Festivals

His films have grossed more than 2. 5 billion dollars worldwide, yet when Hugh Grant received Zurich's prestigious Golden Icon Award for his life's work at the Zurich Film Festival, he seemed surprised and couldn’t help but joke.

The Zürich film festival kicked off with a screening of Lion. The opening film directed by Garth Davis tells the true story of how five year old Saroo gets lost on a train which takes him thousands of miles across India, away from home and family.

Director Antoine Fuqua’s multi-cultural version of John Sturges 1960s movie The Magnificent Seven (which already was a cultural translation of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai) boasts, like its predecessor, an outstanding ensemble cast lead by two very different, talented actors – Golden Globe winner and Cecil B. deMille recipient Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt.

Venice is over but the jury’s decisions could well have positive reverberations for Hollywood and its award season. Although it remains to be seen if the Golden Lion winner The Woman Who Left (from the Philippines) will get a box office boost – the almost four hours in length kept even lots of journalists away – but the other prizes bode well for their recipients.

The 2016 edition of the Toronto Film Festival started today, September 8, with a gala presentation of Antoine Fuqua’s The Magnificent Seven, starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt and Ethan Hawke. The night before the official launch, Michael Fassbender was the special guest of another gala, which included a q & a with the actor, musical numbers and a “talk show” hosted by “Jimmy Glick”, aka Martin Short.

While festivalgoers are taken with the mundane business of premieres, red carpets, press conferences and generally binging on (and arguing about) films, the future of the art form is on view in a room tucked on the Casino mezzanine here. At least that’s what the Virtual Reality boosters would like you to think.

What is the proper word? Falicia? Vibender? Does it matter? On the second day on the Lido the Light was on the red carpet, and the fans found it very good. Golden Globe nominees Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender - who met and became an item on the set of Derek Cianfrance's The Light Between Oceans - were everywhere as their film screened in competition- followed closely by Golden Globe winner Amy Adams and Golden Globe nominee Jeremy Renner, stars of Denis Villeneuve's Arrival, and Lido veteran Wim Wenders, his excellent sneaker collection and his The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez.

It's hot, humid and gorgeous - on the brink of Fall the Lido island, the easternmost on the Venice lagoon, bordering the Adriatic Sea on its outer shore, becomes a cinema hub of major importance. The oldest film festival in existence, Venice had the ups and downs to be expected in any long career.

The 73rd Venice International Film Festival opens this year under the shadow of a tragedy – the earthquake that made scores of victims in Central Italy on August 24 - and wrapped in the glow of what seems to be its unique power – the fact that, for the past three years, Venice has anointed the favorite title, the one to beat come awards season. The tragedy led to the cancellation of the traditional gala, after the screening of the opening film – this year, the highly anticipated La La Land, directed by Whiplash’s Damien Chazelle and starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as lovers in a musical-fantasy version of Los Angeles.

It’s another big victory for Uisenma Borchu as her drama Don’t Look At Me That Way  (Schau mich nicht an ) wins the Grand Prize of the International New Talent Competition at the 18th Taipei Film Festival. The Award Ceremony was held at the historic Zhongshan Hall.