Venice Film Festival

“Lebanon,” tells the story of Israeli paratroopers searching a hostile town. The movie is a look at war from inside a military tank by Israeli helmer Samuel Maoz, based on his personal experience as a young soldier during his country’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

“I dedicate this award to all those thousands of people all over the world who came back from the war, like me, safe and sound. Apparently they are fine. They walk, get married, have children. But inside them, the memories will remain stuck in their souls,” said Maoz at the award ceremony.

The Silver Lion for best director went to New York-based Iranian visual artist Shirin Neshat for her first feature “Women Without Men,” an Iranian film about women and repression.

Neshat launched an appeal to the Iranian government to “give the people of Iran what they should have: basic human rights, freedom, democracy.”

“Soul Kitchen,” set amid the hip and grungy multi-ethnic set in his native Hamburg, by German-Turkish director Fatih Akin, won the Special Jury Prize.
Colin Firth took the best actor award for his role in Tom Ford’s “A Single Man” as a gay college professor grieving for his dead lover his. Fashion designer Tom Ford made his director’s debut with the movie.

Russian actress Kseniya Rappoport, starring in the Italian Giuseppe Capotondi’s film “The Double Hour” (”La Doppia Ora”) won best actress honours.

Todd Solondz’s dark comedy “Life During Wartime” won for best screenplay. This is Solondz’s quasi-sequel to “Happiness.”

The Marcello Mastroianni prize for best young performer went to Italo actress Jasmine Trinca for her role as a young Catholic girl who becomes ideologically and sentimentally entangled during the 1968 protest movement in Michele Placido’s “The Big Dream.”

The $100,000 Luigi De Laurentiis Lion of the Future award for best first work went to 22-year-old helmer Pepe Diokno’s “Enkwentro,” about gangs and vigilante squads clashing in The Philippines. Literally translated as “The Encounter,” the film tells the dark story of gangs in Manila and how two brothers encountered each other from warring sides. The movie also won in Venice Horizons.

Check out the list of 66th Venice Film Festival winners:

Golden Lion for best film: Lebanon by Samuel MAOZ (Israel, France, Germany)
Silver Lion for best director: Shirin NESHAT for the film Zanan Bedone Mardan (Women Without Men) (Germany, Austria, France)
Special Jury Prize: Soul Kitchen by Fatih AKIN (Germany)
Coppa Volpi for Best Actor: Colin FIRTH in the film A Single Man by Tom FORD (USA)
Coppa Volpi for Best Actress: Ksenia RAPPOPORT in the film La doppia ora  by Giuseppe CAPOTONDI (Italy)
“Marcello Mastroianni” Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress: Jasmine TRINCAin the film Il grande sogno by Michele

PLACIDO (Italy)
“Osella” for Best Technical Contribution: Sylvie OLIVÉ for the film Mr. Nobody  by Jaco VAN DORMAEL (France)
“Osella” for Best Screenplay: Todd SOLONDZ for the film Life during Wartime by Todd SOLONDZ (USA)

Orizzonti Prize to Engkwentro by Pepe Diokno (Philippines)
Orizzonti Prize for Best documentary to 1428 by DU Haibin (China)
Special Mention to Aadmi ki aurat aur anya kahaniya (The Man’s Woman and Other Stories) by Amit Dutta (India)

Controcampo Italiano
Controcampo Italiano Prize to: Cosmonauta by Susanna NICCHIARELLI (Italy)
Kodak will offer to the awarded director 40,000 euros in negative film stock – 35 or 16mm, chosen by the winner – to shoot a new

feature film.
- Special Mention: Negli occhi by Daniele ANZELLOTTI and Francesco DEL GROSSO (Italy)

Corto Cortissimo  (Prizes awarded on 10th September 2009)
- Corto Cortissimo Lion for Best Short Film to Eersgeborene (First Born) by Etienne Kallos (South Africa, USA)
- Venice Nomination to the European Film Awards 2009 to Sinner by Meni Philip (Israel)
- Special Mention to Felicità by Salomé Aleksi (Georgia)

