News

Prizes for ‘Explanation For Everything’, ‘Green Border’.

Slow, the second feature from Lithuanian filmmaker Marija Kavtaradze, has won the Crystal Arrow at the 15th edition of Les Arcs Film Festival in France.

The romantic drama receives a €20,000 digital promotional campaign for its release; Be For Films handles sales on the title, with Tandem distributing the film in France on March 6, 2024.

Scroll down for the full list of winners

A Sundance 2023 premiere, Slow follows a dancer and sign language interpreter who begin a relationship, building their own kind of intimacy.

It is a second feature for Kavtaradze after 2018 Toronto selection Summer...

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...

Vivants

Alix Delaporte will move into production in Paris on her third feature film next month – in a news media stratosphere storyline that includes Roschdy Zem, Alice Isaaz, Vincent Elbaz, Ludivine Sagnier and Pierre Lottin. Delaporte’s fiction features efforts to date include Angel & Tony (2010) and The Last Hammer Blow (2014) which was a Venice Film Fest invite. Look for synopsis info prior to the shoot. Previously titled as “La Fille à la caméra” and “Gabrielle,” Vivants could chart a course towards the Lido.

Gist: Tbd.

Release Date/Prediction: Venice Film Festival could be in the cards if this shoots out of the starting gate.…...

Angel & Tony (2010) and Le dernier coup de marteau (2014) filmmaker Alix Delaporte is finally climbing back into the director’s chair for a third feature film titled, Vivants. Roschdy Zem, Alice Isaaz, Vincent Elbaz, Ludivine Sagnier and Pierre Lottin (who had a pair of Cannes preems in Les Harkis and The Night of the 12th) will topline the project with production due to begin somewhere around January and February of next year with producers probably earmarking a Lido launch as Delaporte’s first two films premiered there.

Vivants will explore the world news reporters — something that Bruno Dumont had plenty of fun with in 2021’s France.…...

After delivering two of the highest-grossing French films of last year, Alain Attal’s Paris-based production company Tresor Films is kicking off 2020 with its most ambitious project yet, Guillaume Canet’s “Asterix & Obelix: The Silk Road.”

Co-produced and financed by Jerome Seydoux’s Pathé, “Asterix & Obelix” is budgeted at $72.4 million, an exceptionally high budget by French standards. Attal, who is also producing the film with the banner Les Enfants Terribles, said the price tag was on a par with previous instalments of “Asterix,” and reflected the scope of the film and commercial potential of the comicbook franchise.

“It’s a costume film set 2,000 years ago, so we’ll be building a village, filming gigantic battles and that will require plenty of extras, and we’ll also need a lot of visual effects and of course a high-profile cast with some cameos,” said Attal. The most successful opus, “Asterix and Obelix Meet Cleopatra,...

The Last Hammer Blow

Written by Alix Delaporte, Alain Le Henry

Directed by Alix Delaporte

France 2015

There are both too many stories of depression laced lives and too many happily ever afters. Too few allow the tragedy life to run its course while acknowledging the undercurrent of joy and at times fleeting happiness that bubbles up from below. The Last Hammer Blow begins as another simple, dour look at the struggles of 13 year old Victor (Romain Paul in a star making performance) and his cancer stricken mother Nadia (Clotilde Hesme), as they struggle to survive in a trailer by a remote beach. Having never met his father, and with a mother who needs more care than she can give, Victor has about as much weight on his shoulders as Atlas did, which he accepts with an emotionless grimace, letting fate determine his place in life.

Elements of the Dardennes are...

Anomalisa wins Grand Jury Prize; Robert Pattinson-starrer The Childhood Of A Leader wins best debut.Scroll down for full list of winners

From Afar (Desde Alla), the first Venezuelan production to appear in Competition at the Venice Film Festival, has won the Golden Lion for Best Film.

