65th Venice International Film Festival

65th Venice International Film Festival

Festival poster
Opening film	Burn After Reading
Location	Venice, Italy
Founded	1932
Awards	Golden Lion - The Wrestler
Hosted by	Ksenia Rappoport
Festival date	27 August – 6 September 2008
Website	Website
Venice Film Festival chronology
66th 64th

The 65th annual Venice International Film Festival , held in Venice, Italy, was opened on 27 August 2008 by Burn After Reading , ^[1] and closed on 6 September 2008. ^[2] International competition jury, led by Wim Wenders, awarded Golden Lion to The Wrestler , directed by Darren Aronofsky. ^[2]

Most of the films at the festival were world premieres. ^[3] Featured in the 65th film festival was a restored version of Federico Fellini's 1952 comedy The White Sheik with forty minutes of newly discovered footage. ^[4] Films screened out of competition included 35 Shots of Rum by Claire Denis, Abbas Kiarostami's Shirin , and an autobiographical documentary by Agnès Varda. ^[2] The record for the longest film at the festival went to Philippine director Lav Diaz's Melancholia , with a running time of approximately seven and a half hours, and which was included in the Orizzonti competition section. ^[3]

65th Venice International Film Festival

77-year-old Italian film director Ermanno Olmi received a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. ^{[5] [6] [7]} The festival was dedicated to the late Egyptian director Youssef Chahine, who was notable for his contributions to Arab cinema. ^[2] The festival's shorts competition began 1 September 2008 with Natalie Portman's directorial debut, Eve. Kseniya Rappoport was the host of the opening and closing ceremonies. ^[8]

Juries

The international juries of the 65th Venice International Film Festival were composed as follows: ^[9]

Main Competition (Venezia 65)

• Wim Wenders, German filmmaker, playwright, author and photographer - Jury President
• Yuri Arabov, Russian screenwriter, writer, poet and educator
• Valeria Golino, Italian actress and director
• Douglas Gordon, Scottish artist
• John Landis, American filmmaker, actor and producer
• Lucrecia Martel, Argentine filmmaker, and producer
• Johnnie To, Hong Kong director and producer

Horizons (Orizzonti)

• Chantal Akerman, Belgian filmmaker, artist and professor of film - Jury President
• Nicole Brenez, French historian, theoretician and professor of cinema
• Barbara Cupisti, Italian documentary director and actress
• José Luis Guerín, Spanish filmmaker and educator
• Veiko Õunpuu, Estonian filmmaker

Opera Prima ("Luigi de Laurentis" Award for a Debut Film)

• Abdellatif Kechiche, Tunisian-French actor, and filmmaker - Jury President
• Alice Braga, Brazilian actress
• Gregory Jacobs, American director, producer and screenwriter
• Donald Ranvaud, British producer and film journalist
• Heidrun Schleef, Italian screenwriter and producer

Official Sections

In Competition

The competitive section of the official selection is an international competition of feature films in 35mm and digital HD format running for the Golden Lion. ^{[10] [11]}

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production country
Achilles and the Tortoise	アキレスと亀	Takeshi Kitano	Japan
Birdwatchers	La terra degli uomini rossi	Marco Bechis	Italy
The Burning Plain		Guillermo Arriaga	United States
Giovanna's Father	Il papà di Giovanna	Pupi Avati	Italy
The Hurt Locker		Kathryn Bigelow	United States
Inju: The Beast in the Shadow	Inju, la bête dans l'ombre	Barbet Schroeder	France
Inland	Gabbla	Tariq Teguia	Algeria, France
Jerichow		Christian Petzold	Germany
Milk	Süt	Semih Kaplanoglu	Turkey, France, Germany
The Other One	L’Autre	Patrick Mario Bernard, Pierre Trividic	France
Paper Soldier	Бумажный солдат	Aleksei German	Russia
A Perfect Day	Un giorno perfetto	Ferzan Özpetek	Italy
Plastic City	荡寇	Yu Lik-wai	Brazil, China, China（Hong Kong）, Japan
Ponyo	崖の上のポニョ	Hayao Miyazaki	Japan
Rachel Getting Married		Jonathan Demme	United States
The Seed of Discord	Il seme della discordia	Pappi Corsicato	Italy
The Sky Crawlers	スカイ·クロラ	Mamoru Oshii	Japan
Teza	ጤዛ	Haile Gerima	Ethiopia, Germany, France
This Night	Nuit de Chien	Werner Schroeter	France, Germany, Portugal
Vegas: Based on a True Story		Amir Naderi	United States
The Wrestler		Darren Aronofsky	United States, France

Highlighted title indicates the Golden Lion winner.

