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Fernanda Torres, Mohammad Rasoulof, Zhao Tao, Stéphane Brizé, Maura Delpero and Cristian Mungiu will be joining Alexander Payne on the International Jury for the 82nd Venice Film Festival, which takes place August 27 – September 6, 2025.

As announced in April, Payne will head the international jury. On Friday, with the recommendation of the festival’s artistic director Alberto Barb, the Board of Directors of La Biennale announced the additional jury members.

Recent Best Actress Oscar nominee Torres (for Walter Salles’ “I’m Still Here”) will judge the festival’s films alongside French director and screenwriter Stéphane Brizé; Italian director and screenwriter Maura Delpero; Romanian writer, director and producer Cristian Mungiu; Iranian director, writer and producer Mohammad Rasoulof and Chinese actress Zhao Tao.

The jury will give the Golden Lion, Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize, Silver Lion for Best Director, Coppa Volpi for Best Actress, Coppa Volpi for Best Actor, a best screenplay award, the...

Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof and Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres are among the competition jurors for the 82nd Venice International Film Festival (August 27-September 6).

Also alongside previously announced jury chair Alexander Payne are filmmakers Stephane Brize from France, Maura Delpero from Italy and Cristian Mungiu from Romania, as well as Chinese actress Zhao Tao.

The seven-strong jury will award prizes including the Golden Lion for best film; the Silver Lion grand jury prize; and awards for best director, actress, actor and screenplay.

French filmmaker Julia Ducournau will chair the Horizons jury, alongside Italian filmmaker Yuri Ancarani, Australian director Shannon Murphy, US...

The Venice Film Festival on Friday unveiled this year’s competition jury, the group of film professionals that will pick this year’s Golden Lion for best film at the 82nd Venice Film Festival. Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres, Iranian auteur Mohammad Rasoulof, French director and screenwriter Stéphane Brizé (At War), Italian director and screenwriter Maura Delpero (Vermiglio), Palme d’Or winning Romanian director Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) and Chinese actress Zhao Tao (Ash Is the Purest White) will all sit on the main jury.

As previously announced, two-time Oscar-winning director Alexander Payne (The Holdovers, Sideways, Nebraska) will head up the jury as president. Payne has only once screened a film in the Venice competition, with Downsizing debuting on the Lido in 2017.

In addition to the best film Golden Lion, the competition jury selects the Silver Lion Grand Jury prize, Silver Lions for best director, the Coppa Volpi for best actor and best actress,...

The Venice Film Festival has unveiled the official juries for its 82nd edition running from August 27-September 6.

On the main competition jury, previously announced jury president Alexander Payne, will be joined by French director and screenwriter Stéphane Brizé; Italian director and screenwriter Maura Delpero; Romanian director, writer and producer Cristian Mungiu; Iranian director and writer Mohammad Rasoulof; Brazilian actress, writer and screenwriter Fernanda Torres; and Chinese actress Zhao Tao.

They will decide the Golden Lion for Best Film; Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize; Silver Lion for Best Director; Coppa Volpi for Best Actress; Coppa Volpi for Best Actor; Award for Best Screenplay; Special Jury Prize; and the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress.

A number of the jury members have Venice connections.

Brizé’s Another World (2021) and Out of Season (2023) premiered in Venice competition; Delpero world premiered her second film Vermiglio at the festival last year,...

The full international juries roster for this year’s Venice Film Festival has been unveiled.

The director-heavy lineup joining previously announced competition president Alexander Payne consists of: Oscar-nominated Brazilian actress and writer Fernanda Torres (“I’m Still Here”), prominent Iranian auteur Mohammad Rasoulof (“The Seed of the Sacred Fig”), Palme d’Or-winning Romanian director-writer-producer Cristian Mungiu, French director Stéphane Brizé (“Out of Season”), Italian director Maura Delpero (“Vermiglio”) and Chinese actor and producer Zhao Tao (“Caught by the Tides”).

In addition to awarding the Golden Lion for best film, the competition jury will also be responsible for handing out the Silver Lion grand jury prize, Silver Lion for best director, Coppa Volpi for best actress, Coppa Volpi for best actor, special jury prize, best screenplay and the Marcello Mastroianni Award for new young actor or actress.

Meanwhile, Palme d’Or-winning French director Julia Ducournau (“Titane”), who was back in Cannes this year with “Alpha,...

Based on Margot Wölk’s extraordinary account, Silvio Soldini’s film The Tasters sees a group of women seemingly risk their lives with each bite. But does the story add up?

The story is almost too compelling to be true: a group of war-weary young women, long deprived of sufficient food, are herded together to dine on abundant vegetarian delicacies three times a day. The only price: risking their lives with each bite as they may have consumed deadly poison intended for Adolf Hitler.

The extraordinary account by then 95-year-old Margot Wölk created a sensation when it first appeared in a Berlin tabloid more than a decade ago. Her decision to break what she called decades of silence about her wartime experiences captured the imagination of German reporters, then global media, finally inspiring a documentary, two novels and a play.

MetFilm Distribution has acquired UK-Ireland distribution rights to Silvio Soldini’s Second World War drama The Tastersfrom Italy’s Vision Distribution.

MetFilm will release the film in cinemas later this year.

Based on Rosella Postorino’s 2018 novel At The Wolf’s Table, The Tasters reconstructs the true story of the women coerced into being food tasters for Adolf Hitler towards the end of the Second World War.

Soldini wrote the screenplay with Doriana Leondeff, Cristina Comencini, Giulia Calenda, Ilaria Macchia and Lucio Ricca.

The film is produced by Lionello Cerri, Stefan Jager, Cristiana Mainardi, Katrin Renz and Joseph Rouschop for...

