2015 Venice Film Fest: Corbet, Mahaffy, Saada & Lindholm Preeming in Horizons Section

Back to back mid-summer Xmas mornings with the rollout of major premiere titles at TIFF and now the full line-up for Venice means we’re now carefully dissecting the numerous films announced with our first focus going down the list at the treasure trove of items in the Horizons Section, otherwise known as Orizzonti. Names that pop out of the group of eighteen include Danish helmer Tobias Lindholm‘s heavily anticipated third feature film, A War. Re-teaming with actor Pilou Asbæk in just as many outings, R (2010) and A Hijacking (2012) are part of his already stacked early filmography, this is about a solider stationed in Afghanistan and finds himself caught in a catch-22 type of situation.

Another highly anticipated film (our Nicholas Bell slotted it at #33) which posits a person in a life or death type of situation is Nicolas Saada‘s sophomore film. Based on true horrific events, set in Mumbai and starring Stacy Martin (see pic above), Taj Mahal should be a panicky type of offering with what we imagine is a lot of show, and don’t tell. The drama also stars Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Gina McKee and Alba Rohrwacher.

And speaking of Martin, Brady Corbet‘s directorial debut The Childhood of a Leader lands in the section as well. Starring Liam Cunningham, Bérénice Bejo, Yolande Moreau, Tom Sweet and Robert Pattinson, this euro co-production is about a monster in the making – it tells the story of an American boy living in France with his parents witnesses the creation of the Treaty of Versailles. Another U.S born filmmaker making his debut is Jake Mahaffy. We thought he might be part of the make-up of this year’s Sundance (he was with his short film A.D. 1363), but instead Free in Deed finds itself on the Lido. Starring Kathy Smith, Edwina Findley Dickerson, David Harewood and Alex Coker, this is based on actual events of a pentecostal minister’s attempts to heal a severely autistic boy by faith — but fails tragically. Here is the group of 18:

“Madame Courage,” Merzak Allouache (Algeria, France, U.A.E.)
“A Copy of My Mind,” Joko Anwar (Indonesia, South Korea)
“Pecore in erba,” Alberto Caviglia (Italy)
“Tempete,” Samuel Collardey (France)
“The Childhood of a Leader,” Brady Corbet (U.K., Hungary, Belgium, France)
“Italian Gangster,” Renato De Maria (Italy)
“Wednesday, May 9,” Vahid Jalilvand, Iran
“Mountain,” Yaelle Kayam (Israel)
“A War,” Tobias Lindholm (Denmark)
“Interrogation,” Vetri Maaran (India)
“Free in Deed,” Jake Mahaffy (U.S., New Zealand)
“Boi Neon,” Gabriel Mascaro (Brazil, Uruguay, Netherlands)
“Man Down,” Dito Montiel (U.S.)
“Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?,” Hadar Morag (Israel, France)
“Un monstruo de mil cabezas,” Rodrigo Pla (Mexico)
“Mate-me por favor,” Anita Rocha Da Silveira (Brazil, Argentina)
“Taj Mahal,” Nicolas Saada (France, Belgium)
“Interruption,” Yorgos Zois (Greece, France, Croatia)