A few updates on the Toronto International Film Festival in September and the Venice Film Festival which stars in late August.
The Lido in Venice has added nine debut films by first time feature directors including films from Sarajevo, Kabul, Beijing, Oslo and Istanbul.
Bosnia’s “Night Watchmen,” a black comedy about postwar Sarajevo by Namik Kabil sounds pretty interesting. Meanwhile, former ’80s popcorn titan John Landis (“Blues Brothers,””Gremlins”) and Hong Kong-based director/producer Johnnie To have joined the main jury of the Venice’s cinema fete that’s being presided over by Wim Wenders. The 65th edition of the Venice festival runs Aug. 27-Sept. 6 and the full lineup will be announced July 29.Over in Toronto, the IRA drama, “Fifty Dead Men Walking,” starring Ben Kingsley, Jim Sturgess and Rose McGowan has been added to the line-up. Another big-name addition is Ed Harris’ “Appaloosa,” a’ Western that features Viggo Mortensen, Renee Zellweger, Jeremy Irons and the director as well.Further film just announced include “The Other Man,” starring Liam Neeson and Laura Linney in a about an affair destroying a marriage and the obsession therein, Jonathan Demme’s “Rachel Getting Married,” featuring Anne Hathaway, and two francophone adds: Anne Fontaine’s comedy “La Fille de Monaco” and Philippe Claudel’s “I’ve Loved You So Long.” Other additions include Cameron Labine’s “Control Alt Delete,” “Before Tomorrow” from Marie-Helene Cousineau and Carl Bessai’s “Mothers & Daughters.”
Lastly, the Midnight Madness gore-n-guts sidebar of TIFF will feature on-screen appearances by Quentin Tarantino, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Gene Simmons. The comedy “JCVD,” features Van Damme playing himself in the midst of a post office heist, Tarantino (and Jamie Lee Curtis, Dennis Hopper, Stacy Keach) shows up in the exploitation documentary, “Not Quite Hollywood,” and the film “Detroit Metal City,” features Gene as a rock icon.