“Luigi De Laurentiis” Award for a Debut Film
- Lion of the Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film to Engkwentro by Pepe DIOKNO (Philippines) –

ORIZZONTI
as well as a prize of 100,000 USD, donated by Filmauro, to be divided equally between director and producer

Persol 3-D Award for the Best 3-D Stereoscopic Film of the Year  (Prize awarded on 11th September 2009)
- Persol 3-D Award: The Hole  by Joe Dante (USA)

“Up” by Pete Docter

“Coraline” by Henry Selick

“Battle for Terra” by Aristomenis Tsirbas

“Monsters vs. Aliens” by Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon

“Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” by Carlos Saldanha

“Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience” by Bruce Hendricks

“The Hole” by Joe Dante

“Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3-D” by Eric Brevig

“My Bloody Valentine” by Patrick Lussier

Two of these movies will appear in the fest lineup – “Up” by Pete Docter, which features in the Venice Pixar program, and “The Hole” by Joe Dante, which has its world premiere.

In addition, this year’s lineup will feature 3-D pics by local directors David Zamagni (“Daimon”) and Nadia Ranocchi (“Cock-Crow”) in the new Orizzonti 3-D section.

Venice Film Festival will run 2nd to 12th September 2009.

If you haven’t seen yet the lineup for 66th Venice Film Festival check it out here.

Venice Film Festival

Marco Müller is the director of the 66th Venice International Film Festival. He has been heading the Venice Biennale’s Cinema section since 2004.

There are six US movies which will be in competition and four out of competition at this year’s Venice Festival.

“Everybody thought that the writers’ strike and the economic crisis had created a stall in American cinema. Instead this year, like never before, we found such ample offerings coming from the U.S. both from established directors like Steven Soderbergh and first-timers like Tom Ford,” Müller said.

John Hillcoat’s “The Road,” an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel, starring Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron, Werner Herzog’s remake of “Bad Lieutenant” – “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans,” with Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes, Michael Moore’s documentary “Capitalism: A Love Story,” Todd Solondz’s “Life During Wartime,” George Romero’s “Survival of the Dead” and Tom Ford’s directing debut “A Single Man,” starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore.

US non-competing movies are Steven Soderbergh’s “The Informant!,” with Matt Damon, Grant Heslov’s military mind-control satire “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” starring George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges, Joe Dante’s 3-D horror pic “The Hole,” and Oliver Stone’s “South of the Border” documentary, about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

“Mr. Nobody” marks the English-language debut of Belgian helmer Jaco van Dormael (”Toto the Hero”) and stars Diane Kruger, Sarah Polley and Jared Leto.

Check out the Venice Film Festival 2009 Lineup:

IN COMPETITION

“36 vues du Pic Saint Loup,” Jacques Rivette (France)
“Accident,” Cheang Pou-Soi (China-Hong Kong)
“Baaria,” Giuseppe Tornatore (Italy) – Opening Film
“Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans,” Werner Herzog (U.S.)
“Between Two Worlds,” Vimukthi Jayasundara (Sri Lanka)
“Capitalism: A Love Story,” Michael Moore (U.S.)
“La doppia ora,” Giuseppe Capotondi (Italy)
“Il grande sogno,” Michele Placido (Italy)
“Lebanon,” Samuel Maoz (Israel)
“Life During Wartime,” Todd Solondz (U.S.)
“Lo spazio bianco,” Francesca Comencini (Italy)
“Lourdes,” Jessica Hausner (Austria)
“Mr. Nobody,” Jaco van Dormael (France)
“Persecution,” Patrice Chereau (France)
“Prince of Tears,” Yonfan (Hong Kong)
“The Road,” John Hillcoat (U.S.)
“A Single Man,” Tom Ford (U.S.)
“Soul Kitchen,” Fatih Akin (Germany)
“Survival of the Dead,” George Romero (U.S.)
“Tetsuo the Bullet Man,” Shinya Tsukamoto (Japan)
“The Traveler,” Ahmed Maher (Egypt)
“White Material,” Claire Denis (France)
“Women Without Men,” Shirin Neshat (Germany)

