1.
Lido di Venezia
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The Lido, or Venice Lido, is an 11-kilometre long sandbar in Venice, northern Italy, it is home to about 20,000 residents. The Venice Film Festival takes place at the Lido every September, the island is home to three settlements. The Lido itself, in the north, is home to the Film Festival, the Grand Hotel des Bains, the Venice Casino, malamocco, in the centre, was the first and, for a long time, the only settlement. It was at one home to the Doge of Venice. Alberoni at the end is home to the golf course. Frequent public buses run the length of the island along the main street, at least half the Adriatic side of the island is a sandy beach, much of it belonging to the various hotels that house the summer tourists. These include the renowned Excelsior and the Des Bains, setting for Thomas Manns classic novel Death in Venice and these beaches are private, though towards the northern and southern ends of the island there are two enormous public beaches. The Adriatic Sea is fairly clean and warm, ideal for children, the heart of the island is the Gran Viale Santa Maria Elisabetta, a wide street approximately 700 m long that leads from the lagoon and vaporetto stop on one side across to the sea on the other. It houses hotels, shops, and tourist-centric restaurants, Venezia Lido, a public airport suitable for smaller aircraft, is found on the NE end of Lido di Venezia. It has a 1000 m grass runway, in 1177, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Pope Alexander III signed the Treaty of Venice here following Fredericks defeat at the Battle of Legnano in 1176. In 1857, the first sea bathing facility was set up and this was the first time that anything like it had been seen in Europe and soon, the lido became The Lido, a byword for a beach resort. The Lidos success and the fascination of Venice nearby made the Lido famous worldwide, Lido was also famous for its brothels in the first half of the 20th century. Major beach facilities, hotels and private summer villas have remained the heart of an island that is known as the Golden Island. In the 1960s, the improving post-war Italian economy created a boom in the island. The term Lido, originally coming from this island, is used to refer to types of outdoor swimming pools especially in Great Britain. It also forms the first part of many names in coastal locations throughout Italy. The British travel writer Robin Saikia has written a history, The Venice Lido, charting the islands story from its early beginnings to the present day. Satellite image of the Venetian Lido from Google Maps Venice Lido Beaches Lido di Venezia The Venice Lido by Robin Saikia
2.
Venice
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Venice is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is situated across a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and these are located in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay that lies between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Parts of Venice are renowned for the beauty of their settings, their architecture, the lagoon and a part of the city are listed as a World Heritage Site. In 2014,264,579 people resided in Comune di Venezia, together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, with a total population of 2.6 million. PATREVE is a metropolitan area without any degree of autonomy. The name is derived from the ancient Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BC, the city was historically the capital of the Republic of Venice. Venice has been known as the La Dominante, Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic, City of Water, City of Masks, City of Bridges, The Floating City, and City of Canals. The City State of Venice is considered to have been the first real international financial center which gradually emerged from the 9th century to its peak in the 14th century and this made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history. It is also known for its several important artistic movements, especially the Renaissance period, Venice has played an important role in the history of symphonic and operatic music, and it is the birthplace of Antonio Vivaldi. Venice has been ranked the most beautiful city in the world as of 2016, the name Venetia, however, derives from the Roman name for the people known as the Veneti, and called by the Greeks Eneti. The meaning of the word is uncertain, although there are other Indo-European tribes with similar-sounding names, such as the Celtic Veneti, Baltic Veneti, and the Slavic Wends. Linguists suggest that the name is based on an Indo-European root *wen, so that *wenetoi would mean beloved, lovable, a connection with the Latin word venetus, meaning the color sea-blue, is also possible. The alternative obsolete form is Vinegia, some late Roman sources reveal the existence of fishermen on the islands in the original marshy lagoons. They were referred to as incolae lacunae, the traditional founding is identified with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo on the islet of Rialto — said to have taken place at the stroke of noon on 25 March 421. Beginning as early as AD166 to 168, the Quadi and Marcomanni destroyed the center in the area. The Roman defences were again overthrown in the early 5th century by the Visigoths and, some 50 years later, New ports were built, including those at Malamocco and Torcello in the Venetian lagoon. The tribuni maiores, the earliest central standing governing committee of the islands in the Lagoon, the traditional first doge of Venice, Paolo Lucio Anafesto, was actually Exarch Paul, and his successor, Marcello Tegalliano, was Pauls magister militum. In 726 the soldiers and citizens of the Exarchate rose in a rebellion over the controversy at the urging of Pope Gregory II
3.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
4.
