Festivals

A few months ago, we predicted that feathers would come on strong and that pink would be peaking. That prediction came true and as a result the Venice Film Festival’s carpet has been a feminine delight.

Lighter colors, soft peachy pink and beading caught the spotlight at the Venice Film Festival, while men went predictable.

 “In this film, I was really revisiting a period of my life,” says Alfonso Cuarón of his latest film, Roma. “But I did it in  a very specific way.

Summer is over, and fall begins – and so the red carpet kicks off with the Venice Film Festival. Style, baby! Bright, beautiful STYLE.

It took a concentrated last-minute effort to get the Lido ready for the cinematic celebrations of the 75th Venice International Film Festival, but it was totally worth it. A rocking line-up of talent and titles is the perfect way to honor 75 years of cinema.

The 75th edition of the Venice Film Festival starts on Wednesday, August 29th, on another planet. The moon, to be precise, when Damien Chazelle returns to the Lido to open the fest with First Man, covering the defining years in the life of Neil Armstrong.

It's a summer tradition in Jerusalem: at the end of July, when the weather in this ancient city built over seven hills is cooler and drier than in the rest of Israel, people come from all over the country to watch some of the films that will be in everybody's conversations for month to come. Quality is never an issue here, perhaps because this film festival that this year celebrates its 35th anniversary does not request mandatory premieres.

With one day between them, the two pillars of the international Fall circuit announced similar line-ups, establishing the trends and names that will be on the industry’s minds for the next busy months of prestige releases. Present in the line-up of both Venice and Toronto are Damien Chazelle’s astronaut saga First Man, starring Ryan Gosling (opening and in competition in Venice); Bradley Cooper’s take on the much-filmed A Star is Born, starring Lady Gaga (out of competition in Venice); and Roma, Alfonso Cuarón’s return to Spanish-language filmmaking (a special presentation in Toronto, in competition in Venice).

Seven days, more than 50 films - including 14 world premieres, 12 European premieres, and over 10 Italian premieres plus documentaries and shorts, five superstars and an all-female jury. Considering that the new organizers of the 64th Taormina Film Festival (TFF) had less than three weeks to put it together, the result was outstanding.

There is no question that the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF, June 29-July 7) preserves and nurtures the great tradition of Central and Eastern European Cinema. Even though film festivals can be seen as collective products of a culture, the choices of this one seem conscious, and all point to keeping the idea of film as a poetic art alive.