OUT OF COMPETITION

“Anni Luce,” Francesco Maselli (Italy)
“Chengdu, I Love You,” Fruit Chan, Cui Jian (China) – Closing Film
“The Hole,” Joe Dante (U.S.)
“The Informant!,” Steven Soderbergh (U.S.)
“The Men Who Stare at Goats,” Grant Heslov (U.S.)
“Napoli Napoli Napoli,” Abel Ferrara (Italy)
“L’oro di Cuba,” Giuliano Montaldo (Italy)
“Prove per una tragedia Siciliana,” John Turturro, Roman Paska (Italy)
“REC 2,” Jaume Balaguero, Paco Plaza (Spain)
“Scheherazade Tell Me a Story,” Yousry Nasrallah (Egypt)
“South of the Border,” Oliver Stone (U.S.)
“Yona Yona Penguin,” Rintaro (Japan)

MIDNIGHT MOVIES

“Gulaal,” Anurag Kashyap (India)
“Dev D,” Anurag Kashyap (India)
“Brooklyn’s Finest,” Antoine Fuqua (U.S.)
“Delhi-6,” Rakeysh O. Mehra (India)
“Valhalla Rising,” Nicolas Winding Refn (Denmark)

HORIZONS

“Francesca,” Bobby Paunescu (Romania) – Opening Film
“One-Zero,” Kamla Abou Zekri (Egypt)
“Buried Secrets,” Raja Amari (Tunisia)
“Tender Parasites,” Christian Becker and Oliver Schwabe (Germany)
“Adrift,” Bui Thac Chuyen (Vietnam)
“Crush,” Petr Buslov, Aleksei German Jr., Borisd Khlebnikov, Kirill Serebrennikov, Ivan Vrypayev (Russia)
“Repo Chick,” Alex Cox (U.K.)
“Engkwentro,” Pepe Diokno (Philippines)
“The Man’s Woman and Other Stories,” Amit Dutta (India)
“Paraiso,” Hector Galvez (Peru)
“Io sono l’amore,” Luca Guadagnino (Italy)
“Cow,” Guan Hu (China)
“Judge,” Liu Jie (China)
“Pepperminta,” Pipilotti Rist (Switzerland)
“Tris di donne e abiti nunziali,” Martina Gedeck (Italy)
“Insolacao,” Daniela Thomas and Felipe Hirsch (Brazil)
“1428,” Du Haibin (China)
“I Travel Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You,” Marcelo Gomes and Karim Ainouz (Brazil)
“Once Upon a Time Proletarian: 12 Tales of a Country,” Guo Xiaolu (China)
“Villalobos,” Romuald Karmakar (Germany)
“Il colore delle parole,” Marco Simon Puccioni (Italy)
“The One All Alone,” Frank Scheffer (The Netherlands)
“Toto,” Peter Schreiner (Austria)

Ang Lee twice won the Venice Film Festival’s prestigious Golden Lion award.

The Taiwanese-born director won the award in 2007 for “Lust, Caution,” and in 2005 for “Brokeback Mountain,” for which he also won a best directing Oscar.

His next movies are “Taking Woodstock” and “A Little Game.”

The festival made the announcement Friday. Last year’s jury was headed by German film director Wim Wenders.

Venice Film Festival will be held September 2-12, 2009.

Mickey Rourke plays Randy “The Ram” Robinson who comes out of retirement to try to knock down an old rival.
Mickey is no stranger to knocking people out – he used to be a pro boxer.

“The Wrestler” has won the top award – Golden Lion – at the Venice Film Festival.

“Darren Aronofsky came here a couple of years ago and fell on his ass,” Mickey Rourke told a packed Sala Grande crowd after the award was announced, referring to Aronofsky’s “The Fountain,” which flopped in Venice in 2006. “I’m glad he had the balls to come back. I don’t think he wanted to come back but I told him, “You have to come back’ and he did.”