Golden Lion
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The Golden Lion is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the committee and is now regarded as one of the film industrys most distinguished prizes. In 1970, a second Golden Lion was introduced, this is an award for people who have made an important contribution to cinema. The prize was introduced in 1949 as the Golden Lion of Saint Mark, previously, the equivalent prize was the Gran Premio Internazionale di Venezia, awarded in 1947 and 1948. Before that, from 1934 until 1942, the highest awards were the Coppa Mussolini for Best Italian Film, no Golden Lions were awarded between 1969 and 1979. Sixty-eight produced a dramatic fracture with the past,14 French films have been awarded the Golden Lion, more than that of any other nation. However, there is considerable diversity in the winners. Five American filmmakers have won the Golden Lion, with awards for John Cassavetes and Robert Altman, as well as Ang Lee, Darren Aronofsky and Sofia Coppola. The Golden Lion, by contrast, has awarded to ten Asians during the same time period. Ang Lee won the Golden Lion twice within three years during the 2000s, once for an American film and once for a Chinese-language film, zhang Yimou has also won twice. Other Asians to win the Golden Lion since 1980 include Jia Zhangke, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Tsai Ming-liang, Trần Anh Hùng, Takeshi Kitano, Kim Ki-duk, Jafar Panahi, Mira Nair, and Lav Diaz. Russian filmmakers have won the Golden Lion several times, including since the end of the USSR. Still, to date 33 of the 54 winners were European men, since 1949 only four women have ever won the Golden Lion for directing, Mira Nair, Sofia Coppola, German Margarethe von Trotta and Belgiums Agnès Varda. In comparison to the other major Western European festivals, the Berlinales Golden Bear has also awarded to four women. In the history of Cannes, only one woman filmmaker has been awarded the Palme dOr
5.
72nd Venice International Film Festival
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The 72nd annual Venice International Film Festival took place from 2 to 12 September 2015. Alfonso Cuarón served as the President of the Jury for the main competition, a restored version of Federico Fellinis film Amarcord was shown at the festival. The Venezuelan film From Afar by Lorenzo Vigas won the Golden Lion award, everest was selected as the festivals opening night film, while Guan Hus drama film Mr. Six served as the closing night film. Actress and director Elisa Sednaoui hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the festival, the festival honoured Brian De Palma with Glory to the Filmmaker Award and a documentary film titled De Palma by Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow also screened at the festival. Jonathan Demme received the Persol Tribute to Visionary Talent Award, who served as the President of Horizons section jury
6.
Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
7.
Venice Biennale
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The Venice Biennale is an arts organization based in Venice, and also the original and principal exhibition it organizes. The organization changed its name to the Biennale Foundation in 2009, while the exhibition is called the Art Biennale to distinguish it from the organisation. The Art Biennale, a visual art exhibition, is so called as it is held biennially. A year later, the council decreed to adopt a by invitation system, to reserve a section of the Exhibition for foreign artists too, to works by uninvited Italian artists. The first Biennale, I Esposizione Internazionale dArte della Città di Venezia was opened on April 30,1895 by the Italian King and Queen, Umberto I, the first exhibition was seen by 224,000 visitors. In 1910 the first internationally well-known artists were displayed- a room dedicated to Gustav Klimt, a show for Renoir. A work by Picasso was removed from the Spanish salon in the central Palazzo because it was feared that its novelty might shock the public, by 1914 seven pavilions had been established, Belgium, Hungary, Germany, Great Britain, France, and Russia. During World War I, the 1916 and 1918 events were cancelled, in 1920 the post of mayor of Venice and president of the Biennale was split. The new secretary general, Vittorio Pica brought about the first presence of avant-garde art,1922 saw an exhibition of sculpture by African artists. Between the two World Wars, many