German actors Elisa Schlott (“Das Boot” TV series), Max Riemelt (“Sleeping Dog”) and Alma Hasun (“Corsage”) are set to star in Italian director Silvio Soldini’s drama “The Tasters,” which reconstructs the untold true story of the women conscripted to be Adolf Hitler’s food tasters.

Shooting is set to start on Friday in Italy’s northern Alto Adige region on the Nazi-era drama, which is being pre-sold at the Cannes Marché du Film by Rome-based Vision Distribution.

Soldini is known for sophisticated comedy “Bread and Tulips,” which launched from Cannes, and relationship dramas “Days and Clouds” and “Come Undone.”

“The Tasters,” which will mark Soldini’s first foray into German-language cinema, is based on the bestselling book “At the Wolf’s Table” by Italian author Rosella Postorino. The story follows a group of women who were recruited by the SS in 1943 to make sure that the food being served to Hitler was not poisoned.

Veteran Italian auteur Silvio Soldini is set to direct “The Tasters,” which will reconstruct the true untold story of the women conscripted to be Adolf Hitler’s food tasters.

The Nazi-era drama — which will mark Soldini’s first foray into German-language cinema — is based on the bestselling book “At the Wolf’s Table,” by Italian author Rosella Pastorino, about a group of women who were recruited by the SS in 1943 to make sure that food to be served to Hitler was not poisoned. Forced to eat what might kill them, the tasters start to split into two factions: those loyal to Hitler, and those who insist they aren’t Nazis, even as they risk their lives everyday for the Führer. “At the Wolf’s Table” has been translated in 46 countries.

Vision distribution is launching international sales in Cannes on “The Tasters,” which is eying a fall- winter 2023 production start. The...

Italian twins Damiano and Fabio D’Innocenzo, who made a splash in Berlin last year with “Bad Tales,” are back on set with dark thriller “America Latina” toplining Elio Germano, who was at Berlin 2020 with two pics: “Bad Tales” and “Hidden Away,” for which he scored a Silver Bear.

Shooting started March 1 on “America Latina.” Its story details are being kept under wraps other than it’s “a love story and like all love stories it’s obviously a thriller,” as the brothers cryptically put it recently speaking to the Italian press.

“Bad Tales,” in which Germano played the sadistic father in a dysfunctional suburban family, won the Berlin 2020 best screenplay award.

“America Latina” is being co-produced by Lorenzo Mieli’s The Apartment, a Fremantle company, and Vision Distribution, which will release the film theatrically in Italy. Le Pacte is also on board and will be distributing France.

Vision Distribution, which...

Amka Films, the Swiss indie shingle founded by prominent producer Tiziana Soudani – who sadly passed away in January – is carrying on its activities under a trio of women led by her daughter Amel Soudani.

The company is known for its involvement in prizewinning films by prominent directors from nearby Italy, such as Alice Rohrwacher (“The Wonders”), Silvio Soldini (“Bread and Tulips) and Fabio and Damiano D’Innocenzo (“Bad Tales”) as well as by emerging talents in Switzerland and Africa.

Among Amka projects in the pipeline is high-profile doc “L’Afrique Des Femmes,” selected for the lineup of the Locarno fest’s The Films After Tomorrow initiative that will award cash prizes to works-in-progress forced to halt production due to the pandemic.

The long-gestating doc portraying strong resourceful women from different African nations and social classes was close to completion when the coronavirus crisis struck, blocking the editing process, which was being done in Italy.

Credits included ‘Happy As Lazarro’ and ‘Bread And Tulips’.

Swiss producer Tiziana Soudani, the long-term producer of Alice Rohrwacher, has died after a long illness. She was in her 60s.

Soudani, who hailed from the Italian-speaking Swiss canton of Ticino, founded Lugano-based company Amka Film in 1988 with her Algerian filmmaker husband Mohammed Soudani. It takes its name from the first names of their daughters Amel and Karima.

The couple had strong ties with Africa and many of their early productions were made on the continent including Ivorian director Roger Gnoan M’Bala’s 1993 comedy Au Nom Du Christ, which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival,...

Swiss producer Tiziana Soudani, who through her Amka Films shepherded prizewinning films by prominent directors from nearby Italy, such as Alice Rohrwacher and Silvio Soldini, as well as by emerging talents in Switzerland and Africa, has died after a struggle with brain cancer.

She was in her mid 60s, though her exact age was not immediately verifiable. Soudani’s death was announced on Sunday by several Swiss media outlets and by the Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland’s preeminent film event, with which Soudani had a long rapport.

Born in Locarno, the lakeside town in the Italian-speaking portion of Switzerland, Ticino, Soudani founded Amka Films in 1988 with her Algerian husband Mohammed Soudani, a former professional soccer player turned documentary director.

The previous year, in 1987, while attending the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, in Burkina Faso, Soudani had been profoundly struck by the film “Ablakan,” the first work by Roger Gnoan M’Bala...

Rajendra Roy, the Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film at the Museum of Modern Art with Istituto Luce Cinecittà’s Camilla Cormanni, Alice Rohrwacher, and Alba Rohrwacher Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

At the Istituto Luce Cinecittà opening night reception for The Wonders: Alice and Alba Rohrwacher at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Julian Schnabel circulated through the crowd, Sony Pictures Classics Michael Barker chatted with Magari (If Only) director Ginevra Elkann and Rome Film Festival Artistic Director and Le Conversazioni founder Antonio Monda held court.

Alba Rohrwacher on Alice Rohrwacher’s The Wonders: “I can say it's my life, but from her point of view.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

There is only one actress linked to Gianni Zanasi’s Troppa Grazia (Lucia’s Grace); Giorgio Diritti’s L’Uomo Che Verrà (The Man Who Will Come); Luca Guadagnino’s Lo Sono L’Amore (I Am Love) and Part...