The directorial debut of Lorenzo Vigas concerns a middle-aged man (Alfredo Castro) who pays young boys to spend time with him. One day he befriends an 18-year-old delinquent (Luis Silva), a development that affects both profoundly.

The film, sold by Celluloid Dreams, is produced by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga, who co-wrote the script.

The Silver Lion for Best Director went to Argentinian film-maker Pablo Trapero for kidnap drama The Clan (El Clan).

Trapero has a good relationship with Venice, having won two prizes for his 1999 debut, Crane World, returning in 2004 with Rolling Family and sitting on the Golden Lion jury in 2012.

The Clan is based on the real-life exploits...

'Everest' 2015, with Jake Gyllenhaal at the Venice Film Festival. What global warming? Venice Film Festival 2015 jury: Oscar winner Alfonso Cuarón president The 2015 Venice Film Festival, to be held Sept. 2–12, has announced the members of its three main juries: Venezia 72, Horizons, and the Luigi De Laurentiis Award for Best Debut Film. In case you're wondering, “Why Venezia 72”? Well, the simple answer is that this is the 72nd edition of the festival. Looking at the lists below, you'll notice that, as usual, Europeans dominate the award juries. The only two countries from the Americas represented are the U.S. and Mexico, and here and there you'll find a sprinkling of Asian film talent. Golden Lion jury The Golden Lion – Venezia 72 Competition – jury is comprised by the following: Jury President Alfonso Cuarón, the first Mexican national to take home the Best Director Academy Award (for the Sandra Bullock-George Clooney...

We knew that Alfonso Cuarón would be presiding over the competition jury at the 72nd Venice Film Festival (September 2 through 12); as of today, we know that the other members are Elizabeth Banks, Emmanuel Carrère, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Diane Kruger, Francesco Munzi, Pawel Pawlikowski and Lynne Ramsay. On the Orizonti (Horizons) jury: Jonathan Demme (President), Anita Caprioli, Fruit Chan, Alix Delaporte and Paz Vega. And awarding a debut film will be Saverio Costanzo (President), Charles Burnett, Roger Garcia, Natacha Laurent and Daniela Michel. Also in today's news: Josephine Decker, Miguel Arteta and Heinz Emigholz. » - David Hudson...

We knew that Alfonso Cuarón would be presiding over the competition jury at the 72nd Venice Film Festival (September 2 through 12); as of today, we know that the other members are Elizabeth Banks, Emmanuel Carrère, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Diane Kruger, Francesco Munzi, Pawel Pawlikowski and Lynne Ramsay. On the Orizonti (Horizons) jury: Jonathan Demme (President), Anita Caprioli, Fruit Chan, Alix Delaporte and Paz Vega. And awarding a debut film will be Saverio Costanzo (President), Charles Burnett, Roger Garcia, Natacha Laurent and Daniela Michel. Also in today's news: Josephine Decker, Miguel Arteta and Heinz Emigholz. » - David Hudson...

Competition jury includes Elizabeth Banks, Lynne Ramsay, Diane Kruger and Hou Hsiao-hsien.

The Venice Film Festival (Sept 2-12) has revealed the members of its three international juries - Venezia 72, Orizzonti (Horizons) and ‘Luigi De Laurentiis’ Venice Award for Best Debut Film.

The Venezia 72 Competition jury, headed by Gravity director Alfonso Cuarón, will comprise:

French author, screenwriter and director Emmanuel Carrère, author of bestsellers Limonov (2011) and Le Royaume (2015);

Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival for Winter Sleep;

Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski, director of Ida, winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film earlier this year;

Italian director Francesco Munzi, in competition at last year’s Venice with Black Souls, winner of nine David di Donatello awards from the Italian Academy;

Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien, winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice 1989 for A City of Sadness, and in competition at this year’s Cannes...

Other winners at the French film festival in La include Alix Delaporte’s The Last Hammer Blow and documentary Steak (R)evolution.

Clovis Cornillac’s Blind Date has picked up the audience award at the Colcoa French Film Festival (April 20-28) in Los Angeles.

