26/07/2016 - In the running are Edoardo De Angelis and Marco Danieli. Today in Rome the three finalists for the LUX Prize were also announced: As I Open My Eyes, My Life as a Courgette and Toni Erdmann

Promotional image for Heartstone by Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson

An edition marked by female creativity and new auteurs, with an exceptional number of debut works in competition and 20 nationalities represented. This is how the 2016 edition of Venice Days, this year in its 13^th year, is shaping up. It will be held from 31 August to 10 September as part of the Venice Film Festival, and the selection was announced today in Rome. 

This year, 11 films will compete for the Venice Days Award, which, for the third year running, will be awarded by a jury of 28 young European film lovers participating in the 28 Times Cinema programme, presided over this year by Canadian director Bruce La Bruce. Opening the 2016 edition of Venice Days will be a Danish-Finnish documentary, The War Show [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andreas Dalsgaard
film profile] by Andreas Dalsgaard and Obaidah Zytoon, a sort of video diary from the heart of hellish Syria, which was shot starting in 2011 by a group of friends who left Damascus to join the revolution. 

Seven debut works will be shown in competition: coming-of-age stories Heartstone [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson
film profile] by Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson (Iceland/Denmark), which centres on the turbulent summer of two teenagers, and Polina [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Angelin Preljocaj, Valérie …
film profile] by Valérie Muller and Angelin Preljocaj (France), starring Juliette Binoche and set in the world of dance; Croatian-Danish title Quit Staring at My Plate [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hana Jušić
film profile] by Hana Jušić, a family drama with grotesque undertones; Sami Blood [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Amanda Kernell
interview: Lars Lindstrom
film profile] by Amanda Kernell (Sweden/Denmark/Norway), on one of the darkest chapters in Swedish colonialism; and finally Australian suspense thriller Hounds of Love by Ben Young and Colombian western Pariente by Iván D. Gaona.

Two Italian films feature in competition this year: La ragazza del mondo [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Marco Danieli
film profile] by Marco Danieli (which is also a debut piece), starring Sara Serraiocco and Michele Riondino, in which the protagonist is forced to choose between love and her place in the world of Jehovah’s witnesses; and Indivisibili [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Edoardo de Angelis
film profile] by Edoardo De Angelis (who was previously acclaimed for Mozzarella Stories [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Perez. [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), which centres around two conjoined twins and singers who are inseparable dreamers. The selection also includes road movie The Road to Mandalay [+see also:
trailer
interview: Midi Z
film profile] by Midi Z, a co-production between Myanmar, Taiwan, China, France and Germany, and Philippine title Ordinary People by Eduardo Roy, Jr.

This year’s special events include screenings of the first official co-production between Italy and China (with the participation of Belgium too), Coffee [+see also:
trailer
interview: Cristiano Bortone
interview: Cristiano Bortone
film profile] by Cristiano Bortone, along with Vangelo [+see also:
trailer
interview: Pippo Delbono
film profile] by Pippo Delbono, which was shot at a reception centre for refugees, Rocco [+see also:
trailer
interview: Thierry Demaizière, Alban T…
film profile] by Thierry Demaiziere and Alban Teurlai, on pornstar Rocco Siffredi, and You Never Had It – An Evening With Bukowski by Matteo Borgardt, which was born out of an old video interview with the famous American writer, which came to light thirty years later. The short films made as part of the Miu Miu Women's Tales project, which is dedicated to female creativity, are this year by Japanese director Naomi Kawase (Seed) and American filmmaker Crystal Moselle (That One Day). 

Once again this year, the presentation of the Venice Days programme also included the announcement of the three finalists for the 2016 LUX Prize (which Cineuropa is a partner of - see article): they are As I Open My Eyes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Leyla Bouzid
film profile] by Leyla Bouzid, which was launched at Venice Days last year, My Life as a Courgette [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Claude Barras
film profile] by Claude Barras, and Toni Erdmann [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Maren Ade
film profile] by Maren Ade. The winning film will be announced in Strasbourg in November.

Official Selection

The War Show [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andreas Dalsgaard
film profile] (documentary) - Andreas Dalsgaard, Obaidah Zytoon (Denmark/Finland) (opening film)
Worldly Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Marco Danieli
film profile] - Marco Danieli (Italy)
Indivisible [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Edoardo de Angelis
film profile] - Edoardo De Angelis (Italy)
Guilty Men - Iván D. Gaona (Colombia)
Heartstone [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson
film profile] - Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson (Iceland/Denmark)
Quit Staring at My Plate [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hana Jušić
film profile] - Hana Jušić (Croatia/Denmark)
Sami Blood [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Amanda Kernell
interview: Lars Lindstrom
film profile] - Amanda Kernell (Sweden/Denmark/Norway)
The Road to Mandalay [+see also:
trailer
interview: Midi Z
film profile] - Midi Z (Myanmar/Taiwan/China/France/Germany)
Polina [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Angelin Preljocaj, Valérie …
film profile] - Valérie Muller, Angelin Preljocaj (France)
Ordinary People - Eduardo Roy, Jr. (Philippines)
Hounds of Love - Ben Young (Australia)
The War Within [+see also:
trailer
interview: Paola Piacenza
film profile] (documentary) - Paola Piacenza (Italy) (closing film, out of competition)

Special Events

You Never Had It – An Evening With Bukowski (documentary) - Matteo Borgardt (US/Mexico/Italy)
Coffee [+see also:
trailer
interview: Cristiano Bortone
interview: Cristiano Bortone
film profile] - Cristiano Bortone (Italy/China/Belgium)
Il profumo del tempo delle favole - Mauro Caputo (Italy)
Vangelo [+see also:
trailer
interview: Pippo Delbono
film profile] - Pippo Delbono (Italy/Switzerland/Belgium)
Rocco [+see also:
trailer
interview: Thierry Demaizière, Alban T…
film profile] (documentary) - Thierry Demaiziere, Alban Teurlai (France)
Always Shine - Sophia Takal (US)

(Translated from Italian)