The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the "Big Five" International film festivals worldwide, which include the Big Three European Film Festivals, alongside the Toronto Film Festival in Canada and the Sundance Film Festival in the United States.These festivals are internationally renowned for giving creators the artistic freedom to express themselves through film. In 1951, FIAPF formally accredited the festival.
Ilya Andreyevich Khrzhanovsky is a Russian-born film director, screenwriter, film producer and member of the European Film Academy. His father Andrei Khrzhanovsky is one of the top Russian animation directors, and his mother Mariya Neyman, a philologist and script editor. He is the grandson of artist and actor Yury Khrzhanovsky (1905—1987).
Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!! is a 2009 comedy film directed, co-written, and produced by Evgeny Afineevsky and starring Lainie Kazan, Saul Rubinek, Vincent Pastore, John Lloyd Young, Jai Rodriguez, Bruce Vilanch, Fred Swink and Carmen Electra. The theme song, "The Word Is Love" was written by Desmond Child and performed by Lulu. "The Word is Love" was contending for nominations in the Original Song category for the 82nd Academy Awards.
Gisella Marengo is an italian actress and producer. Her acting portfolio includes roles in acclaimed projects such as "La sconosciuta," by Giuseppe Tornatore Third Person by Paul Haggis. Transitioning into production, Marengo produced projects such as "The Humbling," starring Al Pacino, Blackbird," featuring Susan Sarandon and Kate Winslet and the acclaimed documentary "Ennio" directed by in Giuseppe Tornatore.
Mykhailo Vitaliyovych Havryliuk is a Ukrainian public figure. He participated in the 2014 Euromaidan protests as a Cossack of the Fourth Maidan Self-Defense Hundred, and was publicly tortured by Berkut officers in January 2014.
Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom is a 2015 documentary film directed by Evgeny Afineevsky, written by Den Tolmor about the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine from 21 November 2013 to 23 February 2014.
Den Tolmor is a Moldova-born American film producer, director, and writer, whose work includes feature films, television series, and documentaries. Tolmor is best known for producing Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom, a 2015 documentary film about the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine in the winter of 2013 and 2014, which earned him an Oscar Nomination for Best Documentary Feature and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in the Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking category in 2016. Throughout his career, Tolmor has frequently collaborated with Oscar-nominated Israeli-American director Evgeny Afineevsky, also producing the 2017 documentary film Cries from Syria about the Syrian civil war. Narrated by Helen Mirren, the film was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival where it premiered in 2017 and was acquired by HBO. Tolmor produced Francesco, a 2020 documentary film about Pope Francis that tells the story of hope inside the darkness of our times. Righetto, Tolmor's most recent feature film, entered pre-production in Italy in 2020.
Evgeny Mikhailovich Afineevsky is an Israeli-American film director, producer and cinematographer. He has an Academy Award nomination and Emmy nominations for his documentary Winter on Fire. Afineevsky resides in the United States.
Cries from Syria is a 2017 documentary film about the Syrian Civil War, directed by Evgeny Afineevsky, and acquired by HBO. It contains video shot by Syrians with and interviews with guerilla fighters, activists, journalists, defected military men, and refugees, some that are children.
Atlantis is a 2019 Ukrainian dystopian post-apocalyptic film directed by Valentyn Vasyanovych. It tells the story of a former soldier struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder in a near-future Ukraine, following a war with Russia.
Francesco is a 2020 American documentary film, directed and produced by Evgeny Afineevsky. It describes the life and teaching of Pope Francis.
Reflection is a Ukrainian drama film directed by Valentyn Vasyanovych. Its world premiere took place on 6 September 2021 at the 78th Venice International Film Festival, where it was selected to compete for the Golden Lion. It was scheduled to have a wide theatrical release in Ukraine in 2022.
Writing with Fire is a 2021 Indian documentary film directed by filmmakers Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas about the journalists running the Dalit women led newspaper Khabar Lahariya, as they shift from 14-years of print to digital journalism using smartphones. It is the first Indian feature documentary to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is a 2022 American biographical documentary film about photographer, artist, and activist Nan Goldin. The film is produced, co-edited and directed by Laura Poitras, and tackles Goldin's life thought her advocacy during the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 80's, and her fight against the Sackler family for their role in the current opioid epidemic in the United States. Poitras, a long-time friend and fan, stated that "Nan's art and vision has inspired my work for years, and has influenced generations of filmmakers."
The 60th New York Film Festival took place from September 30 to October 16, 2022. Noah Baumbach's White Noise was selected to be the Opening Night film of the festival, while Laura Poitras' documentary All the Beauty and the Bloodshed was chosen to be NYFF's Centerpiece. Elegance Bratton's 47th Toronto International Film Festival premiere movie, The Inspection, was selected to be New York Film Festival's closing film, while James Gray's 75th Cannes Film Festival premiered movie, Armageddon Time, was selected to be the festival's celebration movie for its 60th anniversary.
The Hanging Sun is a 2022 Italian-British noir thriller film directed by Francesco Carrozzini. It is an adaptation of the 2015 novel Midnight Sun by Jo Nesbø.
Bobi Wine: The People's President, previously titled Bobi Wine: Ghetto President, is a 2022 Ugandan-British-American documentary film written and directed by Christopher Sharp and Moses Bwayo. It chronicles the presidential campaign of popular Ugandian singer Bobi Wine against long-ruling regime leader Yoweri Museveni. It premiered out of competition at the 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival. At the 96th Academy Awards, it was nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Film.
In Viaggio is a 2022 Italian documentary film written and directed by Gianfranco Rosi. A chronicle of the international travels of Pope Francis, it premiered out of competition at the 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival.
Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy is a 2022 American documentary film, written, directed, and produced by Nancy Buirski. It is loosely based and inspired by Shooting Midnight Cowboy: Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark Classic by Glenn Frankel.
Andrii Ivanovych Dubchak is a Ukrainian photographer, videographer, photojournalist, and war correspondent. Dubchak is the founder and director of the independent reporting media outlet Donbas Frontliner.