The romantic comedy, which also stars director Cornillac alongside Mélanie Bernier, received its world premiere at the Los Angeles festival ahead of its May 6 release in France.

Alix Delaporte’s The Last Hammer Blow earned the Colcoa Lafca Critics Award following its North American premiere.

Once In A Lifetime directed by Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar won both the Critics Special Prize and the Audience Special Prize.

The Best Documentary Award went to Steak (R)evolution by Frank Ribière and will be released in the Us by Kino Lorber.

The distributor also handles the First Feature Award winner SK1 by Frédéric Tellier.

The Colcoa Coming Soon Award went to Samba by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, which...

Much of “The Last Hammer Blow,” the latest film from French writer-director Alix Delaporte, features scenes of its young protagonist, Victor (Romain Paul), in transit. He walks, runs, scooters, and hitches from place to place, never staying still, constantly on the move. This is probably an apt representation of his mental state—roving and restless. Victor doesn’t have much stability in his life: his mother (Clotilde Hesme) is sick, fragile, and dead broke, and the two live in a camper among a surf tribe of sorts at the beach. She’s prone to impulsive decisions and Victor is starting to realize he needs to take some responsibility for her. At the same time, he’s also seeking out his father, an accomplished conductor in town to conduct Mahler’s 6th symphony. Victor starts stalking him at rehearsals, but the gruff Samuel (Gregory Gadebois) isn’t having it. Victor stays...

Adff to present 197 films from 61 countries.

The 2014 Abu Dhabi Film Festival (Adff), backed by twofour54, will present nine feature world premieres, eight of them from the Arab world. The short film sections will host 48 world premieres.

The festival will open with Ali Mostafa’s From A to B [pictured], and festival director Ali Al-Jabri said: “It is the first time in the festival’s history that we opening with an Emirati film and we ares very proud about this landmark event.”

The festival runs October 23 to November 1 and presents 197 films from 61 countries.

For the second year, the festival host the Child Protection Award organised with the Child Protection Centre of the Ministry of Interior, to spotlight films that raise awareness about abused or neglected children. Films competing for that prize include Zerensenay Mehari’s Difret, Albert Shin’s In Her Place, and Cyprien Vial’s Young Tiger.

The Showcase section includes films such as ‘71, A Pigeon Sat on...

Venice awards go to Roy Andersson dark comedy, Andrei Konchalovsky drama, Hungry Hearts.Scroll down for full list of winners

Roy Andersson’s lauded absurdist comedy A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence has scooped the Golden Lion for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival.

Silver Lion for Best Director went to Andrei Konchalovsky for The Postman’s White Nights while Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence took home the Grand Jury Prize.

Coppa Volpi for Best Actor went to Adam Driver for Hungry Hearts, while Best Actress went to Alba Rohrwacher for the same film.

Romain Paul took the Best Young Actor Award for Le Dernier Coup De Marteau while Best Screenplay went to Rakhshan Banietemad and Farid Mostafavi for Tales (Ghesseha).

The Special Jury Prize went to Sivas by Kaan Mujdeci and the Lion of the Future Award for Debut Film went to Court by Chaitanya Tamhane (India) along with a...

★★★★☆"It's called tragic but don't let's snivel," says a character in director Alix Delaporte's new film The Last Hammer Blow (2014), a refreshing and perfectly restrained coming-of-age tale which enters the running for the Golden Lion at Venice. Romain Paul plays Victor, a young lad living with his mother Nadia (Clotilde Hesme) in a caravan park by the sea near Montpelier. He spends his time playing football - he's talented and his coach encourages him to prepare for some important trials coming up - and tutoring the son of a neighbouring Spanish family in French, which incidentally gives him the opportunity to glimpse the boy's surly older sister, Luna (Mireia Vilapuig), for whom he has a crush.

