Pic-George Clooney, Top Hollywood Actor leads the pack of American stars
To further confirm that they are the greatest filmmaking nation on earth, Hollywood, the heart beat of films production in the US, clinched the overall best prize at the recently concluded 65th edition of the Venice International Film Festival, which held on the beautiful Island of Lido, Italy, from August 27 to September 6, 2008.
The Wrestler, by Darren Aronofsky, won the keenly contested Golden Lion trophy, for the best film screened to a global audience, at the revered festival chaired by Pablo Baratta.
Another budding Hollywood actress, Jennifer Lawrence, also carted home the crest, in the best Young Actress category. She achieved the rare feat with her scintillating role in The Burning Plain, another Hollywood film, which made it to Venice, unarguably the world’s oldest festival.
Meanwhile, Burn After Reading, a star-studded Hollywood blockbuster with leading names like: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton and several others, had the rare honour of being screened, to declare the festival open in the evening of Wednesday, August 27, at the spacious cinema halls of Sala Grande, Pala Biennale and Pala Lido respectively. It was directed by Academy award winning brothers Joel and Ethan Coen.
Moreover, the arrival of other leading names in Nollywood to the festival’s venue, especially the red carpet section, really boosted the image of the festival and further added glamour and razzmatazz to it.
In all, a total of ten Hollywood feature films, made it to the festival and they were all premiered and screened to a global audience.
However, it is no longer news that no Nigerian Nollywood movie made it to the festival, which was attended by filmmakers from 72 countries.
Never the less, two African countries, Algeria and Ethiopia, screened one movie each at the festival.
Other winners at the official Venezia 65 awards were: France, which won three crowns in the Special Jury Prize, with Teza, by Haile Gerima, which he shared with Ethiopia and Germany. Gerima, originally from Ethiopia, also won and shared the prize for the Best Screenplay for Teza, with the above countries, while Dominique Blanc, won the Best Actress, for her role in L’autre.
The host nation, Italy, smiled home with the awards of the Best Actor and Debut Film, which went to the duo of Silvio Orlando and Pranzo Di Ferragosto respectively.
The jury of the festival awarded the Silver Lion for Best Director and Best Cinematography to the Russian filmmaker, Aleksey German Jr, for his superb work in Paper Soldier, while the Special Lion for the overall work went to Werner Schroeter. He got the plaque for his uncompromising and relentless innovative work spanning over a period of four decades.
Interestingly, statistics made available to us revealed that a total of 3,689 films were submitted for selection from 72 countries around the world, and 2,429 of them, were feature films.
Moreover, 21 of these feature films were eventually selected for the awards main competition, while seven of them were out of the competition.
Again, in the three main sections of the festival, 49 feature films were screened as world premieres, three short films were also screened as world premieres and five features films screened as international premieres.
The festival, which was directed by Marco Muller and dedicated to Youssef Chahine, also featured an international Critics’ Week section with panel discussions and workshops.
According to La Biennale di Venezia, the organizers of the annual festival, it aims to encourage the awareness and promotion of all the various aspects of international cinema as art, entertainment and industry, in a spirit of freedom and tolerance.
It is also important to note that through Marco Muller’s efforts, Venice is now a festival that is increasingly becoming present on the foreign stage, responsive to emerging film industries and new talents and at the same time, can exploit a solid and constant relationship with the best film productions in the world.
Above all, it would be recalled that globally acclaimed filmmaker, Wim Wenders, chaired the Jury of this year’s Venezia, while star actress Ksenia Rappoport hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the prestigious film festival.
Official Venezia 65 Award Winners
1. Best Film – Darren Aronofsky, The Wrestler (USA)
2. Best Director - Aleksey German Jr, Paper Soldier (Russia)
3. Special Jury Prize - Haile Gerima, Teza, (Ethiopia, Germany, France)
4. Best Actor – Silvio Orlando (Italy)
5. Best Actress – Dominique Blanc, L’autre (France)
6. Best Young Actress – Jennifer Lawrence, The Burning Plain (USA)
7. Best Cinematography – Paper Soldier (Russia)
8. Best Screenplay – Haile Gerima, Teza, (Ethiopia, Germany & France)
9. Special Lion – Werner Schroeter
10. Award For A Debut Film – Pranzo Di Ferragosto (Italy)
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