The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival is the world's oldest film festival and one of the "Big Three" film festivals, alongside the Cannes Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival. The Big Three are internationally acclaimed for giving creators the artistic freedom to express themselves through film. In 1951, FIAPF formally accredited the festival.
Andrew Niccol is a New Zealand screenwriter, producer, and director. He wrote and directed Gattaca (1997), Simone (2002), Lord of War (2005), In Time (2011), The Host (2013), and Good Kill (2014). He wrote and co-produced The Truman Show, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and won him the BAFTA Award in the same category. His films tend to explore social, cultural and political issues, as well as artificial realities or simulations.
Tsai Ming-liang is a Taiwanese filmmaker who has written and directed eleven feature films and has also directed many short films and television films. Tsai is one of the most celebrated "Second New Wave" film directors of Taiwanese cinema. His films have been acclaimed worldwide and have won numerous awards at film festivals. In 2015, he won Best Director at the Taipei Film Awards for the short film No No Sleep. Tsai has been referred to as an auteur.
Roy Arne Lennart Andersson is a Swedish film director, best known for A Swedish Love Story (1970) and his "Living trilogy," which includes Songs from the Second Floor (2000), You, the Living (2007) and A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (2014). Songs from the Second Floor, more than any other, cemented and exemplified his personal style – which is characterized by long takes, absurdist comedy, stiff caricaturing of Swedish culture and Felliniesque grotesque. He has spent much of his professional life working on advertisement spots, directing over 400 commercials and two short films; directing six feature-length films in six decades. His 2014 film A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence won the Golden Lion award at 71st Venice International Film Festival, making Andersson the only Swedish director and the second Nordic director to win the award in the history of the festival, after Danish Carl Theodor Dreyer won in 1955. Andersson is considered one of the most important living European film directors, having four films officially submitted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film as Swedish entries.
Benoît Jacquot is a French film director and screenwriter who has had a varied career in European cinema.
The 63rd annual Venice International Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, was opened on 30 August 2006 with Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia and was closed on 9 September 2006. Host of the event was Italian actress Isabella Ferrari. During the festival, retrospectives were held on the one hundredth anniversary of the births of three major Italian directors: Roberto Rossellini, Mario Soldati and Luchino Visconti. The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to American director David Lynch. All the films running the contest were shown for the first time as world premiere in the festival history since the Second World War.
Xiaolu Guo born 1973) is a Chinese-born British novelist, memoirist and film-maker, who explores migration, alienation, memory, personal journeys, feminism, translation and transnational identities.
The 64th annual Venice International Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, opened on 29 August 2007, with Joe Wright's Atonement and closed 8 September 2007. Host of the event was Italian actress Ambra Angiolini. The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to American director Tim Burton. Once again all the films running the contest were shown for the first time as world premieres in keeping with the festival tradition since the Second World War.
Joshua Lincoln Oppenheimer is an American-born British film director based in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is known for his Oscar-nominated films The Act of Killing (2012) and The Look of Silence (2014), Oppenheimer was a 2014 recipient of the MacArthur fellowship and a 1997 Marshall Scholar.
The 61st annual Venice International Film Festival was held between 1 and 11 September 2004. The festival opened with Steven Spielberg's The Terminal, and closed with Katsuhiro Otomo's Steamboy. The Golden Lion was awarded to the film Vera Drake, directed by Mike Leigh.
Xavier Beauvois is a French actor, film director and screenwriter.
Alba Caterina Rohrwacher is an Italian actress.
The 70th annual Venice International Film Festival took place in Venice, Italy from 28 August to 7 September 2013. American film director William Friedkin was presented with a lifetime achievement award. Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci was the President of the Jury. He was previously the President of the Jury at the 40th edition in 1983. Gravity, directed by Alfonso Cuarón, was the opening film of the festival. Italian actress Eva Riccobono hosted the opening and closing nights of the festival.
The 71st annual Venice International Film Festival took place in Venice, Italy between 27 August to 6 September 2014. The festival opened with Alejandro G. Iñárritu's film Birdman, and closed with Ann Hui's drama film The Golden Era. Italian actress Luisa Ranieri hosted the opening and closing nights of the festival. The Swedish film A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, directed by Roy Andersson, won the Golden Lion, and Joshua Oppenheimer's The Look of Silence won the Grand Jury Prize.
The 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival, the 39th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held in Canada from 4–14 September 2014. David Dobkin's film The Judge, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall was the opening night film. A Little Chaos, a British period drama directed by Alan Rickman and starring Kate Winslet closed the festival. More films for each section were announced on 12 August, with the line-up completed on 19 August. A total of 393 films were shown, including 143 world premieres. The first Friday was dubbed "Bill Murray Day", as festival organisers dedicated a day to the actor by screening a select number of his films for free.
Leopardi is a 2014 Italian drama film directed by Mario Martone. It was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 71st Venice International Film Festival. It was also screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.
Far from Men is a 2014 French drama film directed by David Oelhoffen. Set in French Colonial Algeria, the narrative follows Daru, a reclusive, pacifist, Algerian-born French teacher of Spanish descent tasked with delivering Mohammad, a docile Algerian murder suspect, into the hands of French authorities as the Algerian War of Independence ignites.
Black Souls is a 2014 Italian-French crime drama film directed by Francesco Munzi. It was nominated for the Golden Lion at the 71st Venice International Film Festival. It was also selected to be screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.
Carl-Johan Westregård is a Swedish film director and visual effects artist. His short film Cams premiered at the 71st Venice International Film Festival and was awarded the Special Jury Prize in the Lab Competition of the 2015 Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.
Roberto Minervini is an Italian film director, screenwriter, photographer, and Music Producer. His recent films, focusing on American rural life and marginalized populations, have been praised for their "disarming directness." Minervini's films are notable for their use of both documentary observation and dramatized elements, sometimes in combination.
