coup de Chance (Woody Allen)The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Wes Anderson)The Penitent (Luca Barbareschi)L’Ordine Del Tempo (Liliana Cavani)Vivants (Alix Delaporte)Welcome to Paradise (Leonardo di Constanzo)Daaaaaali! (Quentin Dupieux)The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (William Friedkin)Making of (Cedric Kahn)Aggro Dr1ft (Harmony Korine)Hitman (Richard Linklater)The Palace (Roman Polanski...

The Venice Film Festival celebration is getting closer, and despite the current strikes at Hollywood, some really anticipated titles will be shown to attendees. With many productions halted, both for cinema and television, many studios are considering pushing some of their next releases back, since actors won't be able to promote their upcoming projects.

But the acclaimed Italian festival is just around the corner, and the situation across the ocean won't stop the organization to include some amazing movies within its lineup, with a long list of celebrated filmmakers set to appear to present their art.

Luca Guadagnino's upcoming sport comedy Challengers, which was recently pushed back, is one of the big loses that the 80th celebration of the Venice Film Festival had this year, but since the lineup was already closed when the SAG-AFTRA strike began, most of the titles expected to be featured will be present.

The Venice Film Festival sails on in Italy — even with much of Hollywood at a standstill.

The annual cinema celebration hosted by La Biennale di Venezia and directed by Alberto Barbera runs from August 30 through September 9. Despite already having lost Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” from its opening night slot due to its SAG-AFTRA talent including star Zendaya being unable to accompany the world premiere due to strike work stoppage orders, Venice has plenty of movie goodness in store for its 80th edition.

Competition highlights include Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” David Fincher’s “The Killer,” Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things,” Ava DuVernay’s “Origin,” Luc Besson’s “Dogman,” Michel Franco’s “Memory,” Pablo Larrain’s “El Conde,” and many more. Out of competition, Venice will screen new films from Harmony Korine, Richard Linklater, Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, Roman Polanski, and William Friedkin.

Two movies whose directors are likely to draw protests, Woody Allen’s French-language “Coup de Chance” and Roman Polanski’s “The Palace,” will make their world premieres at the 2023 Venice International Film Festival, Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera and La Biennale di Venezia president Roberto Cicutto announced at a Tuesday morning press conference.

Both films will screen out of competition, though they’ll likely draw an inordinate amount of attention at a festival that has assembled a robust lineup of major filmmakers even as it struggles with the effects of the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes.

Films booked for the Venice main competition include Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein biopic “Maestro”; Yorgos Lanthimos’ sci-fi drama “Poor Things”; Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla Presley film “Priscilla”; Michael Mann’s auto-racing film “Ferrari”; Ava DuVernay’s “Origin,” with Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Niecy Nash-Betts and Vera Farmiga; and David Fincher’s “The Killer,” with Michael Fassbender.

On the heels of yesterday’s TIFF announcement, the first major fall festival of the season––Venice International Film Festival––is unveiling its lineup. Taking place August 30-September 9, the competition jury this year is chaired by Damien Chazelle.

Highlights include new films from David Fincher, Michael Mann, Wes Anderson, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Sofia Coppola, Bradley Cooper, Bertrand Bonello, Frederick Wiseman, Roman Polanski, William Friedkin, Ava DuVernay, Harmony Korine, Richard Linklater, Woody Allen, and more.

Competition

Adagio; dir. Stefano Sollima

The Beast; dir. Bertrand Bonello

Io Capitano; dir. Matteo Garrone

Comandante; dir. Edoardo de Angelis

El Conde; dir. Pablo Larraín

Die Theorie von Allem; dir. Timm Kröger

Dogman; dir. Luc Besson

Enea; dir. Pietro Castellitto

Evil Does Not Exist; dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Ferrari; dir. Michael Mann

Finalmente L’Alba; dir. Saverio Costanzo

Green Border; dir. Agnieszka Holland

Holly; dir. Fien Troch

Hors-Saison; dir. Stéphane Brizé

The Killer; dir. David Fincher

Lubo; dir. Giorgio Diritti

The Promised Land; dir.