Valerio Mastandrea on Abel Ferrara: "An American frame by Abel is different from any other one. Because he moves people to feel cinema inside, you know." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

At Open Roads: New Italian Cinema in New York, first-time director Valerio Mastandrea of Laughing (Ride), starring Chiara Martegiani, told me how he was influenced by Ettore Scola, Mario Monicelli and Aki Kaurismäki. Valerio talks about getting inside the story with the directors he has acted for, including Silvio Soldini's Garibaldi's Lovers (Il Comandante E La Cicogna) opposite Alba Rohrwacher, Marco Bellocchio's Sweet Dreams (Fai Bei Sogni), and Valeria Golino's Euphoria (Euforia) with Riccardo Scamarcio, Jasmine Trinca and Isabella Ferrari.

Valerio is Nico Naldini, confidant to Pier Paolo Pasolini, played by Willem Dafoe in Abel Ferrara's Pasolini.

Valerio Mastandrea on Abel Ferrara: "The way Abel looked at me who observed - that's the difference that he can...

Acclaimed Italian cinematographer Luca Bigazzi will be honored with this year's Campari Passion Award, a prize handed out by the Venice International Film Festival to honor below-the-line film talents, such as cinematographers, editors, composers and set and costume designers.

A versatile and adaptable filmmaker, Bigazzi has worked with a wide range of directors, including Iranian helmer Abbas Kiarostami (Certified Copy) or Italy's Michele Placido (Romanzo Criminale) and Silvio Soldini (Bread and Tulips). But he is best know for his long-running collaboration with Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, having lensed Sorrentino's Il Divo, Youth and The Great Beauty, among others.

Bigazzi also ...

Acclaimed Italian cinematographer Luca Bigazzi will be honored with this year's Campari Passion Award, a prize handed out by the Venice International Film Festival to honor below-the-line film talents, such as cinematographers, editors, composers and set and costume designers.

A versatile and adaptable filmmaker, Bigazzi has worked with a wide range of directors, including Iranian helmer Abbas Kiarostami (Certified Copy) or Italy's Michele Placido (Romanzo Criminale) and Silvio Soldini (Bread and Tulips). But he is best know for his long-running collaboration with Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, having lensed Sorrentino's Il Divo, Youth and The Great Beauty, among others.

Bigazzi also ...

Rome-based Summerside Intl. has acquired international sales rights to Klaudia Reynicke’s “Love Me Tender.”

The second feature from Peru-born and Switzerland-based filmmaker will receive its world premiere at the Locarno Festival in its Filmmakers of the Present competition, which focuses on first and second features.

Summerside Intl. is the world sales agent, excluding and Lichtenstein and Switzerland. The film, also written by Reynicke, will be distributed in Switzerland by First Hand Films.

“Love Me Tender” is produced by Tiziana Soudani, Muchela Pini and Gabriella De Gara at the Ticino-based Amka Films, founded by Soudani in 1988. Its credits include Alice Rohrwacher’s 2018 Cannes Festival best screenplay winner “Happy as Lazzaro” and 2014’s “The Wonders” which took a Cannes Grand Jury Prize, as well as Silvio Soldini’s “Bread and Tulips,” a big box office hit which swept nine David di Donatello awards.

Italian-language Swiss public broadcaster Rsi Radiotelevisione Svizzera co-produces.

Chiara Martegiani with Laughing (Ride) director Valerio Mastandrea on crying: "For me it's a nightmare." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

In the Film at Lincoln Center and Istituto Luce Cinecittà Open Roads: New Italian Cinema program of films in New York, Valerio Mastandrea has a duel role. The director/screenwriter of Laughing (Ride) also stars with Riccardo Scamarcio, Jasmine Trinca and Isabella Ferrari in Valeria Golino's Euphoria (Euforia) which had its première in 2018 at the Cannes Film Festival.

Valerio Mastandrea was Nico Naldini, confidant to Pier Paolo Pasolini played by Willem Dafoe in Abel Ferrara's Pasolini, and Andrea Bottini in Roberto Andò's Long Live Freedom (Viva La Libertà) with Toni Servillo and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi. He also starred opposite Alba Rohrwacher in Silvio Soldini's Garibaldi's Lovers (Il Comandante E La Cicogna).

Valerio Mastandrea: "Maybe you've got to reach something and stay in the scene even before crying, just...

Moments ago, the Venice Film Festival announced their lineup for this year, and it again seems to suggest a strong brewing Oscar race. Coming hot on the heels of the initial Toronto International Film Festival slate, there’s a lot of overlap between the two. Auteurs like Darren Aronofsky, George Clooney, Guillermo del Toro, Martin McDonagh, and Alexander Payne will be in Italy this time around. Each is hoping to make an Academy Award case for their latest work. Time will tell if that happens, but there’s definitely potential here. Read on to see some of what will be playing in Venice at the end of August/the beginning of September… Among the 2017 entrants of note for this fest, we have Downsizing from Alexander Payne, First Reformed from Paul Schrader, Lean on Pete from Andrew Haigh, mother! from Darren Aronofsky, The Shape of Water from Guillermo del Toro, Suburbicon from George Clooney,...

