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Iraq war looms over Venice film festival

Two movies about the Iraq war and its impact on Americans back home are among 22 competition entries at the Venice Film Festival this year, lending political weight to a cinema showcase laden with Hollywood productions.

Paul Haggis’ ‘In the Valley of Elah’, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron and Susan Sarandon, is the eagerly anticipated film based on the real-life murder of a young soldier who returned to the United States from Iraq.

It is up against Brian De Palma’s ‘Redacted’, which tells the story of a US army unit that persecutes an Iraqi family and also examines the way media cover the conflict.

Commentators said the speed with which events in Iraq are making it to the big screen reflected Hollywood’s general opposition to the conflict and the technological advances that make film-making faster. But some preferred to wait. “What is coming out now works with an immediate emotional impact, but I’m really interested in what’s going to come out (on the Iraq war) in 15 years’ time or so,” said Jay Weissberg, a critic with trade publication Variety.

Also tackling topical issues in Venice are ‘Michael Clayton’, starring George Clooney as a fixer who does a major corporation’s dirty work, Italy’s ‘Il Dolce e L’Amaro’ about the mafia, and Egypt’s ‘Heya Fawda’ investigating police brutality.

The annual festival on the Lido waterfront, which opens on Wednesday and ends on Sept. 8, is a key showcase of arthouse cinema and an early marker ahead of the Oscars in February.

Ang Lee’s ‘Brokeback Mountain’ won the festival’s Golden Lion for best film in 2005, and went on to garner eight Oscar nominations. The long list of stars expected on the red carpet this year will be hoping to generate similar early buzz.

Fact file: The Venice film festival will celebrate its 75th birthday this year with a star-packed lineup and top directors including Kenneth Branagh, Brian De Palma, Ken Loach, Peter Greenaway and Ang Lee vying for its top prize.

US and British films dominate this year’s festival, which is the world’s oldest movie contest. Here are some key moments:

Beginnings

n The first ‘Esposizione d’Arte Cinematografica’ came into being in 1932. The very first film to be shown was Rouben Mamoulian’s ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’, screened in August 1932.

n As there were no official awards, an audience poll was taken - best director was the Soviet Nikolaj Ekk for ‘Putjovka v zizn’, while the best film was Rene Clair’s ‘A nous la liberte’.

n The second festival, held in August 1934, included the first competition. Nineteen countries took part with over 300 accredited journalists. The ‘Coppa Mussolini’ was introduced for best foreign film and best Italian film.

n In 1936 an international jury was nominated for the first time and in 1937 the new Palazzo del Cinema was inaugurated. With the exception of the years 1940 to 1948, it has hosted the Festival ever since.

War

n The Festival was held three times during World War Two, from 1940 to 1942, but not counted in the total number of festivals. Participation was limited to member countries or sympathisers in the Alliance. A short festival was held in 1946.

Road to expansion

n The 1947 Festival was held at the Ducal Palace, with a record audience of 90,000. It saw the return of the Soviet Union and the new “popular democracies” including Czechoslovakia, which won first prize for Sirena by Karel Stekly.

n During the fifties, the Festival experienced a period of international expansion, with the affirmation of new types of film including Japanese and Indian.

n Japanese cinema has become well known in the West largely thanks to the Golden Lion awarded to Akira Kurosawa’s ‘Rashomon’ in 1951, and successively through the Silver Lions won by ‘Ugetsu Monogatari’ (1953) and ‘Sansho Dayu’ (1954) by Kenji Mizoguchi. reuters

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