THE TERMINAL OPENS
VENICE FILM PARTY
Copyright 2004 www.tombraiderchronicles.com
[ September 1st 2004 ]
The Venice
Film Festival will be opened by Hollywood royalty
tonight, as Oscar-winners Tom Hanks and Steven
Spielberg screen their blockbuster The Terminal.
The film, which starts an 11-day celebration of
film in the Italian city, tells the story of an
Eastern European traveller who gets stuck in an
airport - but has the good fortune to run into
Catherine Zeta-Jones. As well as the cast of The
Terminal, stars expected to attend the festival
include Robert De Niro, Angelina Jolie, Will Smith,
John Travolta and Al Pacino.
Before
his arrival, Spielberg eulogized the glorious
lagoon city, saying it helps people rediscover
their sense of wonder. "The festival, the city
and the islands around it are a place rich with
charm where cinema finds a magical setting," he
said in a column published in Corriere della Sera
newspaper. Although American stars may be responsible
for much of the glamour, there will be a more
serious side to the festival, particularly among
among the 21 films jostling for the prestigious
Golden Lion awards.
Mar Adentro,
by Alejandro Amenabar, tells of a paralysed Spaniard's
attempts to end his life. Mike Leigh tells the
story of Vera Drake, an abortionist in 1950s England.
Wim Wenders, a German Director, addresses American
life after the Sept. 11 attacks in Land of Plenty,
and Amos Gitai's Promised Land deals with enslavement
in Israel.
Other
contenders are the Nicole Kidman vehicle Birth,
Mira Nair's adaptation of Thackeray's 19th-century
novel Vanity Fair, Todd Solondz's Palindromes,
L'Intrus, by Claire Denis of France, and the Italian
Gianni Amelio's Le Chiavi di Casa. Out-of-competition
pictures include The Manchurian Candidate, Spike
Lee's She Hate Me, Gregg Araki's Mysterious Skin
and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, starring
Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie.
Big productions
include the three-director picture Eros, made
by Michelangelo Antonioni, Steven Soderbergh and
Wong Kar-wai, as well as a British-Italian version
of The Merchant of Venice, starring Al Pacino
as Shylock. As well as the mainstream pictures,
dozens of features and shorts will play at sites
around Venice's Lido, the little island where
the festival is held off the centre of the canal
city. The nine-person jury that gives out the
Golden Lions is headed by British director John
Boorman and includes Spike Lee and actresses Scarlett
Johansson and Helen Mirren. The prizes will be
awarded on September 11 at a ceremony hosted by
Sophia Loren.
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