ZamaThe programme for the 2017 edition of the Venice Film Festival has been unveiled, and includes new films from Darren Aronofsky, Lucrecia Martel, Frederick Wiseman, Alexander Payne, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Abdellatif Kechiche, Takeshi Kitano and many more.COMPETITIONmother! (Darren Aronofsky)First Reformed (Paul Schrader)Sweet Country (Warwick Thornton)The Leisure Seeker (Paolo Virzi)Una Famiglia (Sebastiano Riso)Ex Libris - The New York Public Library (Frederick Wiseman)Angels Wear White (Vivian Qu)The Whale (Andrea Pallaoro)Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh)Foxtrot (Samuel Maoz)Ammore e malavita (Manetti Brothers)Jusqu'a la garde (Xavier Legrand)The Third Murder (Hirokazu Kore-eda)Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno (Abdellatif Kechiche)Lean on Pete (Andrew Haigh)L'insulte (Ziad Doueiri)La Villa (Robert Guediguian)The Shape of Water (Guillermo del Toro)Suburbicon (George Clooney)Human Flow (Ai Weiwei)Downsizing (Alexander Payne)Out Of COMPETITIONFeaturesOur Souls at Night (Ritesh Batra)Il Signor Rotpeter (Antonietta de Lillo)Victoria...

On the heels of the Toronto International Film Festival announcement earlier this week, Venice Film Festival have now delivered their full lineup and while there’s no Terrence Malick as rumored, there’s a plethora of highly-anticipated titles. Along with the previously-announced opener Downsizing and the expected Suburbicon, mother!, The Shape of Water, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, there’s Lucrecia Martel’s Zama, Andrew Haigh’s Lean on Pete, Abdellatif Kechiche’s Blue is the Warmest Color follow-up Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno, and Brawl In Cell Block 99, the latest film from Bone Tomahawk director S. Craig Zahler.

Also in the lineup is Errol Morris’s Netflix crime drama Wormwood, Paul Schrader’s First Reformed, Frederick Wiseman’s Ex Libris – New York Public Library, Hirokazu Koreeda’s The Third Murder, Takeshi Kitano’s closing night film Outrage Coda, Michaël R. Roskam’s Racer and The Jailbird, the Kirsten Dunst-led Woodshock,...

Will 2017 be the year that Venice gets its king-making mojo back? After a steady run of debuting recent best picture winners — from “Spotlight” to “Birdman” — the festival missed out on last year’s big winner, “Moonlight,” which bowed at Telluride. This year’s lineup is a promising one, and while it’s still very early in the process, it’s difficult not to pick through today’s announcement of the festival’s slate and not search for the big contenders.

As was previously announced, the festival will open with Alexander Payne’s social satire “Downsizing,” starring Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig. The festival will also play home to the premiere of the Netflix original “Our Souls at Night,” as part of their planned tribute to stars Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. Annette Bening will lead the competition jury, ending an 11-year succession of male jury chiefs.

Read MoreIndieWire Fall Film...

Exclusive: Emmanuelle Bercot also cast; Celluloid Dreams, Avenue B pact for feature.

Paris-based Celluloid Dreams has boarded French director Sebastien Marnier’s high-school-set thriller School’s Out, featuring Laurent Lafitte and Emmanuelle Bercot in the cast (pictured).

Caroline Bonmarchand of Avenue B is producing. She previously collaborated with Marnier on his well-received debut thriller Faultless (Irréprochable), starring Marina Foïs as a down-on-her-luck estate agent who is hell-bent on getting her old job back at an agency in her provincial home-town, whatever it takes.

For School’s Out, Elle co-star Laurent Lafitte is set to play protagonist Pierre Hoffman, a substitute form tutor, brought in after his predecessor commits suicide by throwing himself out of the classroom window in front of his teenage students.

Actress and film-maker Emmanuelle Bercot will play another teacher in the school. Other cast members will include French rapper Gringe, Pascal Greggory, Greg Montel, Thomas Scimeca and Véronique Ruggia.

Lafitte’s character...

Exclusive: Celluloid sets down at Efm with biggest slate in years, adding two new Italian productions.

Paris-based sales agent Celluloid Dreams, at the European Film Market (Efm) this week with one of its biggest slates in recent years, has boarded sales on two high-profile Italian titles, Silvio Soldini’s [pictured] Emma and Marco Tullio Giordana’s Nome Di Donna.

Soldini’s Emma stars Adriano Giannini as a womanising creative director at a trendy ad agency who falls under the spell of a beautiful, married and blind osteopath. It is now in post-production. Videa has acquired Italian rights.

Tullio Giordana’s Nome Di Donne stars Cristiana Capotondi as a single mother who works at an old people’s home, where she discovers that the manager is sexually abusing the staff and she sets out to bring him to justice.

Celluloid Dreams president and head of acquisitions Hengameh Panahi acquired the films through her long-time contact, Lionello Cerri at Lumière...

Directors' Assembly

In 2013, the Directors’ Assembly became the exceptional platform of worldwide filmmakers, where they exchange with professionals and share with the public their experiences and their ideas. The event takes place in the frame of the Directors' Fortnight.

Edition 2014

What do Filmmakers want for tomorrow's Europe?

Last year, many filmmaker, from different backgrounds, came together for cultural diversity, demanding the exclusion of audiovisual and film services from the commercial agreements between the European Union and the United States. One of the interesting timing coincidences of 2014 is the European elections taking place directly following the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, which gives a unique opportunity to directors to discuss their expectations from the future European Commission and Members of Parliament

With the support of the following directors

Clio Barnard, David Cronenberg, Joe Dante, Amat Escalante, Emmanuel Finkiel, Stephen Frears, Matteo Garrone, Costa-Gavras, Valeria Golino, Anurag Kashyap, Naomi Kawase, Ágnes Kocsis, Joachim Lafosse, Pablo Larraín, Ken Loach, Sergei Loznitsa, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Cristian Mungiu, Yousry Nasrallah, Raoul Peck, Christian Petzold, Nicolas Philibert, Javier Rebollo, Walter Salles, Andrea Segre, Silvio Soldini, Bertrand Tavernier, Pablo Trapero, Joachim Trier, Felix van Groeningen, Andrey Zvyagintsev

The Assembly will be held

Sunday, May 18 - 5 Pm

Fnac Cannes (83 rue d'Antibes)

Open to all

Follow the Assembly on

www.quinzaine-realisateurs.com...