Alix Delaporte uses Mahler’s Sixth Symphony both as the soundtrack and as a powerful and emotionally charged protagonist in this engaging coming of age tale, playing here in competition.

14-year-old Victor (Romain Paul) lives with his mum Nadia (Clotilde Hesme) in a caravan on the beach. Nadia is stick thin and has been undergoing chemo; both she and their home are in a precarious state. Having decided to halt her treatment, she takes her son out on a jaunt and cajoles him into jumping into a river from the steep bank. When he seems scared, she leaps in, her wig becoming detached and floating on the water’s surface. It is at once a declaration of her illness and her release from its constraints. Also living on the beach are a Spanish couple whose young son Miguel has French lessons with Victor and whose daughter (Mareia Vilapuig) is a...

As previously reported by my HitFix colleagues, 2014’s fall festivals represent something of a battle royale for various heavyweight Oscar hopefuls. The oldest fest in the big four, venerable Venice, is up against younger North American counterparts Toronto, Telluride and New York in the perennial fight to deliver a truly memorable Competition. Which films will be left standing once the critics have had their way with them? Contenders hoping to emerge victorious from La Biennale’s royal rumble include Alejandro González Iñárritu’s opening nighter "Birdman" starring Michael Keaton, David Gordon Green’s Al Pacino vehicle "Manglehorn" and Andrew Garfield vs Michael Shannon in Ramin Bahrani’s real estate showdown "99 Homes." As far as awards season goes, for me the big hitter to beat from Cannes is "Foxcatcher," an extraordinary and illuminating piece of filmmaking from Bennett Miller, a director I’ve not been personally persuaded by before now. In the documentary category,...

The Venice International Film Festival is in the process announcing the lineup for its 71st edition. Here's what we know so far:

Competition

The Cut (Fatih Akin)

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (Roy Andersson)

99 Homes (Ramin Bahrani)

Tales (Rakhshan Bani E'temad)

La rancon de la gloire (Xavier Beauvois)

Hungry Hearts (Saverio Costanzo)

Le dernier coup de marteau (Alix Delaporte)

Pasolini (Abel Ferrara)

Manglehorn (David Gordon Green)

Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance (Alejandro González Iñárritu)

Three Hearts (Benoît Jacquot)

The Postman's White Nights (Andrei Konchalovsky)

Il Giovane Favoloso (Mario Martone)

Sivas (Kaan Mujdeci)

Anime Nere (Francesco Munzi)

Good Kill (Andrew Niccol)

Loin des hommes (David Oelhoffen)

The Look of Silence (Joshua Oppenheimer)

Nobi (Shinya Tsukamoto)

Red Amnesia (Wang Xiaoshuai)

Out Of Competition

Joe Date. Photo by Evan Dickson.

Words with Gods (Guillermo Arriaga, Emir Kusturica, Amos Gitai, Mira Nair, Warwick Thornton, Hector Babenco, Bahman Ghobadi,...

This morning in Rome, Biennale president Paolo Baratta and Venice Film Festival chief Alberto Barbera unveiled the lineup for the 71st Venice Film Festival, which features some extraordinarily exciting titles and intriguingly under-the-radar picks.

Twenty films will be competing in the main competition, 19 of which are world premieres with one international premiere out of the lot. Out of all the titles at Venice this year, Birdman, which stars Michael Keaton and features a star-studded cast including Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone and Naomi Watts, is undoubtedly the title with the most chance of gaining Oscar attention this year after making the rounds on the festival circuit (it’s heading to the Toronto International Film Festival next).

Also anticipated are Manglehorn, a collaboration between Prince Avalanche helmer David Gordon Green and Al Pacino, and Andrew Niccol’s Good Kill, with Ethan Hawke, Bruce Greenwood, January Jones and Zoe Kravitz.

The 71st Venice Film Festival announced its lineup this morning, highlighted by films from American directors, including David Gordon Green, Barry Levinson, Peter Bogdanovich, Lisa Cholodenko, Andrew Niccol, and James Franco. As had been previously announced, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman, starring Michael Keaton and many others, will be the opening film when the festival begins on Aug. 27.