The award seals his comeback from the Hollywood wilderness, and comments that Rourke is ready to ditch his bad-boy image and cooperate with directors suggest there is more to come.

“A guy like me changes hard, I didn’t want to change, but I had to change,” the star of 1980s hits “9-1/2 Weeks” and “Angel Heart” told in an interview in Venice.

There was controversy at Saturday’s closing ceremony when jury president Wim Wenders criticized rules which prevent the Golden Lion winner also picking up best acting prizes, suggesting Rourke should have won that too.

The Silver Lion for best director was won by Russia’s Alexei German Jr. for “Paper Soldier“, set on the windswept steppes of Kazakhstan and centring on the 1960s Soviet space program.

The best actor prize went to Silvio Orlando for his acclaimed portrayal of an overprotective father in “Il Papa di Giovanna” (Giovanna’s Father).

The best actress prize went to France’s Dominique Blanc in “L’Autre” (The Other One), a haunting tale of a woman who becomes dangerously obsessed with a young ex-boyfriend.

“Teza“, by Ethiopian director Haile Gerima, picked up two prizes, the special jury award and best screenplay.

The story chronicles the life of an Ethiopian intellectual who flees his country during the Marxist “red terror” in the 1980s, only to be attacked in Germany by racist youths.

Jennifer Lawrence of the United States was named best emerging actress for her role in “The Burning Plain“, in which she appeared alongside Kim Basinger and Charlize Theron.

As well as “The Wrestler”, “The Hurt Locker” by U.S. director Kathryn Bigelow impressed critics with its portrayal of the perils faced by a bomb disposal unit in Iraq, while actress Anne Hathaway generated awards buzz in “Rachel Getting Married“.

Mickey Rourke has given what critics are calling the performance of his life in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler” in which he plays a lonely, washed out wrestler whose story poignantly mirrors the Hollywood outsider’s own troubled past.

“Wrestler,” which centers on an aging former professional wrestler, is the fest’s final premiere at the Sala Grande.

Rourke, who received a rare standing ovation at a press conference, is generating early Oscar chatter. He told in an interview that “The Wrestler” was “the best … movie I’ve ever made.”

The film, the last of 21 movies in the main competition to premiere, is a contender both for the top actor award and the coveted Golden Lion for best picture, critics say. The festival wraps Saturday with its prize ceremony.

Anne Hathaway also impressed in her unusually dark role in “Rachel Getting Married,” Jonathan Demme’s touching wedding drama that has been lauded in Venice.

A third late entry, Thursday’s premiere, “The Hurt Locker” by U.S. director Kathryn Bigelow, leads an informal poll of Italian critics who were impressed by its portrayal of the perils faced by a bomb disposal unit in Iraq led by a reckless sergeant.

Also impressive was Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron in “The Burning Plain,” an intense story of love and betrayal in the directorial debut by Mexican screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga.

The Italian press is hoping for a first home win in 10 years with “Birdwatchers,” a depiction of indigenous Guarani-Kaiowas with no prospects other than working in slave-like conditions for rich farmers and posing for tourists’ cameras.

Venice Film Festival has a reputation as a launchpad for successful award campaigns for serious, independently produced films, but in a year when director Marco Mueller has been under fire for his selection, few Academy Award contenders emerged.

The Coen brothers opened this year’s festival with “Burn After Reading,” which was out of competition but ensured that Hollywood A-listers Brad Pitt and George Clooney were on the red carpet in a festival otherwise lacking star power.

The first awards already have been dished out.

Mexico’s Carlos Armella took home the Corto Cortissimo sidebar’s prize for best short film for his “Tierre y Pan,” while Karchi Perlmann’s “The Dinner” nabbed an honorable mention. The sidebar received added attention when Natalie Portman’s directorial debut, “Eve,” opened the section out of competition.

Venice’s 1985 Golden Lion winner Agnes Varda won the Glory to the Filmmaker career award Thursday and will be honored with a world premiere screening of her autobiographical doc “The Beaches of Agnes.”