Out of Competition

New works by directors who have been honored in past festivals, as well as movies shown in the midnight time band. ^[12]

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production country
Feature films
35 Shots of Rum	35 Rhums	Claire Denis	France, Germany
The Beaches of Agnès	Les Plages d'Agnes	Agnès Varda	France
Burn After Reading (opening film)		Joel and Ethan Coen	United States
Embodiment of Evil	Encarnação do Demônio	Jose Mojica Marins	Brazil
Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit	ギララの逆襲／洞爺湖サミット危機一発	Minoru Kawasaki	Japan
Puccini and the Girl	Puccini e la fanciulla	Paolo Benvenuti	Italy
Queens of Langkasuka	ปืนใหญ่จอมสลัด	Nonzee Nimibutr	Thailand
Shirin	شیرین	Abbas Kiarostami	Iran
Vinyan		Fabrice Du Welz	France, United Kingdom, Belgium
Short films
Do Visível ao Invisível		Manoel de Oliveira	Brazil, Portugal
Cry Me a River	河上的爱情	Jia Zhangke	China, Spain, France
Vicino al Colosseo c’è Monti		Mario Monicelli	Italy
Special Event
Yuppi du		Adriano Celentano	Italy
Events
Bajo el signo de las sombras (1984)		Ferrán Alberich	Spain
Bicycle Thieves (1948)	Ladri di biciclette	Vittorio De Sica	Italy
Cairo Station (1958)	باب الحديد	Youssef Chahine	Egypt, France
Life in Shadows (1947)	Vida en Sombras	Lorenzo Llbobet Gracia	Spain
Orfeus 9 (1975)	Orfeo 9	Tito Schipa Jr.	Italy
La rabbia di Pasolini (2008)		Pier Paolo Pasolini, Giuseppe Bertolucci	Italy
Takadanobaba Duel (1937)	Kettô Takadanobaba	Masahiro Makino, Hiroshi Inagaki	Japan
Tutto è musica (1963)		Domenico Modugno	Italy
Nel blu dipinto di blu - Volare (1959)		Piero Tellini

Horizons (Orizzonti)

The following films were selected for the Horizons ( Orizzonti ) section: ^[13]

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production country
In Competition
The First Day of Winter	Il primo giorno d’inverno	Mirko Locatelli	Italy
Goodbye Solo		Ramin Bahrani	United States
The Herb of the Rat	A Erva do Rato	Julio Bressane	Brazil
I'm Gonna Explode	Voy a explotar	Gerardo Naranjo	Mexico
Jay		Francis Xavier Pasion	Philippines
Un Lac		Philippe Grandrieux	France
Melancholia		Lav Diaz	Philippines
Pa-ra-da		Marco Pontecorvo	Italy, France, Romania
Parc		Arnaud des Pallières	France
Perfect Life	完美生活	Emily Tang	China, China（Hong Kong）
Khastegi	خستگی	Bahman Motamedian	Iran
Wild Field	Дикое поле	Mikheil Kalatozishvili	Russia
Zero Bridge		Tariq Tapa	India, United States
Documentaries
Below Sea Level		Gianfranco Rosi	Italy, United States
L'Exil et le royaume		Andreο Schtakleff, Jonathan Le Fourn	France
Los Herederos		Eugenio Polgovsky	Mexico
In Paraguay		Ross McElwee	United States
Puisque nous sommes nés		Jean-Pierre Duret, Andréa Santana	France, Brazil
Women		Huang Wenhai	China, Switzerland
Z32		Avi Mograbi	Israel, France
Horizons Events
Antonioni su Antonioni		Carlo Di Carlo	Italy
La fabbrica dei tedeschi		Mimmo Calopresti
Soltanto un nome nei titoli di testa		Daniele Di Biasio
ThyssenKrupp Blues		Pietro Balla, Monica Repetto
Valentino: The Last Emperor		Matt Tyrnauer	United States
Venezia '68		Antonello Sarno, Steve Della Casa	Italy
Verso Est		Laura Angiulli	Italy, Bosnia

Highlighted titles indicate the Horizons Awards for Best Film and Best Documentary respectively.