Click below for the entire list of 55 films playing in Venice.

Competition

The Cut, directed by Fatih Akin

Starring Tahar Rahim, Akin Gazi, Simon Abkarian, George Georgiou

A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence, directed by Roy Andersson

Starring Holger Andersson,...

This morning came the announcement of the 2014 Venice Film Festival lineup and we already knew Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Birdman would serve as the opening night film and for the most part a lot of the more recognizable entries are those we already discussed as part of the Toronto Film Festival lineup. This includes Ramin Bahrani's 99 Homes, David Gordon Green's Manglehorn starring Al Pacino, Abel Ferrera's Pasolini, Barry Levinson's The Humbling and Andrew Niccol's The Good Kill. There are, however, some titles worthy of note such as the latest film from The Act of Killing director Joshua Oppenheimer, The Lord of Silence, Fatih Akin's The Cut, She's Funny that Way from Peter Bogdanovich, Lisa Cholodenko's Olive Kitteredge and a new film from James Franco in The Sound and the Fury based on Faulkner's novel. Joe Dante shows up with a new horror-comedy in Burying the Ex,...

Whiles the likes of Terrence Malick, Todd Haynes, Alexander Sokurov, Giorgos Lanthimos and J.C. Chandor no where to be found in the fall fest season map (with concerns to Malick — Telluride and Tiff might still have those surprises up their sleeves) the 71st edition of the Venice Film Festival is still a lean and mean (American-French-Italian heavy) comp with the now “confirmed” presence of Fatih Akin (the cross continent The Cut - see pic above), Ramin Bahrani (Michael Shannon starrer 99 Homes), Abel Ferrara (a Thin Blue Line truth revealer Pasolini), David Gordon Green (Pacino comeback vehicle Manglehorn), Roy Andersson (the long awaited A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence) and Joshua Oppenheimer (public Indonesian isolation accompaniment film The Look Of Silence). The U.S. presence is equally as heavy in the Out of Comp section with the likes of Peter Bogdanovich, Joe Dante, Barry Levinson, Lisa Cholodenko and James Franco making a stop,...

David Gordon Green’s Manglehorn, Andrew Niccol’s Good Kill and Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence among competition titles.Scroll down for full lists

The line-up for the 71st Venice Film Festival (Aug 27-Sept 6) has been revealed this morning by Biennale president Paolo Baratta and film festival director Alberto Barbera at Rome’s St. Regis Grand Hotel.

Early standouts include Abel Ferrara’s Pasolini, which centres on the final days of the Italian filmmaker and his death in 1975; David Gordon Green’s Manglehorn, starring Al Pacino as a locksmith in a small town who never got over the love of his life; and The Look Of Silence, Joshua Oppenheimer’s highly anticipated follow-up to his award-winning documentary, The Act of Killing.

As previously announced, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu’s Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance, starring Michael Keaton, will open the festival on August 27 and is among the 20-strong competition titles, of which all...

Films by David Gordon Green, Andrew Niccol and Abel Ferrara will bring world premieres to the Lido di Venezia this year, as the Venice Film Festival has announced its selections for the 71st edition of the oldest such event in the world. Green's "Manglehorn" with Al Pacino, Niccol's "Good Kill" with Ethan Hawke and Ferrara's "Pasolini" with Willem Dafoe promise to bring a fair share of star power to the event, while actors such as Viggo Mortensen, Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver feature in films sprinkled throughout the Competition. "The Act of Killing" director Joshua Oppenheimer will also continue his look at the Indonesian genocide with a new documentary, "The Look of Silence." Playing out of competition are films by Barry Levinson ("The Humbling," also starring Pacino), James Franco ("The Sound and the Fury") and Lisa Cholodenko ("Olive Kitteridge"), while Focus Features will bring the new Laika film, "The Boxtrolls,...

