Category Archives: biennale

Akin’s film in Venice Film Fest

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Akin brings comedy to Venice with `Soul Kitchen’
Prize-winning German-Turkish director Fatih Akin is turning to comedy in his latest film “Soul Kitchen,” which showed at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday.
The film, which is in competition for the top Golden Lion prize, represents a departure from the more serious tones set in Akin’s 2004 Berlin Golden Bear winner “Head On” and 2007′s “The Edge of Heaven,” which won the screenplay award at the Cannes film festival.
“Soul Kitchen” is a comedy set in a locals-only joint in Hamburg. While the food isn’t great, the customers are loyal to the German-Greek chef Zinos (Adam Bousdoukos). When he hires a more talented chef to upgrade his repertoire, the locals’ revolt is just one of many troubles to come Zinos’ way.
Akin said the shift to comedy was intentional.
“As a director I want to make experiments, and I get bored with directors that make one style. I want to change and go on testing my style,” he said.
With “Soul Kitchen,” Akin is participating for the first time in the Venice Film Festival, which wraps up Saturday.
by: AP

Akin brings comedy to Venice with `Soul Kitchen’

akinPrize-winning German-Turkish director Fatih Akin is turning to comedy in his latest film “Soul Kitchen,” which showed at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday.

The film, which is in competition for the top Golden Lion prize, represents a departure from the more serious tones set in Akin’s 2004 Berlin Golden Bear winner “Head On” and 2007′s “The Edge of Heaven,” which won the screenplay award at the Cannes film festival.

“Soul Kitchen” is a comedy set in a locals-only joint in Hamburg. While the food isn’t great, the customers are loyal to the German-Greek chef Zinos (Adam Bousdoukos). When he hires a more talented chef to upgrade his repertoire, the locals’ revolt is just one of many troubles to come Zinos’ way.

Akin said the shift to comedy was intentional.

“As a director I want to make experiments, and I get bored with directors that make one style. I want to change and go on testing my style,” he said.

With “Soul Kitchen,” Akin is participating for the first time in the Venice Film Festival, which wraps up Saturday.

by: AP

Omar Sharif in Venice

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Omar Sharif returns to big screen at Venice
Omar Sharif, whose devilishly handsome looks delighted female fans decades ago, has returned to the big screen at the Venice Film Festival Thursday in a film about an elderly man’s encounter with a woman he loved in his youth.
“The Traveler,” an Egyptian film by first-time feature director Ahmed Maher, is vying for the festival’s Golden Lion award.
Maher told reporters he came up with the project nine years ago.
“It’s a dream to have Omar Sharif in the cast,” Maher said.
The film goes over three days in the life of 80-year-old Hassan, played by the 77-year-old Sharif. After a chance meeting with Noura, a woman from his past played by Cyrine Abdel Nour, he meets her daughter, Nadia. Seeking a source of identity, he tries to become one of the family.
Shifting with ease between Italian and French at a news conference, Sharif — who began his film career in Egypt and went on to become an international sex symbol in “Lawrence of Arabia,” his first English-language film, and “Doctor Zhivago” — glanced back at his life.
“I am the only actor in the world that doesn’t have a center to my life. I’ve lived in hotels all my life and I eat in restaurants — always,” he laughed. “I’ve had a happy life, no reason to cry.”
He said he’d had “some adventures with women” but only one “great love” — in his marriage, which ended in 1974.
Sharif said it took years to gain freedom in his career, describing himself as the only Egyptian and Muslim in the Hollywood system when he started out.
by: AP

Omar Sharif returns to big screen at Venice

sharifOmar Sharif, whose devilishly handsome looks delighted female fans decades ago, has returned to the big screen at the Venice Film Festival Thursday in a film about an elderly man’s encounter with a woman he loved in his youth.

“The Traveler,” an Egyptian film by first-time feature director Ahmed Maher, is vying for the festival’s Golden Lion award.

Maher told reporters he came up with the project nine years ago.

“It’s a dream to have Omar Sharif in the cast,” Maher said.

The film goes over three days in the life of 80-year-old Hassan, played by the 77-year-old Sharif. After a chance meeting with Noura, a woman from his past played by Cyrine Abdel Nour, he meets her daughter, Nadia. Seeking a source of identity, he tries to become one of the family.

Shifting with ease between Italian and French at a news conference, Sharif — who began his film career in Egypt and went on to become an international sex symbol in “Lawrence of Arabia,” his first English-language film, and “Doctor Zhivago” — glanced back at his life.

“I am the only actor in the world that doesn’t have a center to my life. I’ve lived in hotels all my life and I eat in restaurants — always,” he laughed. “I’ve had a happy life, no reason to cry.”

He said he’d had “some adventures with women” but only one “great love” — in his marriage, which ended in 1974.

Sharif said it took years to gain freedom in his career, describing himself as the only Egyptian and Muslim in the Hollywood system when he started out.