Includes films from David Fincher, Sofia Coppola, Ava DuVernay, Yorgos Lanthimos, Bradley Cooper and Ryusuke Hamaguchi.

Venice Film Festival announced the programme for its 80th edition, including a 23-strong Competition with new films from David Fincher, Sofia Coppola, Ava DuVernay, Yorgos Lanthimos, Bradley Cooper and Ryusuke Hamaguchi.

Scroll down for full line-up

The selection was announced by festival president Roberto Cicutto and artistic director Alberto Barbera. The SAG-AFTRA strike in the US has had a “quite modest” impact on the selection according to Barbera, who was forced to pull Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers as the opening film over the weekend due to the strike.

This year’s selection will be announced at 11:00 Cest (10:00 BST) by Roberto Cicutto and Alberto Barbera.

The line-up for the 80th Venice International Film Festival (August 30-September 9) will be revealed this morning at 11:00 Cest (10:00 BST) by festival president Roberto Cicutto and artistic director Alberto Barbera

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

Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers was originally set to open the festival but was pulled by MGM amid the actors’ strike. It was replaced by Edoardo De Angelis’ Comandante.

The closing film...

Commencing the loaded week of Venice Film Festival announcements (Golden Lion hopefuls are being released tomorrow and the Giornate degli Autori section is dropping on Thursday) we first begin with Settimana Internazionale della Critica or known as Venice Critics’ Week. Delegate General Beatrice Fiorentino’s line-up includes a good dose of docu items, and we even find a small gift among the shorts (perhaps a sign for a great Lido for the filmmaker) in a digitalized 1960 film from Liliana Cavani. The line-up puts the spotlight on seven competition titles — a 7+2 debut film format selected from five hundred plus submitted titles, and unlike previous years, we’re actually in the know on a quartet of the competition films.…...

“The Eight Mountains,” Belgian directors Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s Italian-language drama about friendship, mountains and growing up, scored the top prize at Italy’s 68th David di Donatello Awards.

Besides winning best picture, the film also scooped statuettes for best non-original screenplay, photography and sound.

Given that the directors are not Italian, it was a particularly significant victory for “Mountains,” which was praised as “quietly magnificent” by Variety critic Jessica Kiang. The film, which is currently playing well on the U.S. arthouse circuit, tracks the decades-long friendship between two Italian boys named Pietro and Bruno — one from the city, the other a shepherd boy from the Alps.

“It’s pretty incredible,” commented a visibly moved Van Groeningen. “Two Belgians who win this prize in Italy for an Italian movie.” “Thank you for this declaration of love,” added Vandermeersch, his partner in life. “We love Italy very much.

The European Film Academy (Efa) has unveiled 462 film professionals as new members in an announcement timed to coincide with Europe Day on May 9.

The new arrivals will be eligible to vote in the academy’s European Film Awards, the region’s equivalent to the Academy Awards, as well as contribute to its other initiatives across the year.

The Efa said a record number of professionals had accepted to join the organization this year, adding that 50% were female, 49%, were male, and 1% defined as non-binary.

The bigger intake comes amid a drive to revamp the academy which recently announced it would be moving the Efa ceremony to January in 2026, from its traditional December slot, to make it more relevant in the annual film awards season culminating with the Oscars.

The Efa currently now counts 4,600 members based in 52 countries.

The new members mainly hailed from Germany (68), France (38), Switzerland (37), Poland (36), Italy (33), Spain (24), UK (28) and...

Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month, including a Béla Tarr double bill, with new 4K restorations of Damnation and Sátántangó, Léa Mysius’ The Five Devils, Radu Jude’s short The Potemkinists, and Kira Kovalenko’s Unclenching the Fists.

They will also present a series on past Cannes Film Festival selections with films by Abderrahmane Sissako, Alice Rohrwacher, Djibril Diop Mambéty, Jeremy Saulnier, and more. Ana Vaz’s The Age of Stone and most recent work It is Night in America will arrive on the service, plus a Merchant Ivory series.

Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

May 1 – Blind Spot, directed by Claudia von Alemann | What Sets Us Free? German Feminist Cinema

May 2 – Heat and Dust, directed by James Ivory | Gilded Passions: Films by Merchant Ivory

May 3 – Damnation, directed by Béla Tarr | Béla Tarr: A Double Bill

May 4 – The Bostonians, directed by...