★★☆☆☆ The feature filmmaking debut of photojournalist Alix Delaporte, Angel and Tony (2010) is a light and amiable affair whose arresting charms temporarily mask what is effectively a minuscule riff on the type of European film that strolls through festivals gaining the kind of plaudits it doesn't necessarily deserve. Picking up a clutch of Most Promising Actor gongs and the Best First Film award at France's César and Étoile d'Or Awards in Paris, respectively, Delaporte's film is an intimate drama about loneliness, the pursuit of redemption and journey two lost souls take in search of human connection.

Read more »...

American Pie: Reunion (15)

(Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, 2012, Us) Jason Biggs, Seann William Scott, Eugene Levy, Alyson Hannigan. 113 mins

It's rare to see teen-movie characters all grown up, and this illustrates the reason why: they just make us feel old. The gang's all here, reverting to their old non-pc habits even as they mourn their lost youth. It's patchy and often dodgy comedy, but there's still something heartening about Stifler's defiant idiocy and Jim's dad's middle-age second chance.

Safe (15)

(Boaz Yakin, 2012, Us) Jason Statham, Catherine Chan. 94 mins

Triads, Russian mobsters, cops and everyone else in New York falls foul of Statham in another ludicrous but fast-moving actioner.

Two Years At Sea (U)

(Ben Rivers, 2012, UK) Jake Williams. 90 mins

Extraordinary, otherworldly observation of a modern-day Scottish hermit.

Goodbye First Love (15)

(Mia Hansen-Løve, 2011, Fra/Ger) Lola Créton, Sebastian Urzendowsky. 111 mins

Heartfelt study of a young teen's formative romantic fortunes.

The Lucky One (12A)

(Scott Hicks,...

A poignant love story set on the coast of Normandy, this romance has a social-realist yet eccentric feel

Photojournalist Alix Delaporte has whisked up an intriguing, often affecting debut feature with her tale of two mismatched souls on the Normandy coast. Angel (Clotilde Hesme) is an anguished ex-con, Tony (Grégory Gabedois) a foursquare fisherman who lives with his mum, and their meandering courtship comes framed as a curious meld of high-flown romance and coarse-grained social-realism; pungent and windblown. At its best, Delaporte's film gives the impression of being uncovered as opposed to constructed, like an eccentric bit of driftwood exposed at low tide.

Rating: 3/5

RomanceDramaXan Brooks

guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds...

★★★☆☆ When it comes to portraying unconventional relationships, French cinema has the market well and truly cornered. Whether it's the ill-fitting match up of a repugnant older man with his young trophy wife or its splendidly nonchalant approach to threesomes, French cinema seems to have no shame when it comes to passions of the flesh. Alix Delaporte's Angel & Tony (Angèle et Tony, 2010), with its touching love story between two very unlikely individuals, fits this mould perfectly.

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French romance Angel And Tony brought its whimsical charms to bear on this year's Venice Film Festival and now it's doing the exact same thing on this very corner of the internet.This new clip from the film offers a look at the title's characters, shy fisherman Tony (Grégory Gadebois) and newly-released convict Angel (Clotilde Hesme), interacting over a plate of fish. But bear with us, it's no ordinary interaction. One of them's got sole. brightcove.createExperiences();  If you're still with us after that last joke, you'll probably have deduced that an odd-couple romance is taking shape between the two lonely souls. There are overtones of supernatural arthousers like Luc Besson's Angel-a, but debut director Alix Delaporte's tale is more Earth-bound, with Tony offering the naifish Angel help in reconnecting with her estranged son. In return, she offers the prospect of love and someone to learn the names of fish with.

