Middleburg Film Festival to open with "King Richard", close with "Power of the Dog"

by Nathaniel R

The 9th annual Middleburg Film Festival, which will be returning to an in-person experience this October 14th-17th in Virginia's historic wine and horse country (about an hour's drive from DC) has announced the first six films in this year's selection. The festival will open with Warner Bros King Richard on Thursday evening, Focus Feature's Belfast as its Centerpiece, and close with Netflix title Power of the Dog on Sunday night. Yours truly will be returning to Middleburg and I couldn't be happier about it.  (You might remember that for the past couple of years we've co-hosted a "Coffee and Contenders" panel there early in the morning to discuss the Oscar race.)

Ticket packages are now on sale and individual tickets go on sale on October. 

With health and safety being a top priority, MFF 2021 will require festival goers to be fully vaccinated and present proof of a negative COVID-19 test administered within 72 hours of arriving at the festival. Additionally masks will be required for all indoor screenings and events.

Other films announced for Middleburg 2021 are A24's Red Rocket, Netflix's Hand of God and NEON's Flee as the three "Spotlight" titles for US, International, and Documentary respectively. More films and panels will be announced as we get closer to the fest!

Nathaniel's Venice Wrap-Up: Jury of One Awards

by Nathaniel R

The Venice jury and I agree on a Screenplay prize for THE LOST DAUGHTER

Elisa's already shared the official winners of Venice (and her take on those choices since she saw the whole competition slate). I admire her completism at festivals but my habit is instead to sample a bit from each program. I saw twenty-one films which is a very low number to see over eight days at a major fest — blame Venice’s absurd ticketing system this year which encouraged people to be on their phones securing tickets WHILE watching movies -- i met several people who had set timers for themselves! -- since they sold out in seconds after becoming available every few hours. Since I refused to play on my phone during movies I missed two crucial movies (Spencer and Dune) but here are my favorite achievements from the films I did catch from all programs (Competition, Out of Competitions, Orizzonti, Biennale Collage Cinema, and Critics Week)

RULES: In true festival jury fashion (even though it’s just myself) I’m only allowing one prize per film. And rather than giving out a Best Actress and Best Actor prize (don't make me decide this early!) I’m listing my 15 favorite performances after the jump. What, too much? Acting is magic so I shan't apologize…. 

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Nathaniel in Venice: "Power of the Dog" and "Madeleine Collins"

Nathaniel reporting from Venice, day 1 part 2

Day 1 (continued). I didn’t expect death to linger so completely over Parallel Mothers and curiously my opening night at the fest kept on inviting the grim reaper in. The first day of screenings ended with Jane Campion’s The Power of Dog in which death is far less of a subject but clouds the vast Montana skies.  But first I took in Madeleine Collins, a French addition of our favorite subgenre here at The Film Experience, Women Who Lie To Themselves™  in which everyone in the film avoids talking about a death they probably should have spent lots more time processing.  

Madeleine Colllins (Antoine Barraud)
Elisa already hit the highlight of the film in her brief capsule, but it bears repeating: Virginie Efira! Virginie Efira! Virginie Efira!

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Elisa's Venice Diary #1: Almodovar, Campion. Here are lions.

by Elisa Giudici

What a start! There's a way of saying in Italian: il buon giorno si vede dal mattino. It means you can tell if something is remarkable from the very beginning, as you can judge how a day will be by the way it begins. Well, the first day of my fifth year as a press pass holder in Venice was so amazing I am not going to tell you if I liked what I saw, but how much I enjoyed every single title.

PARALLEL MOTHERS by Pedro Almodóvar
I was unsure about the opening movie of Venezia 78 due to Pain and Glory: how to follow up such an intimate, powerful, memorable movie (the kind of film a director puts his entire life in it, and that he or she can only make once or twice in a career). How can the follow up be anything but a disappointment? Happy to report Pedro Almodóvar is far from having finished the meaningful things he wants to say while endlessly rearranging his favorite themes and actresses...

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"Power of the Dog" teases. Venice here we come

by Nathaniel R

Behold the first teaser for Power of the Dog which opens in the US in limited release on November 17th followed by Netflix streaming on December 1st. Director Jane Campion has long been a favourite and I've scheduled this for my first day at my first ever Venice Film Festival (!!!) That's right, I will be joining our new regular Italian festival reporter Elisa Giudici (who you heard from at Cannes and Locarno) for this edition of the Venice Film Festival which runs September 1st through September 11th.

What should Elisa and I see? The lineups are after the jump...

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