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VENICE 2015 Selection

Big European names and dash of Hollywood at Venice

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- Alberto Barbera’s line-up features a large presence of international writers with a prevalence of European productions

Big European names and dash of Hollywood at Venice
Sangue del mio sangue by Marco Bellocchio

“There will be highly-anticipated films and big directors, as well as lots of new faces to the Festival and unknown writers, a dash of Hollywood and space for less mainstream films, to try to paint a picture of the complex reality of contemporary cinema”. This was the summary of the varied programme of the 72nd Venice International Film Festival given by its director Alberto Barbera, who today, at the presentation of the Official Selection in Rome, emphasised the role of “a festival that does not go against the market, but does not base itself on this either” in seeking out new talent and inspiring others. Its programme contains a few surprises, “but in trying to set it apart from those of other festivals, we have chosen a challenging approach and made choices that aren’t always consistent”, including, among others, documentaries, animated films and experimental pieces.

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16 directors (out of the 21 whose films have been selected) will be participating in the Festival’s competition for the first time. They include Atom Egoyan with Remember [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, Tom Hooper with The Danish Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paco Delgado
film profile
]
(starring Eddie Redmayne – see news article), Pablo Trapero with El Clan [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, Laurie Anderson with Heart of a Dog [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, Christian Vincent with L’Hermine [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(see news article), and Italian directors Piero Messina with The Wait [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lou de Laâge
interview: Piero Messina
film profile
]
(first film) and Luca Guadagnino with A Bigger Splash [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luca Guadagnino
film profile
]
. Also representing Italy in the competition will be Marco Bellocchio with Sangue del mio sangue [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marco Bellocchio
film profile
]
and Giuseppe M. Gaudino with Per amor vostro [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Giuseppe M Gaudino
film profile
]
. In a selection in which the only point of convergence according to Barbera is that “a number of the films are inspired by real or historical events or news stories”, Amos Gitai will compete for the Golden Lion with Rabin, the Last Day [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, Aleksandr Sokurov with Francofonia [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
Xavier Giannoli with Marguerite [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Giannoli
film profile
]
(see news article). Another European big name, Jerzy Skolimowski, comes back to the Lido, with 11 Minutes [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Jerzy Skolimowski
film profile
]
, whilst from the United States and South America, “where this year’s most original and interesting films are from”, come the “disturbing” animated film Anomalisa by Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson, and debut feature film Desde allá by Lorenzo Vigas.

Out of competition, in addition to the opening film Everest [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile
]
by Baltasar Kormákur (see news article), the Festival has made room for genre film with Go with Me [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 by Daniel Alfredson (starring Anthony Hopkins), and Non essere cattivo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, the last film of Italian director Claudio Caligari, who recently passed away (see news article), La calle de la amargura [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Arturo Ripstein and a short film by Martin Scorsese, The Audition, starring Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt. Completing the out of competition programme are 8 documentaries, including the new documentary by Franco Maresco, Gli uomini di questa città non li conosco, In Jackson Heights by Frederick Wiseman, and, in a special screening, Human [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

The complete list of films being screened in and out of competition at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival (2 – 12 September 2015) is as follows:

Venezia72
Abluka (Frenzy) [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emin Alper
film profile
]
 by Emin Alper (Turkey, France, Qatar)
Heart of a Dog by Laurie Anderson (United States)
Sangue del mio sangue [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marco Bellocchio
film profile
]
 by Marco Bellocchio (Italy, France, Switzerland)
Looking for Grace by Sue Brooks (Australia)
Equals by Drake Doremus (United States)
Remember [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Atom Egoyan (Canada, Germany)
Beasts of No Nation by Cary Fukunaga (United States)
Per amor vostro [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Giuseppe M Gaudino
film profile
]
 by Giuseppe M. Gaudino (Italy, France)
Marguerite [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Giannoli
film profile
]
 by Xavier Giannoli (France, Czech Republic, Belgium)
Rabin, the Last Day [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Amos Gitai (Israel, France)
A Bigger Splash [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luca Guadagnino
film profile
]
 by Luca Guadagnino (Italy, France)
The Endless River [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Oliver Hermanus (South Africa, France)
The Danish Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paco Delgado
film profile
]
by Tom Hooper (United Kingdom, United States)
Anomalisa by Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson (United States)
The Wait [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lou de Laâge
interview: Piero Messina
film profile
]
 by Piero Messina (Italy, France)
11 Minutes [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Jerzy Skolimowski
film profile
]
 by Jerzy Skolimowski (Poland, Ireland)
Francofonia [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Aleksandr Sokurov (France, Germany, The Netherlands)
El Clan [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Pablo Trapero (Argentine, Spain)
Desde allá by Lorenzo Vigas (Venezuela)
L’Hermine [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Christian Vincent (France)
Behemoth [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Zhao Liang (China, France)

Out of Competition
Everest [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile
]
 by Baltasar Kormákur (opening film) (United Kingdom, United States)
Lao pa er (Mr Six) by Hu Guan (closing film) (China)
Go with Me [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 by Daniel Alfredson (United States, Canada, Sweden)
Non essere cattivo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Claudio Caligari (Italy)
Black Mass by Scott Cooper (United States)
Spotlight by Thomas McCarthy (United States)
La calle de la amargura [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Arturo Ripstein (Mexico, Spain)
The Audition by Martin Scorsese (short film) (United States)

Out of Competition - Documentaries
Winter on Fire [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Evgeny Afineevsky (Ukraine)
De Palma by Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow (United States)
Janis by Amy Berg (United States)
Sobytie (The Event [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
) by Sergei Loznitsa (Ukraine)
Gli uomini di questa città io non li conosco by Franco Maresco (Italy)
L'esercito più piccolo del mondo [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 by Gianfranco Pannone (Italy)
Na ri xiazwu (Afternoon) by Tsai Ming-liang (Taiwan)
In Jackson Heights by Frederick Wiseman (United States)

Special Screening
Human [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Yann Arthus-Bertrand (France)

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(Translated from Italian)

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