Title: Per Altri Occhi (Other Eyes) Director: Silvio Soldini and Giorgio Garini Starring: Enrico Sosio, Giovanni Bosio, Gemma Pedrini, Luca Casella, Felice Tagliaferri, Mario Santoni, Aldo Grassini, Daniela Bottegoni, Claudio Levantini, Michela Marcato, Piero Bianco, Loredana Ruisi. The documentary by Silvio Soldini and Giorgio Garini, focuses on the world of the blind. An extraordinary group of ordinary people, who have the handicap of not seeing, lead their daily lives with great energy and skill. Ten hyper-active individuals work, enjoy sports, from baseball to sailing, from skiing to archery. Enrico is a physiotherapist, and as soon as he has time off he goes sailing; Giovanni is an entrepreneur who loves to  [ Read More ]

The post Per Altri Occhi (Other Eyes) Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Exclusive: Jean-Luc Godard and Ursula Meier are among 14 directors set to participate in an omnibus film that will mark next year’s centenary of the First World War.

Speaking exclusively to ScreenDaily in Locarno, Meier - who has become known to international festival and cinema audiences through her last two features Home and Sister - confirmed that she and 83-year-old Godard will be making short films for the omnibus project Les Ponts de Sarajevo.

The omnibus will be coordinated by Paris-based production house Cinétévé.

The film will be part of a week-long event from June 21-28, 2014, titled “Sarajevo: Coeur de L’Europe”, organised in collaboration with the City of Sarajevo, the Sarajevo Film Festival, Jazzfest Sarajevo, Centre André Malraux, Goethe-Institut and the British Council.

“Most of the contributions will be documentary or essay-type films, but I am one of a couple of film-makers who will be making a fiction film,” Meier explained...

Peter Strickland’s Berberian Sound Studio was named best film by members of the Toronto Film Critics Association at the finale of the second annual Italian Contemporary Film Festival (Icff) on Saturday night [6].

The awards ceremony of the 11-day Canadian celebration of Italian and Italian-themed features and shorts included a life achievement award for Bread And Tulips director Silvio Soldini.

The Icff jury recognised Soldini’s closing night screening Come Undone (Cosa Voglio Di Più) with an honourable mention for best film.

Festival winners included Frank D’Angelo’s Real Gangsters, recipient of the Ic Savings Award; Paolo Genovese’s Una Famiglia Perfetta (A Perfect Family), winner of the People’s Choice Award; and Alessandro Marinaro’s Buongiorno Signor Bellavista (Good Morning Mr Bellavista), which took home the inaugural award for best short film and a $1,000 cash prize.

On hand to present the awards were Icff artistic director Cristiano de Florentiis and managing director Maurizio Magnifico. “We are...

Italian filmmaker Silvio Soldini is to receive the Italian Contemporary Film Festival’s inaugrual Lifetime Achievement Award.

Soldini will receive Icff’s first Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his body of work that spans a career of over three decades, amassing 11 awards and 14 nominations for his shorts, documentaries and feature films.

Soldini will be in Toronto on July 6 to receive his award and will introduce two of his films: infidelity drama Come Undone (Cosa voglio di più) and For Other Eyes (Per Altri Occhi), a documentary about the blind living in a world designed for those with sight.

Come Undone will be the Icff’s Closing Night Film.

“We are delighted to present Silvio Soldini with the Icff’s first Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of the exceptional and inspiring quality of the body of his work,” said artistic director Cristiano de Florentiis.

“It is a great pleasure to welcome Silvio to Toronto to present him with...

From Page To Screen | Bradford International Film Festival | Belfast International Film Festival | Italian Film Festival

From Page To Screen, Bridport

Curated by novelist Joe Dunthorne, this festival of literary adaptations takes in everything from Patricia Highsmith thrillers (Plein Soleil, Strangers On A Train) to comic-book films American Splendor and Ghost World, and films based on plays, like new vampire flick Byzantium, which comes with a masterclass from producer Stephen Woolley. Dunthorne introduces Richard Ayoade's adaptation of his own Submarine, and its key influence The Graduate, and there's a special screening of Kubrick's The Shining at the precarious, disused Burton Cliff Hotel.

Various venues, Wed to 14 Apr

Bradford International Film Festival

Bradford is rarely the first city that springs to mind when you think of British cinema, but it's home to our National Media Museum and is a Unesco City of Film, no less. And its festival is an embarrassment...

With the release of a second teaser trailer of Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master" this morning, we got another look at one of the most anticipated films of the year. And with the picture already slated for an October 13th release, for some traveling film critics and fans, and those prepared to head to Italy, the Venice Film Festival could be where the film makes its world premiere, with artistic director Alberto Barbera suggesting a few weeks back that Anderson was heading to the Lido for the fest, which kicks off on August 29th.

With the announcement of the opening film due any day now -- it was on June 21st last year and today, the fest announced their lineup of rare and restored films that will unspool -- and "The Master" trailer reminding us that its one of the candidates, it seemed like a good opportunity to look...

Alberto Barbera, the festival's new director, has said he wants a 'less glitzy' event this year

The new director of the Venice film festival has promised a "more sober, less glitzy" event for the 69th edition later this year.

Artistic director Alberto Barbera, who was appointed in December, has revealed plans to cut the number of films showing on the Lido. There will be fewer than 50 films in total at this year's festival, with only 18 showing in competition, he told Italian reporters.