important modern artists had their work exhibited there, in 1928 the Istituto Storico dArte Contemporanea opened, which was the first nucleus of archival collections of the Biennale. In 1930 its name was changed into Historical Archive of Contemporary Art, in 1933 the Biennale organised an exhibition of Italian art abroad. From 1938, Grand Prizes were awarded in the art exhibition section, during World War II, the activities of the Biennale were interrupted,1942 saw the last edition of the events. The Film Festival restarted in 1946, the Music and Theatre festivals were resumed in 1947, the Art Biennale was resumed in 1948 with a major exhibition of a recapitulatory nature. Peggy Guggenheim was invited to exhibit her famous New York collection,1949 saw the beginning of renewed attention to avant-garde movements in European—and later worldwide—movements in contemporary art. Abstract expressionism was introduced in the 1950s, and the Biennale is credited with importing Pop Art into the canon of art history by awarding the top prize to Robert Rauschenberg in 1964. From 1948 to 1972, Italian architect Carlo Scarpa did a series of interventions in the Biennales exhibition spaces. In 1954 the island San Giorgio Maggiore provided the venue for the first Japanese Noh theatre shows in Europe,1956 saw the selection of films following an artistic selection and no longer based upon the designation of the participating country. The 1957 Golden Lion went to Satyajit Rays Aparajito which introduced Indian cinema to the West,1962 included Arte Informale at the Art Exhibition with Jean Fautrier, Hans Hartung, Emilio Vedova, and Pietro Consagra
8.
Film festival
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A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors, films may be of recent date and, depending upon the festivals focus, can include international and domestic releases. Some festivals focus on a specific film-maker or genre or subject matter, a number of film festivals specialise in short films of a defined maximum length. Film festivals are annual events. Some film historians do not consider Film Festivals as official releases of film, the Venice Film Festival is the oldest major festival. The Melbourne International Film Festival is the largest film festival in the Southern Hemisphere, the San Sebastián International Film Festival is one of the most important and oldest film festivals in Europe. It was at this festival where the worldwide first release of North by Northwest was showed, Raindance Film Festival is the UKs largest celebration of independent film-making, and takes place in London in October. Australias first and longest running festival is the Melbourne International Film Festival. Edinburgh International Film Festival is the longest running festival in Great Britain, North Americas first and longest running short film festival is the Yorkton Film Festival, established in 1947. The first film festival in the United States was the Columbus International Film & Video Festival, also known as The Chris Awards and it was followed four years later by the San Francisco International Film Festival, held in March 1957, which emphasized feature-length dramatic films. The festival played a role in introducing foreign films to American audiences. Films in the first year included Akira Kurosawas Throne of Blood, Film festival dedicated to honoring music in film. Digital feature film began in 2005, along with the worlds first online film festival. Unlike other arts nonprofits, film festivals typically receive few donations from the public and are occasionally organized as nonprofit business associations instead of public charities. Film industry members often have significant curatorial input, and corporate sponsors are given opportunities to promote their brand to festival audiences in exchange for cash contributions, private parties, often to raise investments for film projects, constitute significant fringe events. Larger festivals maintain year-round staffs often engaging in community and charitable projects outside festival season, on the other hand, some festivals—usually those accepting fewer films, and perhaps not attracting as many big names in their audiences as do Sundance and Telluride—require no entry fee. Rotterdam Film Festival, Mumbai Film Festival, and many film festivals in the United States, are examples. The Portland International Film Festival charges a fee, but waives it for filmmakers from the Northwestern United States
9.
