Four Italian flicks at Venice film fest
67th edition opens Sept 1 with world premiere of Black Swan
29 July, 18:25
(ANSA) - Rome, July 29 - Four Italian productions have made
it onto the shortlist of films vying for the coveted Golden Lion
at this year's Venice festival, organizers revealed on Thursday.The four movies will be up against 18 films from a range of countries, including the US, France, Japan, Greece, Chile, Greece and China. The 67th edition of the world's oldest film fest will open on September 1 with the world premiere of Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, in competition.
Starring Natalie Portman and Vincent Cassel, the film is described as a dark psychological thriller set around the New York ballet scene. Another global premiere has been selected to close the festival on September 11: Julie Taymor's The Tempest, which stars Helen Mirren as a female Prospero. The four Italian productions competing for the Golden Lion explore a range of issues. Carlo Mazzacurati's tragicomic La Passione tells of how a desperate director's last-ditch chance to make it big is foiled by blackmailers. Noi Credevamo (We Believed) by Mario Martone explores a 30-year period during the Italian Risorgimento, interweaving the lives of fictional characters with those of historical figures.
La Pecora Nera (The Black Sheep) marks actor-writer Ascanio Celestini's directing debut based on his own book and inspired by the recollections of those locked up in asylums for the mentally ill. Saverio Costanzo's film is an adaptation of Paolo Giordano's best-selling novel The Solitude of Prime Numbers, translated into 20 languages, which charts an intense relationship between two misfits. Cult US director Quentin Tarantino has agreed to chair the jury selecting the Golden Lion winner.
The same jury will also pick the recipient of the Silver Lion for best director, as well as handing out awards for best actor, best actress, best new young actor, best technical contribution and best screenplay.
Iranian artist and director Shirin Neshat, who won last year's Silver Lion for her first feature film, Women Without Men, will chair the jury of the Orizzonti new world trends section.
In addition to the Golden Lion, Orizzonti and non-competitive sections, the festival will also host Controcampo Italiano, looking at new trends in Italian cinema, and a retrospective of Italian comedy between 1937 and 1988.
