Malick and De Palma in competition at Venice film festival
Terence Malick's "To the Wonder" starring Ben Affleck (pic) is among the films in competition this year at the Venice Film Festival. — AFP picROME, July 27 — Terence Malick’s “To the Wonder” starring Ben Affleck and Rachel Weisz and Brian De Palma’s “Passion” with Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace are among the films in competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival, organisers said yesterday.
A slimmed-down line-up of 18 films will be competing for the Golden Lion award at the 69th edition of the world’s oldest film festival, which runs from August 29, 2012 to September 8, 2012.
Malick, winner of the Cannes film festival’s Golden Palm award for his epic “The Tree of Life” in 2011, brings a romantic story of re-found love to the Lido, while veteran US director De Palma’s “Passion” is a murderous tale of revenge.
Other films in the Competition section include Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers” starring James Franco, Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens, Ramin Bahrani’s “At Any Price” with Zac Efron and Dennis Quaid and Takeshi Kitano’s latest offer “Outrage Beyond”.
Only 17 films were announced at a news conference in Rome today but the 18th entrant will be announced later.
Artistic director Alberto Barbera promised a “more sober, less glitzy” event for the 69th edition. “I had promised to reduce the number of films and I’ve kept that promise, more or less, apart from a few small exceptions,” he said.
Mira Nair’s thriller “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”, about the conflict of loyalties facing a young Pakistani man working on Wall Street, will open the festival.
Spike Lee’s “Bad 25”, a documentary about the late Michael Jackson and Robert Redford’s “The Company You Keep”, with Julie Christie, are among films showing outside the main competition. — Reuters