This is the Pure Movies review of Angèle and Tony, directed by Alix Delaporte and starring Clotilde Hesme, Grégory Gadebois and Evelyne Didi. Written by David Hudson for @puremovies A slow-burner of a hit in its native France, Angel and Tony is a small-scale drama about an oddball romance. Angel (Clotilde Hesme) is a young woman attempting to rebuild her life. She has been in prison but is now on parole, living near her estranged young son – who is being raised by his grandparents) on the Normandy Coast. It’s here, through a personal ad, that she meets Tony (Gregory Gadebois), an older and chunkier fisherman who lives with his mother. At first, the two appear to have nothing in common – Angel is troubled and struggling to get her life together. He is settled and a creature of routine. She is streetwise and he is strictly rural. On the surface,...

Jean Dujardin, Missi Pyle, The Artist The Artist Wins, Jean Dujardin Loses: César Awards Best Film La guerre est déclarée / Declaration of War produced by Edouard Weil, directed by Valérie Donzelli Le Havre produced by Fabienne Vonier, directed by Aki Kaurismäki * The Artist produced by Thomas Langmann, directed by Michel Hazanavicius Intouchables / Untouchable produced by Denis Freyd, directed by Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache L'exercice de l'État / The Minister produced by Nicolas Duval Adassovsky, Yann Zenou, Laurent Zeitoun, directed by Pierre Schöller Pater produced by Michel Seydoux, directed by Alain Cavalier Polisse produced by Alain Attal, directed by Maïwenn Best Foreign Film Drive (United States) directed by Nicolas Winding Refn Black Swan (United States) directed by Darren Aronofsky Incendies (Canada) directed by Denis Villeneuve Melancholia (Denmark / Sweden / France / Germany) directed by Lars von Trier * A Separation (Iran) directed by Asghar Farhadi The King's Speech (United Kingdom) directed by Tom Hooper Le...

François Cluzet, Intouchables / Untouchable The 2012 César winners will be announced on February 24. The ceremony will be presided by Guillaume Canet; Antoine de Caunes will act as master of ceremonies. Best Film La guerre est déclarée / Declaration of War produced by Edouard Weil, directed by Valérie Donzelli Le Havre produced by Fabienne Vonier, directed by Aki Kaurismäki The Artist produced by Thomas Langmann, directed by Michel Hazanavicius Intouchables / Untouchable produced by Denis Freyd, directed by Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache L'exercice de l'État / The Minister produced by Nicolas Duval Adassovsky, Yann Zenou, Laurent Zeitoun, directed by Pierre Schoeller Pater produced by Michel Seydoux, directed by Alain Cavalier Polisse produced by Alain Attal, directed by Maïwenn Best Foreign Film Drive (United States) directed by Nicolas Winding Refn Black Swan (United States) directed by Darren Aronofsky Incendies (Canada) directed by Denis Villeneuve Melancholia (Denmark / Sweden / France / Germany) directed by Lars von Trier A Separation...

Omar Sy, Maïwenn Best Film L'Apollonide – Souvenirs de la maison close / House of Tolerance by Bertrand Bonello * The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius L'Exercice de l'État by Pierre Schoeller Le Havre by Aki Kaurismaki Intouchables / Untouchable by Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache Best Director Bertrand Bonello for House of Tolerance Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist Aki Kaurismaki for Le Havre * Maiwenn for Polisse Pierre Schoeller for L'Exercice de l'État Best Actress * Bérénice Bejo in The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius Catherine Deneuve, Chiara Mastroianni in Les Bien-Aimés / Beloved by Christophe Honoré Valérie Donzelli in La Guerre est déclarée / Declaration of War by Valérie Donzelli Marina Fois, Karin Viard in Polisse by Maïwenn Clotilde Hesme in Angèle et Tony / Angèle and Tony d'Alix Delaporte Best Actor Jean Dujardin in The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius Olivier Gourmet in L'Exercice de l'État by Pierre Schoeller Joey Starr in Polisse by Maïwenn * Omar Sy in Untouchable d'Eric Toledano,...

