As previously noted, Team Experience won't be covering Venice Film Festival (no funds *sob* but I've wanted to go to Venice ever since I saw virginal Madonna singing on that gondola on MTV as an impressionable young lad) but we have planned a couple of Venice-related treats for you this year. And speaking of treats. The Venice juries were just announced and loaded with so many big names, you'd be hard pressed to guess which among them was the President of the Jury at first glance. But killing the suspense... the main jury's president is Alfonso Cuarón.
COMPETITION JURY MEMBERS:
ALFONSO CUARÓN, PRESIDENT (Mexico)
of The Gravity, Children of Men, Y Tu Mama Tambien fame
THE ELIZABETH BANKS WORLD DOMINATION TOUR (USA): Previous Tour Dates: Directing and Co-starring in Pitch Perfect 2; Best Reviews ever for Love & Mercy; Co-starring in Magic Mike XXL; Next Stops: Netflix Binge-watching Dominance with Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, Conquering Venice Red Carpet Coverage, Emmy Festivities, and wrapping up a phenomenon with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2...
Lynne Ramsay and more after the jump...
Lynne Ramsay with her last leading actress Tilda Swinton (We Need To Talk About Kevin)
EMMANUEL CARRÈRE (France) of La Moustache fame
NURI BILGE CEYLAN (Turkey) Cannes darling. Lover of insanely long running times.
HOU HSIAO-HSIEN (Taiwan) maker of crazybeautiful films like Three Times, Flight of the Red Balloon, and the forthcoming Cannes sensation The Assassin
DIANE KRUGER (Germany) Fashionista. Moonlights as underchallenged but very capable actress
FRANCESCO MUNZI (Italy) director of Black Souls
PAWEL PAWLIKOWSKI (Poland) recent Oscar winner for the mesmerizing succinct Ida... I bet Nuri Bilge Ceylan thought it was way way way too short.
LYNNE RAMSAY (UK) of Morvern Callar, Ratcatcher, and We Need To Talk About Kevin fame
Recent Golden Lion winners include: The Wrestler, Somewhere, Faust, Sacro GRA, Pieta, and A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (which you'd be crazy to miss!)
But wait theres more...
HORIZONS
This jury of the Orrizonti section looks at the more experimental fare in the annual festival and director Jonathan Demme (USA) will preside. Jury members include: Actress Anita Caprioli (Italy), Writer/Director Alix Delaporte (France), Actor Romain Paul (France), Actress Paz Vega (Spain), and Director Fruit Chan (Hong Kong).
Most recent winners: Chaitanya Tamhane's Court (India), Robin Campillo's Eastern Boys (France) which is currently available on Netflix Instant Watch, Wang Bing's San Zimei (Hong Kong), Shinya Tsukamoto's Kotoko (Japan)
Saverio ConztanzoLION OF THE FUTURE
This jury will name the "Best Debut" at the festival. The president is director Saverio Costanzo (Italy), director Charles Burnett (USA), producer Roger Garcia (Hong Kong), historian Natacha Laurent (France), and journalist Daniela Michel (Mexico). The winner of this competition receives $100,000 in cash which will surely help on film #2 though these winning films never ever seem to be released in the US.
Most recent winners: Chaitanya Tamhane's Court (India), Noaz Deshe's White Shadow (Tanzania) the only one we managed to see, Ali Alydin's Küf (Turkey), and Guido Lombardi's La Bas. A Criminal Education (Italy)
Have you ever been to Venice? I don't mean the film festival specifically.