Thursday featured news of the festival’s first sales. Although the industry office won’t report sales totals until the festival closes, Italy’s RAI Trade said it has sold distribution rights to Pupi Avati’s competition drama “Il Papa di Giovanni” to Paradis for France, ABC Films for Belgium and Holland, and Palance Pictures for Australia.

In a Venice competition that finished strongly after disappointing critics for much of the 11-day event, the U.S. trio faces stiff competition from revered Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, who charmed viewers with “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea,” his re-telling of “The Little Mermaid” fairytale.

If Miyazaki walk off with the Golden Lion, it would be the fourth year in a row an Asian director had done so.

A young woman, Kate, goes to visit her grandma Lola for a private dinner. She is surprised to find she is instead the third wheel at her grandma’s date with Joe.

“Eve” (17 minutes), screening out of competition in the Venice short film section, star Lauren Bacall, Ben Gazzara and Olivia Thirbly.

Portman, 27, said she had always had a fascination with the older generation, and drew inspiration for Bacall’s character from her own grandmother.

Getting Bacall on board was like fulfilling her “wildest dream”, Portman said.

“It’s so exciting to see someone with that much experience and that much wisdom on screen. It’s rare. The film was definitely inspired by personal experience and also all my friends, female friends, starting to define themselves in relation, and in reaction to, their mothers and their grandmothers”

Having started her acting career as a child, she said that she had long wanted to be on the other side of the camera and will present a second short work at the Toronto film festival which starts later this week.

“I have been working now in films for 16 years…it was exciting to know what a director goes through and also to create something completely on your own. When you are an actor of course you are creating something but you are serving someone else’s vision and ultimately it’s someone else’s creation. To have authorship is … and feels like a more adult job.”

Early reviews have been positive.

“The Burning Plain” is a drama that explores the mysterious connection between several characters separated by time and space: Mariana (Jennifer Lawrence), a 16-year-old girl trying to put together the shattered lives of her parents in a Mexican border town; Sylvia (Charlize Theron), a woman in Portland who must undertake an emotional odyssey to burnish a sin from her past; Gina, Sylvia’s mother (Kim Basinger) and Nick (Joaquim de Almeida), a couple who must deal with an intense and clandestine affair; and Maria (Tessa Ia), a young girl who helps her parents find redemption, forgiveness and love.

The film is the first of five U.S. entries to appear in the main competition at the Venice Film Festival.

“The Burning Plain” is the directorial debut by acclaimed Mexican screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga who is best known for his scripts that include well received dramas “Amores perros“, “21 Grams” and “Babel“, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. Arriaga also wrote “The Burning Plain.”

“I enjoyed every single moment of it. I can tell you that directing was maybe the happiest moment of my professional life. Just arriving on set I had a smile … and it hasn’t vanished until now”

he told reporters.

As well as time, the film explores the elements, each storyline represents either earth, air, fire or water. Landscape is central to the movie which Arriaga initially had titled, “The Four Elements.” Water, earth, wind and fire are present as the story moves back and forth from the searing dryness of New Mexico to the nonstop rain in Portland, Ore.

“We experienced the desert and the sun and the extreme cold in the desert to the nonstop rain in Oregon. I think the weather and the landscape also influences the character.”

“We never in real life tell stories in a linear way. We tell it always in a decomposed way. I think that cinema is a very young medium and it’s beginning to find its own language and among these languages is the deconstruction of time”

Arriaga said.

It also deals with death.

“I have been obsessed with the weight of death over the living ones. My identity is constructed by the people that I love, by the people that surround me. Every time one dies, part of my identity is broken and lost. I am obsessed at how that loss of someone that I love affects my own identity.”

Theron, who plays the emotionally-scarred Sylvia in “The Burning Plain”, was also a producer on the film.

“I don’t have to do it every time, but it’s something that I really enjoy when I feel I meet people where we’re like-minded and we walk the same road and tell the same story.”

Basinger, who plays Sylvia in the movie, was not at the press conference in Venice. The movie is told through four converging plot lines, and cuts back and forth through time to reveal Sylvia’s story.

