American Invasion in Venice

When: August 29th to September 8th, 2007
Counting Down:
Where: Venice, Italy
Official Website: http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/

Due in part to the ‘not ready for Cannes factor’, the surprise element was lacking today with Venice’s announcement of the 22 titles that would make up their official competition. The consensus was that this was going to be a strong year for American films and this will be confirmed by the newest film from the likes of Wes Anderson, Brian De Palma, Todd Haynes and Paul Haggis presenting their films and this doesn’t mean that the jury comprised of filmmakers Zhang Yimou, Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Jane Campion, Paul Verhoeven, Catherine Breillat, Emanuele Crialese and Ferzan Ozpetek won’t have a tough time choosing the Golden Lion winner. 

Strong on war-themed films, English from the U.K fair and stars that are somehow associated to George Clooney, the event also confirmed its non-comp selected titles which curiously includes Woody Allen’s Cassandra's Dream. He balked at this year’s Cannes for having offered the same sort of non-comp deal as a couple of year’s back for Match Point. Meanwhile, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford finally sees the day and Wes Anderson is presenting a special event film called “Hotel Chevalier” – we’ll do more investigating on what this actually is.  

What today’s announcement confirms is that some high profiled titles are most likely going to Toronto as well as Italy’s other (very young) fest in Rome. While I wonder out loud where PTA’s There Will be Blood will get premiered, we should see 3:10 to Yuma, Margot at the Wedding, The Kite Runner, Rails & Ties, Manolete, Ashes of Time Redux and Beowulf making a presence at TIFF. 
 

Below is the complete Venice Film Festival title list – we’ll soon be updating our database with the entire festival selections. 

64TH ANNUAL VENICE FILM FESTIVAL COMPETITION

Opening Film: “Atonement,” Joe Wright, (U.K-U.S.)

“The Darjeeling Limited,” Wes Anderson (U.S.)
“Sleuth,” Kenneth Branagh (U.K.-U.S.)
“This Is Chaos, ” Youssef Chahine (Egypt)
“Redacted,” Brian De Palma (U.S.)
“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” Andrew Dominik (U.S.)
“Nessuna qualita agli eroi,” Paolo Franchi (Italy)
“Michael Clayton,” Tony Gilroy (U.S.)
“Nightwatching,” Peter Greenaway (Canada-France-Germany-Poland-Netherlands-U.K.)
“En la cuidad de Sylvia,” Pilae Lopez De Ayala, Xavier Lafitte (Spain)
“In the Valley of Elah,” Paul Haggis (U.S.)
“I'm Not There,” Todd Haynes (U.S)
“The Sun Also Rises,” Jiang Wen (China-Hong Kong)
“Help Me Eros,” Lee Kang Sheng (Taiwan)
“La Graine et le mullet,” Abdellatif Kechiche (France)
“Lust, Caution,” Ang Lee (U.S.- Taiwan)
“It's a Free World…” Ken Loach (U.K.-Italy-Germany-Spain )
“L'ora di punta,” Vincenzo Marra (Italy)
“Sukiyaki Western Django,” Takashi Miike (Japan)
“12,” Nikita Mikhalkov (Russia)
“Il dolce e l'amaro,” Andrea Porporati (Italy)
“Les Amours d'Astree et de Celadon,” Eric Rohmer (France-Italy-Spain)

OUT OF COMPETITION — VENICE MASTERS
“Cassandra's Dream,” Woody Allen (U.K.-U.S)
“Cleopatra,” Julio Bressane (Brazil)
“La Fille coupee en deux,” Claude Chabrol (France)
“Beyond the Years,” Im Kwopn Taek (South Korea)
“Glory to the Filmmaker,” Takeshi Kitano (Japan)
“Cristovao Colombo-O enigma,” Manoel de Oliveira (Portugal-France)

VENETIAN NIGHTS — OPENING AND CLOSING FILMS
“For a Fistful of Dollars,” Sergio Leone (Italy-Spain-Germany) (as part of Spaghetti Westerns retro)
“Blood Brothers,” Alexi Tan (Taiwan-China-Hong Kong)
“REC,” Paco Blaza and Jaume Balaguero (Spain)

VENETIAN NIGHTS
“Far North,” Asif Kapadia (U.K.-France)
“The Hunting Party,” Richard Shepard (U.S.-Croatia-Bosnia)
“The Nanny Diaries,” Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini (U.S.)
“Nocturna,” Adria Garcia, Victor Maldonado (Spain-France)

HORIZONS
“Sad Vacation,” Shinji Aoyama (Japan)
“Mal nascida,” Joao Canijo (Portugal)
“Searchers 2.0,” Alex Cox (U.K.)
“Medee Miracle,” Tonino De Bernardi (Italy)
“Cochochi,” Laura Amelia Guzman, Israel Cardenas (Mexico-U.K.-Canada)
“With the Girl of Black Soil,” Jeon Soo-il (South Korea-France)
“L'Histoire de Richard O,” Damien Odoul (France)
“Autumn Ball,” Veiko Ounpuu (Estonia)
“The Silence Before Bach,” Pere Portabella (Spain)
“Exodus,” Penny Woolcock (U.K.)
“The Obscure,” Lu Yue (China)

HORIZONS DOC
“Dust,” Hartmut Bitomsky (Germany)
“Madri,” Barbara Cupisti (Italy)
“Death in the Land of Encantos,” Lav Diaz (Philippines)
“Man From Plains,” Jonathan Demme (U.S.)
“L'Aimee,” Arnaud Desplechin (France)
“Umbrella,” Du Haibin (China)
“Andarilho,” Cao Guimares (Brazil)
“Useless,” Jia Zhangke (China)
“Il Passaggio delle linea,” Pietro Marcello (Italy)
“Anabazys,” Joel Pizzini, Paloma Rocha (Brazil)
“Berlin,” Julian Schnabel (U.S.)

OUT-OF-COMPETITION SPECIAL EVENT
“Hotel Chevalier,” Wes Anderson (U.S.)

SPECIAL EVENTS — BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI: GOLDEN LION FOR THE 75TH
“La Via del petrolio,” Bernardo Bertolucci (Italy)
“Spider's Stratagem,” Bernardo Bertolucci (Italy)

SPECIAL EVENTS — TIM BURTON: GOLDEN LION FOR CAREER ACHIEVEMENT 2007
“Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D,” Tim Burton and Henry Selick (U.S.)