Short Film Competition (Corto Cortissimo)

The following films were selected for the Short film competition (Corto Cortissimo) section: ^[14]

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production country
In competition
1937		Giacomo Gatti, Francesco Carrozzini	United States, Italy, France
The Altruists	De onbaatzuchtigen	Koen Dejaegher	Belgium
Ashes Engagement	Noces de cendre	Pierre Eden Simon	Belgium
The Butcher’s Shop		Philip Haas	United States
Corpus/Corpus		Christophe Loizillon	France
The Dinner	Vacsora	Karchi Perlmann	Hungary
Every Breath You Take	Vdih (working title)	Igor Sterk	Slovenia
I Don't Dream in German	Ich träume nicht auf Deutsch	Ivana Lalovic	Switzerland, Bosnia and Herzegovina
I’m in Away from Here		Catriona MacInnes	United Kingdom
Land and Bread	Tierra y Pan	Carlos Armella	Mexico
Lies	Lögner	Jonas Odell	Sweden
Mine	我的	Liu Hui	China
Sand	Zand	Joost Van Ginkel	Netherlands
The Second Coming	Teine tulemine	Tanel Toom	Estonia
The Stars Don't Twinkle in Outer Space		Peter Thwaites	United Kingdom
Ten	Dix	Bif	France, United Kingdom
We Who Stayed Behind	Vi der blev tilbage	Martin de Thurah	Denmark
When I’m 20	Khi toi 20	Dang Di Phan	Vietnam
Out of competition
Eve (Opening film)		Natalie Portman	United States
Jarred(Closing film)		Martin Gaiss
Alba		Giorgia Farina	Italy
Il colore della Bassa		Giuseppe Morandi
Un canto lontano		Alberto Momo
Managua Boxing		Frediana Fornari

Highlighted title indicates Lion for Best Short Film winner.

These Phantoms: Italian Cinema Rediscovered (1946-1975)

Retrospective screenings and restorations. Special mono-graphic sessions dedicated to the "secret story of Italian cinema". This is the fifth part of the retrospective, initiated at the 61st edition of the festival.

English title	Original title	Director(s)
Fiction
Agostino (1962)		Mauro Bolognini
Arcana (1972)		Giulio Questi
The Basilisks (1963)	I basilischi	Lina Wertmüller
La bella di Lodi (1963)		Mario Missiroli
City of Pain (1949)	La città dolente	Mario Bonnard
The City Stands Trial (1952)	Processo alla città	Luigi Zampa
Difficult Years (1948)	Anni difficili	Luigi Zampa
The Doll That Took the Town (1956)	La donna del giorno	Francesco Maselli
The Earth Cries Out (1949)	Il grido della terra	Duilio Coletti
Fire! (1968)	Fuoco!	Gian Vittorio Baldi
Flashback (1969)		Raffaele Andreassi
A Girl... and a Million (1962)	La cuccagna	Luciano Salce
Leoni al sole (1961)		Vittorio Caprioli
Letter at Dawn (1948)	Una lettera all’alba	Giorgio Bianchi
A New World (1964)	Un monde nouveau	Vittorio De Sica
Oh, Grandmother's Dead (1969)	Toh è Morta la Nonna	Mario Monicelli
Opiate '67 (1963)	I Mostri	Dino Risi
Our Lady of the Turks (1968)	Nostra Signora dei Turchi	Carmelo Bene
Paris, My Love (1962)	Parigi o cara	Vittorio Caprioli
Pelle Viva		Giuseppe Fina
Revenge (1946)	Un uomo ritorna	Max Neufeld
The Sky Is Red (1950)	Il cielo è rosso	Claudio Gora
Smog (1963)		Franco Rossi
Violent Life (1962)	Una vita violenta	Paolo Heusch, Brunello Rondi
The White Sheik (1952)	Lo Sceicco Bianco	Federico Fellini
Documentaries and shorts
E il Casanova di Fellini? (1975)		Gianfranco Angelucci, Liliana Betti
Italia proibitac (1963)		Enzo Biagi
La Forza e la Ragione (1971)		Roberto Rossellini
Mysteries of Rome (1963)	I misteri di Roma	(collective film)
Provini per "Il padre selvaggio" (1962) [15]		Pier Paolo Pasolini
Spot Banca di Roma (1992)		Federico Fellini

Autonomous sections

Venice International Film Critics' Week

The following films were selected for the 23rd International Film Critics' Week: ^[16]

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production country
In competition
The Apprentice	L'apprenti	Samuel Collardey	France
Cucumber	Huanggua / Qing gua	Zhou Yaowu	China
Kabuli Kid		Barmak Akram	France, Afghanistan
Mid-August Lunch	Pranzo di ferragosto	Gianni Di Gregorio	Italy
Nightguards	Čuvari noći	Namik Kabil	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sell Out!		Yeo Joonhan	Malaysia
Two Lines	Iki Çizgi	Selim Evci	Turkey
Out of competition
Cold Lunch (Opening film)	Lønsj	Eva Sørhaug	Norway
Pinuccio Lovero - Sogno di una morte di mezza estate(opening film)		Pippo Mezzapesa	Italy

Highlighted title indicates the Lion Of The Future winner.