"We're starting a change in Venice's skin, in which within two or three years we will have a nice rebirth," Barbera told Italian journalists. "The festival is like a grand old lady, a refined lady, but one in need of being freshened up. I believe a festival should take responsibility for its choice, and not to simply select dozens and dozens of titles."

Us film-makers being considered for...

Director: Silvio Soldini Writers: Silvio Soldini, Doriana Leondeff, Angelo Carbone Starring: Alba Rohrwacher, Giuseppe Battinston, Pierfrancesco Favino Anna (Alba Rohrwacher) and Alessio's (Giuseppe Battinston) relationship begins to come undone when a charming waiter named Domenico (Pierfrancesco Favino) enters the picture. Prior to Anna's first interaction with the talk, dark and handsome Domenico (he is from the south), we sense that her relationship with Alessio is friendly and comfortable but there is nothing sexy about it. Even their body types -- Anna is attractive and petite, Alessio is frumpy and rotund -- signal that they might be romantically incompatible. (I often found myself wondering how Anna and Alessio became a couple in the first place.) The affair between Anna and Domenico is clumsy from the get go, as they not so clandestinely exchange each other's digits outside of the insurance office where Anna works as an accountant. At their first rendezvous,...

Best known for his now viral performance as Hitler in the brilliant Oliver Hirschbiegel film, Downfall, actor Bruno Ganz is finally about to get his day in the spotlight, thanks to the European Film Academy.

According to Anne Thompson, the actor, and star of the wonderful Wim Wenders film, Wings Of Desire, will be given a special award at the European Film Awards, when they take place on December 4.

Personally, this has been a long time coming, and something that is more than deserved. Continuing to work today in films like The Reader, the actor has a marvelous filmography, particularly the Criterion staple Wings, a powerful and visually striking film, that features a performance from Ganz that is so haunting, that it is easily one of the best that I’ve ever seen. If you haven’t given the film a chance, Wings Of Desire is an absolute must own,...

Younger folks probably know Bruno Ganz best from those endless YouTube Hitler parodies taken from Oliver Hirschbiegel's Downfall (2004); but he is one of the world's great actors and thus I am delighted to report that the European Film Academy will honor the legendary Swiss actor at their European Film Awards. Ganz's resume includes Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire (1987), Silvio Soldini's Bread & Tulips (2000), Werner Herzog's Nosferatu The Vampyre (1979), Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth (2007) and Stephen Daldry's The Reader (2008). Ganz, 69, was elected with actress Iris Berben as president of the Germany Film Academy earlier this year and will receive this Lifetime Achievement Award at the EFAs on December 4 in Tallinn. [Pictured: Ganz, in Downfall as Hitler, Die Marquise von O and The Reader]...

The 46th Chicago International Film Festival is coming, and The Scorecard Review will be there will exclusive interviews, movie reviews and red carpet events beginning October 7, 2010.

Here’s the first 20 films announced for the festival. Below is the news release.

October 7 – 21, 2010

Chicago, August 25, 2010 – Cinema/Chicago is proud to announce the first 20 new films that will appear at this year’s Chicago International Film Festival. Among them are some of the most anticipated domestic and foreign films featuring well-respected talent and directors as well as the work of exceptional newcomers. From Slumdog Millionaire and Resevoir Dogs to Martin Scorsese and Werner Herzog, The Chicago International Film Festival has consistently brought the brightest and boldest new films and filmmakers to Chicago first. Audiences will be delighted to find that this year’s Festival will be no different. Below is just a taste of the more than 150 films that will be shown at...

Chicago – Cinema/Chicago is proud to announce the first 20 new films scheduled to appear at the 2010 Chicago International Film Festival, October 7th – 21st. The Chicago festival continues to combine the films of established directors/talent with promising newcomers. Expect some foreign and domestic film surprises.

Screenings will take place at the AMC River East Theater in downtown Chicago during the October festival run. Festival passes are on sale now and individual tickets go on sale September 24th.

Gemma Arterton in ‘Tamara Drewe’

Photo Credit: Sony Pictures Classic

Here are the first 20 films slated for the Chicago International Film Festival in the announcement made on August 25th.

UK – ‘Tamara Drewe’

Director: Stephen Frears

When former ugly duckling Tamara Drewe sashays back into her hometown, life for her neighbors is thrown upside down. Now a devastating beauty, Tamara sets a contemporary comedy of manners into play using the oldest magic in the book: sex appeal.

Berlin -- Rob Marshall's musical "Nine," Jo Baier's period epic "Henry of Navarre" and "L'Illusionist," the new animated film by French director Sylvain Chomet ("The Triplets of Belleville") will get the red carpet treatment at the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival as part of the event's special screenings program.

The non-competitive sidebar will also feature the world premieres of Doris Doerrie's new romantic comedy, "The Hairdresser," Silvio Soldini's "What More Do I Want" and "Boxhagener Platz," a German-language mystery from director Matti Geschonneck.

Several documentaries will be included in program, among them "How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster?" a Spanish-British doc on star architect Lord Foster and "Dancing Dreams" from German filmmakers Anne Linsel and Rainer Hoffmann on legendary choreographer Pina Bausch.

But the can't-miss highlight of this year's program is the newly restored, and finally complete, version of Fritz Lang's "Metropolis," which will have its world premiere on Feb.

Chicago – The Annual European Union Film Festival at the Siskel Film Center has become a calendar-clearing event for foreign film and arthouse movie lovers in the city of Chicago, but working your way through what to see of the five dozen films can be overwhelming. Let us guide the way.

This year’s edition, running from March 6th to April 2nd, includes high profile films from world renowned filmmakers like Peter Greenaway, Francois Ozon, Agnes Varda, Nicholas Roeg, Shane Meadows, Olga Malea, and Olivier Assayas, along with some movies that probably won’t be seen outside of the EU in the Windy City.

