The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel R. All material herein is written by our team. (This site is not for profit but for an expression of love for cinema & adjacent artforms.)
Fall Film Festival season is rapidly approaching. TIFF let us know their "special presentations" with many more announcements to come and now Venice (which actually starts sooner at the tail end of August) has announced its whole lineup. The films, including out of competition reunions of two iconic screen couples (Javier Bardem & Penélope Cruz / Jane Fonda & Robert Redford), are after the jump...
Earlier this month, we learned that Annette Bening, hot off her best performance in 20th Century Women, would be presiding over the Venice Film Festival jury. The last female president was 11 years ago so good on Venice for fixing that. Now we know who'll be debating the selections with her as well as the complete jury lineups for all sections.
Chris here. It may not make up for missing out on an Oscar nomination for some of her best work in 20th Century Women, but Annette Bening is getting a global cinema honor of a different sort. The legendary actress will be president of this year's Venice Film Festival competition slate.
Bening will be the first woman to serve over the Venice jury in over a decade, the last being Catherine Deneuve's jury awarded Jia Zhangke's Still Life in 2006. What's heartening is that it was a conscious choice from festival director Alberto Barbera to represent female voices in film, one that rival festivals have struggled to achieve. He states:
It was time to break with a long list of male presidents and invite a brilliant talented and inspiring woman to chair our International competition jury. I am extremely happy that Annette Bening has accepted this role, which she will carry out by virtue of her stature, her intellect and the talents she has manifested over the course of her career, in Hollywood, Europe and on the stage. Hers is a career marked by always interesting, often daring choices. A sophisticated and instinctive actress, able to portray complex shadings of character, Annette Bening brings to her roles an understating, a warmth and a natural elegance that makes watching her films a wonderful and ever enriching experience. I welcome her to Venice.
Here here on Annette's gifts, but we'll see if that pro-diversity sentiment carries over into their selected films, however. Which means we can start speculating on what film's Venice will be serving Annette (and which she'll give a "yes and no"). This certainly puts her upcoming adaptations of The Seagull and Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool out of the running, but we will hopefully hear word of an opener in short time.
The 73rd annual Venice Film Festival came to a close today and with that comes jury prizes. Here's the list
Lav Diaz new film "The Woman Who Left" is inspired by Tolstoy's book "God Sees the Truth, But Waits". It's four hours long and took the top Venice prize.
Main Competition Jury (Jury President Sam Mendes) Golden Lion: The Woman Who Left (Lav Diaz) Grand Jury Prize: Nocturnal Animals (Tom Ford) Silver Lion (Best Director): [tie] Amat Escalante for The Untamed and Andrei Konchalovsky for Paradise Volpi Cup Best Actress: Emma Stone for La La Land Volpi Cup Best Actor: Oscar Martínez for The Distinguished Citizen Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor: Paula Beer for Frantz
Classic musicals from Singing in the Rain to An American in Paris to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg are being invoked to praise La La Land. There are comparisons to golden age stars like Shirley MacLaine, Grace Kelly and Gene Kelly. The Damien Chazelle film, starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, has critics at Venice falling in love and believing in the magic of cinema again. La La Land just topped our most anticipated fall film list and it looks like the excited anticipation was proven correct just a day later.
Friday, July 28, 2017 at 5:45PM 
Fall Film Festival season is rapidly approaching. TIFF let us know their "special presentations" with many more announcements to come and now Venice (which actually starts sooner at the tail end of August) has announced its whole lineup. The films, including out of competition reunions of two iconic screen couples (Javier Bardem & Penélope Cruz / Jane Fonda & Robert Redford), are after the jump...
