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Jonathan Demme is president of the Horizon Jury in Venice this year. He also was the recipient of the Persol Award for Visionary Talent which festival director Alberto Barbera presented to him at a ceremony at Sala Darsena.

Long applause at both press screenings. A seemingly endless standing ovation at the premiere.

The Telluride Film Festival took over the eponymous town in the Colorado Rockies for three days over the U. S.

Carol, Todd Haynes's new feature, is his most fully realized film to date, adding another interesting panel to a small – only six films in twenty-five years – but distinguished oeuvre. Though thematically it's a logical follow-up to his former movies, Carol may also signal a new point of departure.

Almost forgotten amid the glamour and flashbulbs of the opening of the Venice Festival were three unassuming figures who accompanied the cast of the opening day film Everest. Bemba Sherpa, Ang Dorje Sherpa, Ang Kula Sherpa are from their native Nepal but they are far from supporting players in the real-life adventure and drama narrated by Baltasar Kormakur’s movie.

The stars are ready to celebrate their films here even if the Lido is not: in the afternoon of opening day construction was still not done in front of the Palazzo del Cinema and the adjacent Casino that houses the press office facilities during the festival. While hordes of fans – mostly minors – were camping out for hours with umbrellas to shield them from the sun and the extreme heat behind the barriers at the red carpet, workers were still busy nailing down the floor and removing plastic sheeting.

There was almost as much white off-screen as on: while the festival audience on opening night watched climbers fighting for their lives on a snow covered Everest, the two most glamorous members of the jury walked the red carpet in breathtaking white gowns. Elizabeth Banks dazzled in a backless Dolce & Gabbana while Diane Kruger wore a sweet but sexy Prada.

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The beachfront Palazzo del Cinema on the Lido got a taste of high altitude as the Venice Film festival opened with a screening of Baltásar Kormakur’s Everest a fictional telling of dramatic real-life mountaineering. The Mount Everest climbing season of 1996 will forever be remembered as one of the most tragic in the annals of mountain climbing.

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