by: AP

Clooney and Canalis in Venice

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George Clooney goes public with new girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis at Venice Film Festival
George Clooney took his two-month romance with Elisabetta Canalis public for the first time at the Venice Film Festival yesterday.
But the 30-year-old Italian MTV hostess shouldn’t get her heart set on a diamond: Clooney’s been known to stroll women down the carpet, then leave them in the lurch later.
The dashing bachelor escorted Canalis to the top of the stairs at the premiere of “The Men Who Stare at Goats” before he returned to sign autographs for fans, his hand still bandaged from when he shut it in a car door last month.
When asked the obvious by the Daily Mail – whether marriage and children loomed in the future – the notoriously non-committal actor said, “I have been asked the same question every year for 20 years. The answer remains the same – I don’t know.”
Rumors were rife that he would marry former girlfriend Sarah Larson, a Las Vegas cocktail waitress, when she was on his arm at the 2007 Venice Film Festival. The relationship lasted less than year.
The next year he was seen with a mystery blonde at the premiere of “Burn After Reading.”
English model Lisa Snowdon, who enjoyed a five-year romance with Clooney, also strolled the festival red carpet. That ended in 2005.
Clooney, 48, was introduced to Canalis in Rome and has spent time with her on his huge Lake Como spread. The couple had a double date at his villa with Cindy Crawford and her husband Rande Gerber. The foursome headed out into the Italian countryside on motorbikes.
But while Canalis may have a current hold on Clooney’s heart, yesterday someone else took aim.
Mauro Casciari, a gay Italian TV reporter, caused a dust-up at the press conference when he stripped down to reveal underpants that read “George Clooney Choose Me.”
“There have been lots of rumors that George is gay,” said Casciari. “So I wanted him to come out and offered myself to him.” Clooney brushed off the incident.
by: www.nydailynews.com

George Clooney goes public with new girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis at Venice Film Festival

clooney_canalisGeorge Clooney took his two-month romance with Elisabetta Canalis public for the first time at the Venice Film Festival yesterday.

But the 30-year-old Italian MTV hostess shouldn’t get her heart set on a diamond: Clooney’s been known to stroll women down the carpet, then leave them in the lurch later.

The dashing bachelor escorted Canalis to the top of the stairs at the premiere of “The Men Who Stare at Goats” before he returned to sign autographs for fans, his hand still bandaged from when he shut it in a car door last month.

When asked the obvious by the Daily Mail – whether marriage and children loomed in the future – the notoriously non-committal actor said, “I have been asked the same question every year for 20 years. The answer remains the same – I don’t know.”

Rumors were rife that he would marry former girlfriend Sarah Larson, a Las Vegas cocktail waitress, when she was on his arm at the 2007 Venice Film Festival. The relationship lasted less than year.

The next year he was seen with a mystery blonde at the premiere of “Burn After Reading.”

English model Lisa Snowdon, who enjoyed a five-year romance with Clooney, also strolled the festival red carpet. That ended in 2005.

Clooney, 48, was introduced to Canalis in Rome and has spent time with her on his huge Lake Como spread. The couple had a double date at his villa with Cindy Crawford and her husband Rande Gerber. The foursome headed out into the Italian countryside on motorbikes.

But while Canalis may have a current hold on Clooney’s heart, yesterday someone else took aim.

Mauro Casciari, a gay Italian TV reporter, caused a dust-up at the press conference when he stripped down to reveal underpants that read “George Clooney Choose Me.”

“There have been lots of rumors that George is gay,” said Casciari. “So I wanted him to come out and offered myself to him.” Clooney brushed off the incident.

by: www.nydailynews.com

Romero’s ‘Survival’ at Biennale

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To me this is some odd news coming from the Associated Press. George Romero’s latest social commentary infilled living dead film Survival of the Dead made history Wednesday in Venice, Italy at the Venice Film Festival. It is the first Horror film, and also the first zombie film too, to be screened at the festival since Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was screened back in 1932.
Seventy-seven years it has been since a horror film had kissed the lips of that Venice screen. Seventy-seven years! And after all those groundbreaking Italian born giallo film makers, like Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci and Mario Bava, didn’t once get their films viewed at the Venice Film Festival! That is quite a shock and dumbfounding.
On a small island off North America’s coast, the dead rise to menace the living. Yet…the islanders can’t bring themselves to exterminate their loved ones, despite the growing danger from those the once held dear. A rebel among them hunts down all the zombies he can find, only to be banished from the island for assassinating his neighbors and friends. On the mainland, bent on revenge, he encounters a small band of survivors in search of an oasis on which to build a new life. Barely surviving an attack from a mass of ravenous flesh-eaters. They commandeer a zombie-infested ferry and sail to the island. There, to their horror, they discover that the locals have chained the dead inside their homes, pretending to live ‘normal’ lives…with bloody consequences. What ensues is a desperate struggle for survival and the answer to a question never posed in Romero’s Dead films: Can the living ever live in peace with the dead?

Romero’s ‘Survival’ Makes History in Venice

romeroTo me this is some odd news coming from the Associated Press. George Romero’s latest social commentary infilled living dead film Survival of the Dead made history Wednesday in Venice, Italy at the Venice Film Festival. It is the first Horror film, and also the first zombie film too, to be screened at the festival since Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was screened back in 1932.

Seventy-seven years it has been since a horror film had kissed the lips of that Venice screen. Seventy-seven years! And after all those groundbreaking Italian born giallo film makers, like Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci and Mario Bava, didn’t once get their films viewed at the Venice Film Festival! That is quite a shock and dumbfounding.

On a small island off North America’s coast, the dead rise to menace the living. Yet…the islanders can’t bring themselves to exterminate their loved ones, despite the growing danger from those the once held dear. A rebel among them hunts down all the zombies he can find, only to be banished from the island for assassinating his neighbors and friends. On the mainland, bent on revenge, he encounters a small band of survivors in search of an oasis on which to build a new life. Barely surviving an attack from a mass of ravenous flesh-eaters. They commandeer a zombie-infested ferry and sail to the island. There, to their horror, they discover that the locals have chained the dead inside their homes, pretending to live ‘normal’ lives…with bloody consequences. What ensues is a desperate struggle for survival and the answer to a question never posed in Romero’s Dead films: Can the living ever live in peace with the dead?

by: www.horroryearbook.com