“This is the exploration of the mystery of a woman called Sylvia who has an emotional journey that takes her to the extremes. It explores what makes her so damaged”

Arriaga said.

The film, is one of 21 movies competing for the Golden Lion, which will be awarded Sept. 6. Other U.S. films in competition in Venice include “Rachel Getting Married“, directed by Oscar-winner Jonathan Demme and starring Anne Hathaway and Debra Winger, and “The Wrestler” with Mickey Rourke and directed by Darren Aronofsky. Kathryn Bigelow also presents Iraq war drama “The Hurt Locker“.

The movie re-unites Joel and Ethan Coen with George Clooney, who appeared in “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and actress Frances McDormand (Joel’s wife) who won an Oscar for her role in their 1996 film “Fargo“.

“I’ve done three films with them and they call it my trilogy of idiots”

Clooney told reporters after a press screening (”O Brother, Where Art Thou?”, “Intolerable Cruelty” and “Burn After Reading”).

He plays a nervous, twitchy federal marshal whose extra-marital affairs bring him into contact with a gym instructor, played by Pitt, desperately seeking to extort money from a sacked CIA analyst whose memoirs go missing.

“After reading the part, which they said was hand-written for myself, I was not sure if I should be flattered or insulted”

said Brad Pitt, whose character the directors describe as a “knucklehead”.

Brad was asked how the chosen ones are doing.

“The twins are fine. They can speak 10 languages, they are on their way to finding the cure for cancer and they just qualified for the Olympics in 2012. They will compete in every single event,” he said.

Joel Coen said he and his brother had “a long history of writing parts for idiotic characters.”

Although there are five U.S. films in the main competition lineup of 21, they represent “independent” cinema as opposed to the big studios, which are not in Venice this time around.

Festival director Marco Mueller said that writers’ strike that ended in February hurt the selection for Venice and added: “American cinema is very much at the centre of the program.”

But, the last two years, there was a surprise in-competition announced at the last minute. So, everything is possible.

“Burn After Reading” is not in competition, but U.S. films in the main lineup include “Rachel Getting Married“, directed by Oscar-winner Jonathan Demme and starring Anne Hathaway and Debra Winger, who has been nominated three times for an Academy Award.

Kathryn Bigelow directs Iraqi drama “The Hurt Locker“, a year after Brian De Palma’s “Redacted” stunned audiences in Venice with its brutal reconstruction of events from the war.

Mickey Rourke stars in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler” while acclaimed Mexican screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga makes his directorial debut with “The Burning Plain” starring Oscar winners Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger.

Natalie Portman’s directorial debut will open the Venice Film Festival’s short-film sidebar – Corto Cortissimo, with the actress-director expected to be on hand for the event’s Sept. 1 opening.

Portman’s 17-minute “Eve,” which Venice organizers called “a civilized comedy,” stars Lauren Bacall and Ben Gazzara.

The Day the Earth Stood Still - Keanu Reeves

Today we have the new photo from sci-fi “The Day the Earth Stood Still“.

“The Day the Earth Stood Still” is 20th Century Fox’s contemporary reinvention of its 1951 classic. Keanu Reeves portrays Klaatu, an alien whose arrival on our planet triggers a global upheaval. As governments and scientists race to unravel the mystery behind the visitor’s appearance, a woman (Jennifer Connelly) and her young stepson get caught up in his mission – and come to understand the ramifications of his being a self-described “friend to the Earth.”

The film also stars Kathy Bates, Jaden Smith, Jon Hamm and Kyle Chandler.

“The Day the Earth Stood Still” is scheduled to hit theaters on December 12th.

The world premiere of Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Burn After Reading” opens the Festival on Wednesday, out of competition.

George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich and Tilda Swinton are expected to be on Lido’s red carpet.

The festival continues with its first full day including the first competition screenings on Thursday.