Venice Days

The following films were selected for the 5th edition of Venice Days (Giornate Degli Autori) autonomous section: ^{[17] [18]}

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production country
In competition
One Day in a Life	Un altro pianeta	Stefano Tummolini	Italy
Broken Lines		Sallie Aprahamian	United Kingdom
Machan		Uberto Pasolini	Sri Lanka, Italy, Germany
The Visitor	Muukalainen	Jukka-Pekka Valkeapää	Finland
Nowhere Man	(N)iemand	Patrice Toye	Belgium
Hooked	Pescuit sportiv	Adrian Sitaru	Romania
Landscape No. 2	Pokrajina št. 2	Vinko Möderndorfer	Slovenia
Scratch	Rysa	Michał Rosa	Poland
A Week Alone	Una semana solos	Celina Murga	Argentina
Stella		Sylvie Verheyde	France
The Country Teacher	Venkovský učitel	Bohdan Sláma	Czech Republic
Portraits (documentaries)
Che saccio		Camille d'Arcimoles	Italy
Il passato è il mio bastone		Flavia Mastrella, Antonio Rezza
Villa degli Autori – Open Space
Adius Piero Ciampi e altre storie		Ezio Alovisi	Italy
Emilia Galotti: dal Settecento ad oggi		Alessandro Berdini
Lo stato d’eccezione		Germano Maccioni
Un paese diverso		Silvio Soldini, Giorgio Garini

Official Awards

The following Official Awards were conferred at the 65th edition: ^[19]

In Competition (Venezia 65)

• Golden Lion: The Wrestler by Darren Aronofsky
• Silver Lion for Best Director: Aleksei German for Paper Soldier
• Special Jury Prize: Teza by Haile Gerima
• Volpi Cup for Best Actor: Silvio Orlando for Giovanna's Father
• Volpi Cup for Best Actress: Dominique Blanc for The Other One
• Marcello Mastroianni Award: Jennifer Lawrence for Burning Plain
• Golden Osella for Best Cinematography: Alisher Khamidhodjaev and Maxim Drozdov for Paper Soldier
• Golden Osella for Best Screenplay: Haile Gerima for Teza
• Special Lion: Werner Schroeter

Horizons ( Orizzonti )

• Best Film: Melancholia by Lav Diaz
• Best Documentary: Below Sea Level by Gianfranco Rosi
  • Special Mention: Un Lac by Philippe Grandrieux & Women by Huang Wenhai

Short Film Competition (Corto Cortissimo)

• Lion for Best Short Film: Tierra y Pan by Carlos Armella ^[20]
  • Special Mention: Vacsora by Karchi Perlmann
• U.I.P. Award for Best European Short: De onbaatzuchtigen by Koen Dejaegher

Luigi De Laurentis Award For a Debut Film

• Mid-August Lunch by Gianni Di Gregorio

Independent Sections Awards

The following official and collateral awards were conferred to films of the autonomous sections:

Venice International Film Critics' Week

• Best Film: The Apprentice by Samuel Collardey
• Isvema Award for a debut or second feature film: Mid-August Lunch by Gianni Di Gregorio
• Doc/it Award – Special mention: The Apprentice by Samuel Collardey
• "Altre Visioni" Award: Sell Out! by Yeo Joon Han
• EIUC Human Rights Film Award: Kabuli Kid by Akram Barmak

Venice Days ( Giornate Degli Autori )

• Label Europa Cinemas Award: Machan by Uberto Pasolini
• Christopher D. Smithers Foundation Special Awards: Stella by Sylvie Verheyde
• FEDIC Award: Machan by Uberto Pasolini
• Lina Mangiacapre Award: Stella by Sylvie Verheyde

Independent Awards

The following collateral awards were conferred to films of the official selection: ^[21]

FIPRESCI Award

• Best Film (Main competition): Gabbla by Tariq Teguia ^[22]
• Best Film (Out of competition): Goodbye Solo by Ramin Bahrani

SIGNIS Award

• The Hurt Locker by Kathryn Bigelow
  • Special mention: Vegas: Based on a True Story by Amir Naderi & Teza by Haile Gerima

Francesco Pasinetti Award (SNGCI)

• Best Film: Mid-August Lunch by Gianni Di Gregorio
  • Special Mention: Pa-ra-da by Marco Pontecorvo (Out of competition)
• Best Actor: Silvio Orlando for Giovanna's Father
• Best Actress: Isabella Ferrari for Un giorno perfetto