The 12th Annual European Union Film Festival includes 59 feature films, all of which are making their Chicago premiere. If you’re interested in seeing something off the beaten path, the EU is the fest for you. Week by week, every Wednesday, come back to HollywoodChicago.com for...

By Aaron Hillis, GreenCine Daily

Days and Clouds (Giorni e nuvole)

Directed by Silvio Soldini

2007, 115 minutes, In Italian with English subtitles

Film Movement

It's not that we need another reminder of the demoralizing economy, but Bread and Tulips director Silvio Soldini's modest new captivator -- about a middle-aged Genoa couple whose relationship begins to buckle under the weight of financial duress -- exposes the tenuous politics of potentially every marriage with perceptive nuances, not the archetypal plate-throwing hysteria or maudlin austerity of countless European art-house dramas.

By Aaron Hillis, GreenCine Daily

Days and Clouds (Giorni e nuvole)

Directed by Silvio Soldini

2007, 115 minutes, In Italian with English subtitles

Film Movement

It's not that we need another reminder of the demoralizing economy, but Bread and Tulips director Silvio Soldini's modest new captivator -- about a middle-aged Genoa couple whose relationship begins to buckle under the weight of financial duress -- exposes the tenuous politics of potentially every marriage with perceptive nuances, not the archetypal plate-throwing hysteria or maudlin austerity of countless European art-house dramas.

Eleven ACE features (Ateliers du Cinema European) have been recommended for a nomination for the European Film Awards to be announced December 6, 2008! 'Moscow, Belgium' by Christophe Van Rompaey, produced by Jean-Claude Van Rijckeghem (A Private View), 'Eden' by Declan Recks, produced by Martina Niland (Samson Films), 'The Class' by Laurent Cantet, produced by Carole Scotta (Haut & Court), 'Giorni e nuevole' by Silvio Soldini, produced by Tiziana Soudani (Amka Films Productions), 'Home' by Ursula Meier, produced by Denis Delcampe (Need Productions) and Helena Tatti (Box Productions), 'I am from Titov Veles' by Teona Strugar Mitevska, produced by Diana Elbaum (Entre chien et loup), 'Lemon Tree' by Eran Riklis, produced by Bettina Brokemper (Heimatfilm), 'Love and Other Crimes' by Stefan Arsenijevic, produced by Herbert Schwering (Coin Film), 'Black Ice' by Petri Kotwica, produced by Steffen Reuter (Schmidtz Katze Filmkollektiv), 'Waltz with Bashir' by Ari Folman, produced by Roman Paul (Razor Film Produktion), 'Wolke 9' by Andreas Dresen, produced by Peter Rommel (Rommel Film).

Full list of recommended films: European Film Academy.

London -- The European Film Academy unveiled the 44 movies on this year's long list for the upcoming European Film Awards, scheduled for Dec. 6 in Copenhagen.

The 44 titles come from 27 countries across the continent including four from the U.K.

Joe Wright's "Atonement," Nick Broomfield's "Battle for Haditha," Mike Leigh's "Happy-Go-Lucky" and Steve McQueen's "Hunger" will all hope to make the nominations' list with titles such as Kornel Mundruczo's "Delta" from Hungary and Andrzej Wajda's "Katyn" from Poland vying for a place.

In the 20 countries with the most Efa Members, members have voted one national film directly into the selection list.

To complete the list, a selection committee consisting of Efa board members and invited experts have included 24 other titles.

Over the next few weeks, the 1,800 members of the European Film Academy will vote for the nominations in the different award categories.

The nominations will then be announced Nov.

By Neil Pedley

This week finds the U.S. Army bringing war games to a whole other level, a '60s sex icon getting an exposé, Ron Perlman returning as the defender of small fluffy kittens everywhere and Eddie Murphy taking cinema egotism to new heights.

"August"

After the warm reception his first feature "Xx/Xy" received at Sundance in 2002, director Austin Chick returned to the snowy slopes of Park City to debut his sophomore effort, which seemed to impress our own Matt Singer when he saw it in January. Assembling an noteworthy ensemble that includes the likes of Robin Tunney, Naomie Harris, Rip Torn and David Bowie, Chick follows Tom and Josh Sterling (Josh Hartnett and Adam Scott, respectively), two brothers desperately trying to right the sinking ship of their failing dot-com company in the weeks leading up to the devastating September 11th attacks.

Opens in New York.

"Days...

MOSCOW -- The 30th Moscow International Film Festival wrapped on Saturday with twin wins for the Iranian drama "So Simple", directed by Reza Mir Karimi.

The film, which collected awards for best film from the festival and the Russian Film Critics' Guild, details the tribulations of a middle-class Iranian woman. It stars Hengameh Ghaziani, featured in last year's Iranian Toronto entry "Unfinished Stories".

"So Simple" won best film, screenplay and actress awards in February at the 26th Fajr International Film Festival, Iran's principal film forum.

At the awards ceremony, main competition jury head Liv Ullman highlighted the political undertones of the decision by taking Ghaziani's hand onstage and remarking about how two women from different cultures, "one covered and one uncovered," are standing together, and this is "as it should be."

Mexican director Rene Villarreal won best film from the Perspectives jury for "The Cumbria Connection". French director Marion Laine's "A Simple Heart" won the Special Jury Prize and best director went to Bulgarian Javor Gardev for his film "Zift".

Richard Jenkins won best actor for Tom McCarthy's American indie film "The Visitor", and the best actress award went to Margherita Buy for her role in Silvio Soldini's "Days and Clouds".

