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VENICE: Director Noah Baumbach already has ten feature films to his credit so it is no surprise that this already accomplished and respected filmmaker has landed in the Venice competition with his latest offering Marriage Story. What is surprising is that this just might be his best film yet.

VENICE: American indie filmmaker James Gray is not the first name that springs to mind when you think of a Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster, but Ad Astra, which boasts Hollywood mega-star Brad Pitt in the leading role, is an accomplished film with enough artistic backbone to score a slot in the main competition in Venice.

VENICE: Nomadland (USA) directed by Chloé Zhao (USA) was awarded the top prize in the main competition of 77th Venice Film Festival, which took place from 2 to 12 September 2020. The Italian festival on the Venice Lido was the first major film event to take place on site since the global COVID pandemic shut down film festivals, cinemas and events around the world in early March this year.

VENICE: Director Todd Phillips enters the Venice competition lineup with what just might be the first Batman film that is for non-Batman fans. His film Joker takes the usual Hollywood comic book franchise into much deeper and more interesting psychological territory than the usual special effects laden star vehicles. while still managing to deliver all the expected Gotham City sets and characters in full regalia. Set in a thinly disguised New York City of either the late 1970s or the not distant future, when the city is overwhelmed with crime, greed, filth and society’s breakdown, we see the origins of the famous characters of the later films.

VENICE: Director Steven Soderbergh’s film The Laundromat, which screens in the main competition in Venice, is based on the book Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite by Jake Bernstein. The book and a series of exposes articles in 2015 came into being when documents that became known as the Panama Papers were leaked to journalists by someone inside the Panamanian law firm of Mossack Fonseca, one of the world’s largest providers of offshore corporate services. The documents revealed information about more than 200,000 offshore companies and set off an avalanche of scandal and money laundering investigations around the world, although no one is assuming that anything has changed in this system that aides the super-rich in hiding their money from tax-authorities and government officials.

VENICE: The Polish film Never Gonna Snow Again directed by Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert has become a hot seller in Vence racking up sales in Italy, Germany and the UK. 

VENICE: Polish director Alicja Węgorzewska has received the Women in Cinema Award at the 77th Venice Film Festival for her production of opera films and her support of developing young talent.

VENICE: Film New Europe (FNE) teamed up with EUROVOD in Venice this year to celebrate the innovation and creative ideas that have kept our European filmmakers moving forward even under the difficult conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic.

VENICE: The 17th Edition of the CICAE training programme for arthouse and independent exhibitors took place from 31 August to 6 September this year on the island of San Servolo in Venice despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. CICAE has decided to share with FNE TV and its viewers some of the highlights of the event in a series of video reports.