The line-up of the 65th Venice Film Festival:

IN COMPETITION

“The Wrestler,” Darren Aronofsky (U.S., France)
Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood

“The Burning Plain,” Guillermo Arriaga (U.S.)
Charlize Theron, Kim Basinger, Joaquim de Almeida

“Il Papa di Giovanna,” Pupi Avati (Italy)
Silvio Orlando, Alba Rohrwacher, Francesca Neri, Ezio Greggio, Serena Grandi

“Birdwatchers,” Marco Bechis (Italy)
Claudio Santamaria, Alicélia Batista Cabreira, Chiara Caselli, Abrisio Da Silva Pedro

“L’Autre,” Patrick Mario Bernard, Pierre Trividic (France)
Dominique Blanc, Cyril Gueï, Peter Bonke, Christèle Tual

“The Hurt Locker,” Kathryn Bigelow (U.S.)
Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty

“Il Seme della discordia,” Pappi Corsicato (Italy)
Caterina Murino, Alessandro Gassman, Martina Stella, Michele Venitucci, Isabella Ferrari

“Rachel Getting Married,” Jonathan Demme (U.S.)
Anne Hathaway, Debra Winger, Rosemarie Dewitt, Bill Irwin, Tunde Adebimpe

“Teza,” Haile Gerima (Ethiopia, Germany, France)
Aron Arefe, Abiye Tedla, Takelech Beyene

“Paper Soldier,” (”Bumažnyj soldat“)Aleksey German Jr. (Russia)
Chulpan Khamatova, Merab Ninidze, Anastasya Shevelyova

“Süt,” Semih Kaplanoglu (Turkey, France, Germany)
Melih Selcuk, Basak Koklukaya

“Achilles and the Tortoise,” (”Akires to kame“) Takeshi Kitano (Japan)
Beat Takeshi, Kanako Higuchi, Yurei Yanagi, Kumiko Aso

“Ponyo on Cliff by the Sea,” (”Gake no ue no Ponyo“) Hayao Miyazaki (Japan)
animation

“Vegas: Based on a True Story,” Amir Naderi (U.S.)
Mark Greenfield, Nancy La Scala, Zach Thomas

“The Sky Crawlers,” Oshii Mamoru (Japan)
animation

“Perfect Day,” (”Un giorno perfetto“) Ferzan Ozpetek (Italy)
Isabella Ferrari, Valerio Mastandrea, Valerio Binasco, Nicole Grimaudo, Stefania Sandrelli

“Jerichow,” Christian Petzold (Germany)
Nina Hoss, Benno Fürmann, Hilmi Sözer

“Inju, the Beast in the Shadows,” Barbet Schroeder (France)
Magimel Benoît, Minamoto Lika, Shun Sugata, Maurice Bénichou, Ryo Ishibashi

“Nuit de Chien,” Werner Schroeter (France, Germany, Portugal)
Pascal Greggory, Bruno Todeschini, Amira Casar, Jean-François Stevenin

“Inland,” (”Gabbla“) Tariq Teguia (Algeria, France)

Kader Affak, Ines Rose Djakou, Ahmed Benaïssa, Fethi Ghares, Kouider Medjahed, Djalila Kadi-Hanifi

“Plastic City,” (”Dangkou“) Yu Lik-wai (Brazil, China, Hong Kong/China, Japan)
Joe Odagiri, Anthony Wong, Huang Yi, Jeff Chen

OUT OF COMPETITION

Paolo Benvenuti “Puccini e la fanciulla” – Italy
Riccardo Moretti, Tania Squillarlo, Giovanna Daddi, Debora Mattiello, Federica Chezzi

Joel Coen, Ethan Coen “Burn After Reading” – USA
George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton

Claire Denis “35 Rhums” – France / Spain
Alex Descas, Grégoire Colin, Nicole Dogue, Mati Diop

JIA Zhangke “Heshang aiqing” (”Cry me a river“) (short film – 19 minutes) – China / Spain / France
Tao Zhao / Hongmei Wang