• I can't say I'll be rushing out or putting an X on the calender in anticipation of this family drama - over the years I've become highly intolerant to the form - Italian filmmakers have trouble in this domain. Here's the trailer (yawn) below. Film Movement are prepping up some courses in Italian this summer with the art house release and subsequent of Silvio Soldini (Bread and Tulips)'s Toronto, London and Rome film festival shocased family drama. Set for a June release, Days and Clouds (Giomi e Nuvole) revolves around Elsa and Michelle, a well-to-do couple who break up after the stress of Michele's unemployment wears on their relationship. Eventually, the two re-unite after realizing that their greatest possession is the love they've shared.        ...

...

Film Movement has acquired the North American rights to the Italian family drama Days and Clouds, directed by Silvio Soldini.

The film revolves around Elsa and Michelle, a well-to-do couple who break up after the stress of Michele's unemployment wears on their relationship. Eventually, the two re-unite after realizing that their greatest possession is the love they've shared.

Set for a June release, Days was an official selection at the Toronto, London and Rome film festivals.

"It is a real honor to be able to add another beautiful film by Silvio Soldini to our collection," said Adley Gartenstein, president of Film Movement. " 'Days and Clouds' reaffirms Soldini's sensibility and talent for capturing the human spirit using both humor and heart."

The deal was negotiated by Gartenstein and Rebeca Conget, vp acquisitions and distribution, and Adriana Chiesa, of Adriana Chiesa Enterprises.

Film Movement also distributed Soldini's 2004 romantic comedy Agatha and the Storm.

RomaCinemaFest

ROME -- Silvio Soldini, best known for his multiple award-winning Bread and Tulips from 2000, may have toned down his lyrical ways in Clouds and Days, but he has not strayed from his favorite subject matter -- a middle-aged couple in crisis. Here Soldini forgoes his trademark fairy tale or literary touches (such as in 2002's Burning in the Wind) for austere naturalism, complete with handheld camerawork that may not be entirely justified but lends itself to the film's verite feel.

A universal story with which almost anyone can identify, the film was released domestically Oct. 26 on 176 screens, coming in fifth at the boxoffice with nearly €725,000 grossed from its opening weekend -- over half of what Soldini's previous title, Agata and the Storm (2004), took in overall at home.

In the U.S., Days will be most-successful among highbrow audiences with a taste for smart European fare and the Italian realism of a bygone era. It should also win back European audiences -- in particular in Switzerland and Germany, where he has a large following -- ready for a more mature story from the director.

Although Michele (Antonio Albanese) has a solid marriage, he waits until his wife Elsa (Margherita Buy) has obtained her art history degree to tell her that he was fired two months earlier by the company he helped create. They will have to sell their lavish home immediately. Reeling from shock over the abysmal state of their finances, she quickly finds part-time work as a telemarketer while he goes on fruitless job interviews for positions for which he is overqualified.

Depressed, Michele begins skipping the interviews to do menial work, first as a moped messenger then as a handyman with two of his former employees (Giuseppe Battiston and Antonio Carlo Francini). Eventually, he refuses to get out bed, forcing Elsa to accept a full-time office job and take over his role as the family breadwinner. As their life of privilege slips further away, they start taking their frustrations out on one another and their 20-year-old daughter Alice (Alba Rohrwacher).

The intelligently crafted plot (by Soldini, his longstanding collaborator Doriana Leondeff, Francesco Piccolo and Federica Pontremoli) is balanced by comedic moments that keep it from becoming bleak. The film relies more on nuance rather than dramatic peaks. One particularly gripping, wordless scene comes when Alice, oblivious to her parents' problems, pulls up next to Michele, who is on a moped delivering a package, at a stoplight.

Soldini also reigns in Albanese (a renowned comic prone to hamming it up) and Buy (who has perfected the role of the neurotic urbanite), drawing from them two sober, highly credible performances that reflect how life's unexpected struggles can wear away at even the most loving relationships.

However, two hours on the exhaustive, day-by-day fallout of these struggles weighs down rather than heightens the tension and threat to Elsa and Michele's livelihood and love (even when she begins flirting with a co-worker). At times Days seems more of a social commentary on the shrinking middle class than the will-they-or-won't-they-make-it story at the heart of the film.

DAYS AND CLOUDS

Lumiere & Co., Amka Films, RTSI

Credits:

Director: Silvio Soldin

Writers: Soldini, Doriana Leondeff, Francesco Piccolo, Federica Pontremoli

Producer: Lionello Cerri

Executive producer: Tiziana Soudani

Director of photography: Ramiro Civita

Production designer: Paolo Bizzarri

Music: Giovanni Venosta

Costume designers: Silvia Nebiolo, Patrizia Mazzon

Editor: Carlotta Cristiani

Cast:

Elsa: Margherita Buy

Michele: Antonio Albanese

Alice: Alba Rohrwacher

Vito: Giuseppe Battiston

Riki: Fabio Troiano

Nadia: Carla Signoris

Salviati: Paolo Sassanelli

Luciano: Antonio Carlo Francini

Running time -- 117 minutes

No MPAA rating...

• Now in only its 2nd edition, Rome has whipped up quite the festival. A mention-worthy selection of titles, some U.S pics for glam and a jury process that I especially like not 5 or 6 but a group of 50 - this year No Man's Land director Danis Tanovic serves as the jury head for 50 international cinema-goers. Notables are Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth.Below you'll find the complete stats on the fest that begins in less than 3 weeks from now. When: October 18th to 28th, 2007 Counting Down: updateCountdownClock('October 18, 2007'); Where: Rome, Italy Official Website: www.romacinemafest.orgNot just a great city, but the city of cinema par excellence, will host the Fest which will transform its centre - the Auditorium Parco della Musica - in the Parco del Cinema for nine days. The second edition of Cinema. Festa Internazionale di Roma - RomeFilmFest will be held from

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