On September 1st the 67th Venice Film Festival (Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica) started. It is one of the most prestigious film festival and the world oldest (first edition was in 1932) and will last until September 11.

The aim of the Festival is to raise awareness and promote all the various aspects of international cinema in all its forms: as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and tolerance. The Festival includes retrospectives and homages to major figures as a contribution towards raising awareness of the history of cinema.

The opening movie is the world premiere of Black Swan from American director Darren Aronofsky starring  Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder.

Director  Quentin Tarantino is the head of the international jury that wil decide the winner of the Leone d’oro (Golden Lion, symbol of the city of Venice), one of the three European top film recognitions together with the Golden Palm of the Cannes festival and the Golden Bear of the Berlin festival.

The line-up features numerous American films (six in competition alone) and Italian titles (four in competition, 24 overall) and some of Europe’s top names.

Movies in competition

Black Swan, Opening Night Film (dir. Darren Aronofsky – U.S.) Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder

La Pecora Nera, (dir. Ascanio Celestini – Italy) Ascanio Celestini, Giorgio Tirabassi, Maya Sansa

Somewhere, (dir. Sofia Coppola – U.S.) Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning, Benicio Del Toro, Michelle Monaghan, Laura Chiatti, Simona Ventura

Happy Few, (dir. Antony Cordier – France) Marina Fois, Elodie Bouchez, Roschdy Zem, Nicolas Duvauchelle

Essential Killing, (dir. Jerzy Skolimowski – Poland, Norway, Hungary, Ireland) Vincent Gallo, Emmanuelle Seigner

The Solitude of Prime Numbers, (dir. Saverio Costanzo – Italy, Germany, France) Alba Rohrwacher, Luca Marinelli, Filippo Timi, Isabella Rossellini, Maurizio Donadoni

Silent Souls, (dir. Aleksei Fedorchenko – Russia) Igor Sergeyev, Yuriy Tsurilo, Yuliya Aug, Victor Sukhorukov

Promises Written in Water, (dir. Vincent Gallo – U.S.) Vincent Gallo, Delfine Bafort, Sage Stallone, Lisa Love

Road to Nowhere, (dir. Monte Hellman – U.S.) Shannyn Sossamon, Dominique Swain, John Diehl, Fabio Testi

Balada Triste de Trompeta, (dir. Alex de la Iglesia – Spain, France) Carmen Maura, Carolina Bang, Santiago Segura, Antonio de la Torre, Fernando Guillen-Cuervo

Venus Noir, (dir. Abdellatif Kechiche – France) Yahima Torres, Olivier Gourmet, André Jacobs

Post Mortem, (dir. Pablo Larrain – Chile, Mexico, Germany) Alfredo Castro, Antonia Zegers

Barney’s Version, (dir. Richard J. Lewis – Canada, Italy) Dustin Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Rosamund Pike, Minnie Driver

We Believed, (dir. Mario Martone – Italy, France) Luigi Lo Cascio, Valerio Binasco, Toni Servillo, Luca Zingaretti, Michele Riondino, Francesca Inaudi, Anna Bonaiuto

La Passione, (dir. Carlo Mazzacurati – Italy) Silvio Orlando, Giuseppe Battiston, Corrado Guzzanti, Cristiana Capotondi, Stefania Sandrelli, Kasia Smutniak

13 Assassins, (dir. Takashi Miike – Japan) Kôji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada, Yusuke Iseya, Goro Inagaki

Potiche, (dir. Francois Ozon – France) Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu, Fabrice Luchini, Karin Viard, Judith Godrèche, Jérémie Régnier

Meek’s Cutoff, (dir. Kelly Reichardt – U.S.) Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Will Patton, Zoe Kazan, Paul Dano, Shirley Henderson

Miral, (dir. Julian Schnabel – U.S., France, Italy, Israel) Freida Pinto, Hiam Abbass, Willem Dafoe, Yasmine Al Masri, Vanessa Redgrave

Norwegian Wood, (dir. Tran Anh Hung – Japan) Kenichi Matsuyama, Rinko Kikuchi, Kiko Mizuhara, Kengo Kora, Reika Kirishima

Attenberg, (dir. Athina Rachel Tsangari – Greece) Ariane Labed, Vangelis Mourikis, Evangelia Randou, Yorgos Lanthimos

Detective Dee and the Mystery of Phantom Flame, (dir. Tsui Hark – China) Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Li Bingbing, Tony Leung, Ka Fai

Three, (dir. Tom Tykwer – Germany) Sophie Rois, Sebastian Schipper, Devid Striesow


Out of Competition Line up:

That Girl in Yellow Boots, (India) 
Director: Anurag Kashyap; Cast: Kalki Koechlin, Naseeruddin Shah, Prashant Prakash

I’m Still Here: the Lost Year of Joaquin Phoenix, (USA)
Director: Casey Affleck; Cast: Joaquin Phoenix

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen, (China/Hong Kong) 
Director: Andrew Lau; Cast: Donnie Yen, Shu Qi, Anthony Wong, Huang Bo

A Letter To Elia (USA) 
Director: Martin Scorsese

Machete, (USA)
Director: Robert Rodriguez; Cast: Danny Trejo, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Robert De Niro, Steven Seagal, Don Johnson, Lindsay Lohan

Passione, (Italy)
Director: John Tuturro

Reign of Assassins, (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong) 
Director: John Woo and Su Chao-Pin; Cast: Michelle Yeoh, Woo-sung Jung, Shawn Yue, Barbie Hsu

Showtime, (China, Hong Kong) 
Director: Stanley Kwan; Cast: Carina Lau, Hu Jun, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Huang Lei

Sorelle Mai, (Italy)
Director: Marco Bellocchio; Cast:Alba Rohrwacher, Donatella Finocchiaro, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, Elena Bellocchio, Gianni Schicchi Gabrieli, Letizia Bellocchio, Maria Luisa Bellocchio, Alberto Bellocchio, Irene Baratta, Valentina Bardi, Silvia Ferretti, Giovanna Berretta, and Anna Bianchi

The Tempest, (USA)
Director: Julie Taymor; Cast: Helen Mirren, Djimon Hounsou, Russell Brand, Alan Cumming, David Strathairn

The Town, (USA) 
Director: Ben Affleck; Cast: Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Blake Likely