If you haven’t already heard, the upcoming Venice Film Festival (which runs August 29-September 8) unveiled its line-up which is going to premiere and showcase some much-sought after material.
Todd Hayne’s Bob Dylan biopic “I’m Not There” (which we’ve kind of been obsessed with) will get its premiere at the festival along with Wes Anderson’s “The Darjeeling Limited” (another film we’ve been pretty preoccupied with). Spoilers of all kinds, plus musical revelations will surely find their way onto the Interweb.
The Venice festival will also give cult-fetishist Quentin Tarantino a special sidebar showcase of his favorite genre (of the moment anyhow), Spaghetti Westerns (Westerns shot in Italy on the cheap in the ’60s/early ’70s marked by their low-budgetness, Clint Eastwood-ness and melodramatically overblown scores typically composed by Ennio Morricone). The motormouthed, hyperactive director will show over 30 films, including the lesser-known works of Giorgio Ferroni, Eugenio Martin (The Ugly Ones”); Riccardo Freda, Giorgio Capitani (“The Ruthless Four”) and Pasquale Squitieri. Notably absent are the films of celebrated Spaghetti-Westerner Sergio Leone as the sidebar will focus on more obscure Italo-cowboy films (naturally, it is QT after all).
“A lot of directors who never got their due will now get their due,” Tarantino told Reuters redundantly.
Other films competing for the Gold Lion award will be the new Kiera Knightly film, “Atonement,” Brian DePalma’s “Redacted,” and new films by Ken Loach (“It’s a Free World…”) and Kenneth Branagh (“Sleuth“). Perennially goth director Tim Burton is expected to be honoured at the festival for his lifetime in film.
The Toronto International Film Festival
Meanwhile, the Toronto film festival (September 6-15) has added some notable films to its roster including the aforementioned “I’m Not There” (If European critics don’t spoil it all, North American ones surely will),
plus Noah Baumbach’s “Margot At The Wedding” and Sean Penn’s Eddie Vedder songs-scored, “Into The Wild.”
Also added to TIFF’s lineup is Andrew Dominik’s “The Assassination of Jesse James,” starring Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck and the adorable Mary-Louise Parker; “Crash” director, Paul Haggis’ “In the Valley of Elah“‘ with Charlize Theron and Tommy Lee Jones; and “The Savages” starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney (its trailer features Spoon’s “That’s The Way We Get By” and Pinback singer Rob Crow’s “Up”).
Suffice to say we aren’t going to either, but if there happens to be any of you out there that are and happen to see these films and want to contribute (especially keeping in mind the music of the films), feel free to email us.
