Running between August 31st and September 10th, the 68th edition of the Venice Film Festival would be a dandy last edition for festival impresario Marco Muller even if he doesn't nab the likes of Wong Kar-wai's The Grandmaster, Walter Salles' On the Road, Fernando Meirelles' 360 and/or Zhang Yimou's Heroes of Naking. In his final year of contract, with approximately twenty-two competition slots (minus the already confirmed opening film from Italian res George Clooney and his TIFF-bound The Ides of March), this thursday's announcement should be heavy on items from the the U.K along with a robust presence from European filmmakers headed by Roman Polanski's Carnage.
The sales agent and production company had one heck of a year in 2010 with Le Quattro Volte and Aurora, this year they got two features (Blue Bird and Play) and a Boro in the Box (40-minute film) all playing in the Directors' Fortnight. Of interest we have Ilya Khrzhanovsky still working on Dau (see pic above) --- a Cannes 2012 selection folks?