Minoru Kawasaki “Girara no gyakushu / Samitto kiki ippatsu!” (”Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit!“) – Japan
Natsuki Kato, Kazuki Kato, Hirohisa Nakata, Susumu Kurobe

Abbas Kiarostami “Shirin” – Iran
Juliette Binoche, Mahnaz Afshar, Niki Karimi

José Mojica Marins “Encarnação do demônio” – Brazil
José Mojica Marins, Débora Muniz, Raymond Castile

Mario Monicelli “Vicino al Colosseo c’è Monti ” (short film – 22 minutes) – Italy
documentary

Nonzee Nimibutr “Puen yai jom sa lad” (”Queens of Langkasuka“) – Thailand
Ananda Everingham, Jarunee Suksawat, Sorapong Chatri

Manoel de Oliveira “Do Visível ao Invisível” (short film – 7 minutes) – Brazil / Portugal
Leon Cakoff, Ricardo Trepa

Agnés Varda “Les Plages d’Agnès” – France
documentary

Fabrice du Welz “Vinyan” – France / UK / Belgium
Emmanuelle Béart, Rufus Sewell

Line-up also includes:

Orizzonti - A section aiming to provide a picture of new trends in cinema

Corto Cortissimo – An international competition of short films in 35mm, whose length does not exceed 30 minutes

These Phantoms: Italian Cinema Rediscovered (1946 – 1975) – A retrospective section on Italian cinema (1946-1975).

Wenders is perhaps best know for his films “The Buena Vista Social Club” (1998) and “Paris, Texas” (1984), both of which scooped up international awards.

Wenders, who won the Venice Golden Lion 10 years later for “The State of Things,” was most recently at the Lido with “Land of Plenty” in 2004.

His first appearing at Venice Film Festival was with the “Goalkeeper’s Fear of the Penalty Kick” in
1972.

His latest film, “Palermo Shooting” starring Dennis Hopper, had its premiere at the Cannes film festival last month.

The festival, in its 65th edition this year, runs from Aug 27 to Sept 6 and the Coen Brothers‘ comedy “Burn After Reading” will open the fest.

The Venice lineup will be announced July 29.

“The Duchess” is the story of an extraordinary woman who rose to fame by staying true to her passions in a world of protocol, gossip and social rules – and paid the price.

Academy Award nominee Keira Knightley and Academy Award winner Ralph Fiennes head an international cast that also includes Dominic Cooper as the abolitionist Charles Grey, the Duchess’s favorite lover, Haley Atwell as the Duchess’s alluring best friend and rival, Lady Elizabeth “Bess” Spencer; and Charlotte Rampling as the Duchess’s mother, the Lady Spencer.

Here, you can see ”The Duchess” trailer

Marco Müller will be the director of the upcoming edition, continuing the work he began in 2004.

Along with Enrico Magrelli, the Director’s right hand for cultural programming, sixteen consultants will participate in the selection and search process for the 65th Venice Film Festival.

The 2008 Selection Committee will include: Violetta Bellocchio, Paolo Bertolin, Marie-Pierre Duhamel, Claudio Masenza and Alberto Pezzotta.

Venice’s 22-film competition lineup has been made up entirely of world premieres the past two years, and the festival is said to be looking to make it three in a row.

More than three months before the Coen brothers‘ “Burn After Reading” opens the festival, few contracts have been signed.

Films mentioned to premiere ( ‘Burn After Reading’ is already confirmed) at Venice include:

Saul Dibb’s “The Duchess” – Kiera Knightley and Ralph Fiennes
Ridley Scott’s “Body of Lies” – Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe
Baz Luhurmann’s “Australia” – Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman
Marco Bechis’ contemporary drama “Birdwatchers”
Spike Lee’s  Italian-American co-production “Miracle at St. Anna”
Samira Makhmalbaf’s “Two-Legged Horse”
Sandra Nettelbeck’s “Helen”
Diane English comedy “The Women ” – Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan and Carrie Fisher

Of course that this is not official.

The line-up of the 65th Venice Film Festival will be announced during a press conference that will take place at the end of July in Rome.

Source: Hollywood Reporter