’The Night Porter’ director and ’In The Mood For Love’ actor to receive awards at this year’s festival.

The Venice Film Festival will present Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement to Liliana Cavani, the Italian director of The Night Porter and Ripley’s Game; and to Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai, whose credits include In The Mood For Love and Marvel film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Cavani’s Philippe Pétain: Processo a Vichy won the Lion of San Marco for best documentary at Venice in 1965. Her films Francis of Assisi (1966), Galileo (1968), The Year of the Cannibals,...

Liliana Cavani, one of the key directors of the New Italian Cinema movement and recognized internationally for The Night Porter, and Tony Leung Chiu-wai, the acclaimed Hong Kong actor known for his numerous collaborations with Wong Kar-wai, are set to receive Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement at this year’s Venice Film Festival.

“I am very happy and grateful to the Biennale di Venezia for this wonderful surprise”, said Cavani, who first made a name for herself in Venice in 1965 with with Philippe Pétain: Processo a Vichy, followed by Francis of Assisi (1966), Galileo (1968), I cannibali (The Year of the Cannibals, 1970), Il gioco di Ripley (Ripley’s Game, 2002) and Clarisse (2012).

“I am overwhelmed and honoured with the news from the Biennale di Venezia. I hope to celebrate this award with all the filmmakers I have worked with. This award is a tribute to all of them as well,” said Leung Chiu-wai, who...

The Venice Film Festival has set filmmaker Liliana Cavani and actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai to receive this year’s Golden Lions for lifetime achievement. The 80th Venice fest runs from August 30-September 9 on the Lido.

Cavani, whose credits include 1974 classic The Night Porter, starring Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling, and 1985’s The Berlin Affair, has had several films at the festival, beginning with 1965’s Philippe Pétain: Processo a Vichy, which won the Lion of San Marco for best documentary. It was followed by Francesco d’Assisi (1966), Galileo (1968), I cannibali (1970), Dove siete? Io sono qui (1993) — for which Anna Bonaiuto won the Coppa Volpi for best actress — Ripley’s Game with John Malkovich (2002) and Clarisse (2012).

As for Leung, whose credits include Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love, Zhang Yimou’s Hero, Andrew Lau and Alan Mak’s Infernal Affairs and recent Marvel title Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,...

The Venice Film Festival will honor “The Night Porter” director Liliana Cavani and Tony Leung Chiu-wai, the Hong Kong star of “In the Mood for Love” and Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” with its 2023 Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement.

Cavani first attended Venice in 1965 with the historical doc “Philippe Pétain: Processo a Vichy,” which won the Lion of San Marco for best documentary. She was back the Lido in 1966 with her TV movie “Saint Francis of Assisi,” and, again, in 1968, with “Galileo,” followed by Patricia Highsmith adaptation “Ripley’s Game,” starring John Malkovich, in 2002 and “Clarisse,” a doc about an order of cloistered nuns in 2012.

“I am very happy and grateful to the Biennale di Venezia for this wonderful surprise,” Cavani, who is 90, said in a statement.

Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera praised Cavani as “One of the most emblematic protagonists of the New Italian Cinema of the 1960s,...

Charlotte Rampling self-identifies as a “prickly” person. “Like a hedgehog or porcupine, you don’t necessarily get too close,” she told IndieWire.

You’d know that from any number of her roles. The 77-year-old, English-born, Paris-living actress has worked in the European arthouse for more than half a century, turning out kinky roles in divisive, sensuous period pieces like Liliana Cavani’s S&m concentration camp psychodrama “The Night Porter” and Luchino Visconti’s depraved Weimar tableau “The Damned.” But she’s also brought hard-shelled wit to character studies like François Ozon’s “Under the Sand” and “Swimming Pool,” Andrew Haigh’s “45 Years,” and Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia.”

In that film, Rampling played one of her prickliest characters, a callous and ambivalent mother who prefers to blithely take a bath during her daughter’s (Kirsten Dunst) wedding reception rather than make small talk or give toasts with the guests downstairs.