This is the official logo or graphic of the festival this year and I couldn’t find it on google images (!) so I took a photo of a billboard… 🙂 They are big on piracy issues this year here. Digital cinema is also a hot topic. Here are some photos I have taken from the festival so far… No, there aren’t any of anyone famous (yet). I haven’t been going to the press conferences and the journalists have finally figured... Read more

  Monday at the Venice Film Festival September 1   Today is quite warm and humid – but it’s Venice and there is water, water everywhere! I don’t think I mentioned the mosquito mutants that come out at dusk here. They are like flying chiggers and they attack as a mob. Bring OFF if you ever come to Venice (or any part of Italy for that matter….)   Tomorrow is the presentation of the Prix Bresson, a Catholic prize. I... Read more

Today is Sunday, and a bit overcast, hot and humid. Mass is this evening at the parish of Santa Maria Elisabetta right near the hotel. Fr. Dario Vigano, a priest from Rome who works with the Italian Bishops, Conference for communication, just took our jury to lunch at a lovely Italian restaurant on the far end of the Lido island. Neither Peter Malone nor I are fish-eaters so we look in awe over our mounds of prosciutto to the very... Read more

First,   Venice Musings   There is cigarette smoke everywhere.   But you have to give it to the Italians, They will crawl over all kinds of arms and legs to get a seat, talking all the while on a cell phone. No problema!   It is another beautiful day in Venice. Yesterday got a little interesting. I fell in the Pala Lido theater. The steps are uneven and made of rough cement. I should have stayed seated til the... Read more

ROMANCE DE VILA DO CONDE and O VITRAL E A SANTA MORTA By Manuel de Olivera   These two short fims seem to be the fading work of de Olivera .. who is 101 years old and still making movies… because they both lack his usual  brilliant photography and though the poems have religious content, Catholic, that is, they were not so inspiring. Narrated montage…   PUCCINI E LA FANCIULLA   In 1909 … if I got the date right... Read more

NOWHERE MAN   A Belgian film about a man who takes advantage of his neoghbor,s housefire to fake his death and disappear to a remote island where he has bought what he thought was a nice piece of real estate. He has been living in mid.life fear that his beautiful wife will leave him, and is dispirited, disappointed and depressed. He finds that his island paradise is in ruins because some kind of insect had invaded the island and ruined... Read more

AKIRES TO KAME Or ACHILLES AND THE TORTISE   Thursday, August 28th, yesterday, was very interesting!   ACHILLES AND THE TORTISE is a Japanaese film about a young boy who grows up to be an artist, a painter. Although it seems simple, the protagonist is almost devoid of emotion because he is so focused, but he is kindly. He brings an excellent harborscape painting to a gallery owner who kew his father and he gives him all kinds of advice... Read more

JERICHOW   Wednesday, August 27th finished off with the German film JERICHOW, the first film in competition of which there are 21 all together plus tons of other films. I will let you check www.imdb.com … the Internet Movie Database for fimmaker details, or you can visit www.labiennale.org the Venice film Festival,s official site.   JERICHOW is a German film about a dishonorably discharged soldier who had served in Afghanistan, a Turkish man who owns a chain of snack shops... Read more

BURN AFTER READING is opening the festival tonight, but as I mentioned, jury members and the press were able to see it this afternoon.     BURN AFTER READING is very funny. It is a convoluted caper that combines marriage, politics, and everyday people who get caught up in a fabricated conspiracy. I think the Coen Bros. were sitting around one rainy day with nothing to do and they let their imaginations go into ,free range, mode. They get a little... Read more

65th Venice Film Festival  Journal 65 Mostra Internazionale d-arte Cinematografica August 27, 2008               Greetings one and all from Venice, Italy. It is about 90f and the sky is as blue as blue can be. The Adriatic Ocean is right across the street and the few peeks I got of it today show it reflecting the dome above beautifully.   Ear Plugs             I arrived yesterday at the Marco Polo Airport right on time at 9.30am, Tuesday, August 25,... Read more