Doc/it Award – Sicilia Film Commission

• Below Sea Level by Gianfranco Rosi

Leoncino d'oro Agiscuola Award

• Giovanna's Father by Pupi Avati

Queer Lion

• One Day in a Life by Stefano Tummolini

UNICEF Award

• Teza by Haile Gerima

Art Cinema Award

• Dikoe Pole (Wild Field) by Mikheil Kalatozishvili

La Navicella – Venezia Cinema Award

• The Hurt Locker by Kathryn Bigelow

C.I.C.T. UNESCO Enrico Fulchignoni Award

• BirdWatchers by Marco Bechis

Biografilm Lancia Award

• Best Fiction Film: Rachel Getting Married by Jonathan Demme
• Best Documentary: Below Sea Level by Gianfranco Rosi

Nazareno Taddei Award

• Giovanna's Father by Pupi Avati

Don Gnocchi Award

• Pa-ra-da by Marco Pontecorvo
  • Special mention: Ezio Greggio for Giovanna's Father

Future Film Festival Digital Award

• The Sky Crawlers by Mamoru Oshii
  • Special mention: Ponyo by Hayao Miyazaki

Brian Award

• Khastegi by Bahman Motamedian

Lanterna Magica Award (Cgs)

• Pa-ra-da by Marco Pontecorvo

CinemAvvenire, Best Film in Competition

• Vegas: Based on a True Story by Amir Naderi
  • "The circle is not round. Cinema for peace and the richness of diversity" Award: Teza by Haile Gerima

Bastone Bianco Award (Filmcritica)

• Achilles and the Tortoise by Takeshi Kitano

Human Rights Film Network Award

• The Hurt Locker by Kahryn Bigelow

Arca Cinemagiovani Award

• Best Film: The Hurt Locker by Kathryn Bigelow
• Best Italian Film: Mid-August Lunch by Gianni Di Gregorio

Air For Film Fest Award

• Pa-ra-da by Marco Pontecorvo

"Poveri ma belli" Award

• Puccini e la fanciulla by Paolo Benvenuti

Mimmo Rotella Foundation Award

• Ponyo by Hayao Miyazaki

Open Award 2008

• The Butcher's Shop by Philip Haas

References

1. "Venice seeks role as Oscars springboard", Ninemsn, Australia - Aug 23, 2008 Archived 2008-08-25 at the Wayback Machine
2. Venice festival line-up revealed - BBC News - Entertainment, 30 July 2008
3. "PREVIEW: Venice seeks to consolidate role as Oscars springboard" Europe News, By Peter Mayer, Aug 21, 2008 Archived 2008-09-16 at the Wayback Machine
4. Boston Herald, By Stephen Schaefer August 24, 2008
5. "Ermanno Olmi to receive Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement". Archived from the original on 2008-09-16. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
6. "Director finds grace in the common man Critical Appreciation: Ermanno Olmi" Variety, By JAY WEISSBERG, Aug. 22, 2008
7. "The 2000s". 19 April 2010. Retrieved October 8, 2013.
8. "Rappoport to host..." Variety, 8-13-08
9. "Juries for the 2000s". Archived from the original on August 4, 2017. Retrieved October 8, 2013.
10. "65th Venice Film Festival Venezia 65 - Out of Competition". labiennale.org. Archived from the original on 2008-09-14. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
11. Vivarelli, Nick (2008-07-29). "Venice Film Fest announces slate". Variety . Archived from the original on 14 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-30.
12. "65th Venice Film Festival Venezia 65 - Out of Competition". labiennale.org. Archived from the original on 2008-09-15. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
13. "65th Venice Film Festival Orizzonti". labiennale.org. Archived from the original on 2008-09-03. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
14. "65th Venice Film Festival Corto Cortissimo". labiennale.org. Archived from the original on 2008-09-15. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
15. "Provini per "Il padre selvaggio"". cinematografo.it (in Italian). Retrieved 18 May 2018.
16. "23rd International Film Critics' Week". sicvenezia.it. Archived from the original on 7 April 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
17. "Venice Days 2008: 5th edition". venice-days.it. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
18. "Giornate degli Autori - Venice Days". labiennale.org. Archived from the original on 2009-09-05. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
19. "65th Venice Film Festival Official Venezia 65 Awards". labiennale.org. Archived from the original on 2008-09-12. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
20. "65th Venice Film Festival Official Corto Cortissimo Awards". labiennale.org. Archived from the original on 2008-09-09. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
21. "Biennale Cinema 65th Venice Film Festival Collateral Awards". labiennale.org. Archived from the original on 10 September 2008.
22. "FIPRESCI Awards 2012". fipresci.org. Retrieved 21 April 2018.

External links

• Official website
• Venice Film Festival 2008 Awards on IMDb