Pyramide, the French sales agent and theatrical distribution had a great Cannes last year repping films that collected prizes in: A Screaming Man and Ano Bisiesto. This year they've got another Bruno Dumont film (see pic above), the closing film in the Ucr section with Andrey Zvyagintsev's Elena and Ismael Ferroukhi receives an invite as well for Free Men in a Cannes' section that we figure isn't really part of the festival since there are no official press screenings made available. Here are their current output for the year.   Elena by Andrey Zvyagintsev - Completed Free Men (Les Hommes Libres) by Ismael Ferroukhi - Completed Outside Satan (Hors Satan) by Bruno Dumont - Completed A Lost Son (La Desintegration) by Philippe Faucon - Post-Production Angele And Tony by Alix Delaporte - Completed Here Below (Ici-bas) by Jean-Pierre Denis - Post-Production Jimmy Riviere by Teddy Lussi-modeste - Completed State Of Violence...

The French insistence on regarding cinema as art has helped produced formidable women directors. But is the next generation the most wide-ranging yet?

There's a feeling out there that France may be on the verge of another new wave: not of the politically radical 1950s kind, but one in which young, driven, women film-makers will be at the fore. Names being mentioned are Mia Hansen-Løve, Rebecca Zlotowski and Katell Quillévéré; their films have already electrified France and are beginning to spread elsewhere.

Of course, on one level, there is nothing unusual about French women film directors. From Agnès Varda to Claire Denis, Coline Serreau to Agnès Jaoui, women have been able to make their presence felt in French cinema. Nt Binh, film critic for the film magazine Positif, says: "It's not a wave but a deluge, one that has been going on for more than 50 years."

In fact, it all...

Paris -- Annette Bening, Terry Gilliam and Gregg Araki will add star and stripe power to the 36th annual Deauville American Film Festival, organizers said Monday.

Bening, Gilliam and Araki will be in the spotlight when the seaside fest pays homage to their respective careers complete with screenings of their older and more recent films. Araki's latest feature "Kaboom" will screen as part of "Generation Araki: A look at the filmmaker's work" and Lisa Cholodenko's recent U.S. summer release "The Kids are All Right" starring Bening alongside Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo will host its French premiere.

This year's festival won't be lacking for other star power – on screen at least.

High-profile premieres will include Richard Levine's "Every Day" starring Live Schreiber, Helen Hunt and Eddie Izzard; Aaron Schneider's "Get Low" with Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek and Bill Murray; Don Roos' "Love and other Possible...

Venice Critic's Week have released their seven film (plus two) slate and have managed to lasso Swedish actress Pernilla August's highly anticipated directorial debut Svinalängorna, or what I'll now be calling by the simpler title of Beyond. A mostly European group of seven, the section is modeled much in the same way as Cannes Critic's Week: promising works from first-time filmmakers. The opening film, Carlo Mazzacurati's Notte Italiana is actually a 1987 flick that must be a silver year anniversary kind of presentation and the closing film comes from the Philippines in Gutierrez Mangansakan II's Limbunan. Last year the most "noteworthy" title from the sidebar was an out of competition showing of Erik Gandini's Videocracy which would receive a preem in Toronto, but this year I'd say more than one title has a chance at crossing over to Tiff. Here is a quick listing of the titles,...

To go with the announcement that Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is opening the Venice Film Festival, we have the announcement of the films that will be making a splash at Critics’ Week.

This year’s line-up is heavy on European releases, all of which are world premieres including Alix Delaporte’s Angèle et Tony about a recently released convict and her relationship with a fisherman, Massimo Coppola’s Hai Paura Del Buio, Eitan Tzur’s noir Hitparzut X (Naomi, Syllas Tzoumerkas’ Hora proelefsis (Homeland), Vlado Skafar's Oča (Dad), a drama about a father and his son and Pernilla August’s Svinalängorna (Beyond) which stars the newest of international stars Noomi Rapace.

Perhaps the most interesting of the films on the line-up is also the only one which is not European, Marcelino Islas Hernández’s Martha, about an older woman who loses her job to a computer.

On the...