Cannes Film Festival
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Founded in 1946, the invitation-only festival is held annually at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès. On 1 July 2014, co-founder and former head of French pay-TV operator Canal+ Pierre Lescure took over as President of the festival, the Board of Directors also appointed Gilles Jacob as Honorary President of the festival. The 2016 Cannes Film Festival took place between 11 and 22 May 2016, australian film director George Miller was the President of the Jury. I, Daniel Blake, directed by British director Ken Loach, in 2017, The Festival de Cannes will celebrate its 70th anniversary edition from May 17 to 28. In 1947, the festival was held as the Festival du film de Cannes, at that time the principle of equality was introduced, with a jury made up of only one representative per country. The festival is now held at the Palais des Festivals, expressly constructed for the occasion, although for its 1949 inaugural the roof was unfinished, the festival was not held in 1948 and 1950 on account of budgetary problems. Although its origins may be attributed in part to the French desire to compete with Autumns Venice Film Festival, in 1955, the Palme dOr was created, replacing the Grand Prix du Festival which had been given until that year. In 1957, Dolores del Rio was the first female member of the jury as a Sélection officielle – Member, in 1959, the Marché du Film was founded, giving the festival a commercial character and facilitating exchanges between sellers and buyers in the film industry. Today it has become the first international platform for film commerce, in 1962, the International Critics Week was born, created by the French Union of Film Critics as the first parallel section of the Cannes Film Festival. Its goal was to showcase first and second works by directors all over the world. In 1965, an hommage was paid to Jean Cocteau after his death, the next year, Olivia de Havilland was named the first female president of the festival. The 1968 festival was halted on 19 May, some directors, such as Carlos Saura and Miloš Forman, had withdrawn their films from the competition. The filmmakers achieved the reinstatement of the President, and they founded the Film Directors Society that same year, during the 1970s, important changes occurred in the Festival. In 1972, Robert Favre Le Bret was named the new President and he immediately introduced an important change in the selection of the participating films. Until that date, the different countries chose which films would represent them in the festival, Bessy created one committee to select French films, and another for foreign films. In 1978, Gilles Jacob assumed the President position, introducing the Caméra dOr award, in 1983, a new, much bigger Palais des Festivals et des Congrès was built to host the Festival. It was nicknamed The Bunker and provoked many reactions against it, in 1984, Pierre Viot replaced Robert Favre Le Bret as President of the Festival. It was not until 1995 that Gilles Jacob created the last section of the Official Selection and its aim was to support the creation of works of cinema in the world and to contribute to the entry of the new scenario writers in the circle of the celebrities
10.
Berlin International Film Festival
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The Berlin International Film Festival, also called the Berlinale, is one of the worlds leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held annually in Berlin, Germany, founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978. With around 300,000 tickets sold and 500,000 admissions it is considered the largest publicly attended film festival based on actual attendance rates. Up to 400 films are shown in sections, representing a comprehensive array of the cinematic world. Around twenty films compete for the called the Golden and Silver Bears. Since 2001 the director of the festival has been Dieter Kosslick, the European Film Market, a film trade fair held simultaneously to the Berlinale, is a major industry meeting for the international film circuit. The trade fair serves distributors, film buyers, producers, financiers, the Berlinale Talent Campus, a week-long series of lectures and workshops, gathers young filmmakers from around the globe. It partners with the festival itself and is considered to be a forum for upcoming artists, the festival, the EFM and other satellite events are attended by around 20,000 professionals from over 130 countries. More than 4200 journalists are responsible for the exposure in over 110 countries. At high-profile feature film premieres, movie stars and celebrities are present at the red carpet, the Berlinale has established a cosmopolitan character integrating art, glamour, commerce and a global media attention. The Berlin International Film Festival was founded in West Berlin in 1951, alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca opened the first Berlinale. Although the film had premiered in 1940, many Germans had been unable to watch it until after the war ended, since 1978 the festival has been celebrated annually in February. The next-to-most recent festival, the 66th Berlinale, was held from 11 February to 21 February 2016, meryl Streep presided over the international jury. Joel and Ethan Coens film Hail, Caesar. was selected to open the festival, the Golden Bear was awarded to the Italian documentary Fire at Sea, directed by Gianfranco Rosi. The 67th Berlin International Film Festival was held February 9 to February 19,2017, the festival is composed of seven different film sections. Films are chosen in each category by a director with the advice of a committee of film experts. Categories include, Competition, comprises feature-length films yet to be released outside their country of origin, films in the Competition section compete for several prizes, including the top Golden Bear for the best film and a series of Silver Bears for acting, writing and production. Panorama, comprises new independent and arthouse films that deal with controversial subjects or unconventional aesthetic styles, films in the category are intended to provoke discussion, and have historically involved themes such as LGBT issues
11.
Giuseppe Volpi
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Giuseppe Volpi, 1st Count of Misurata was an Italian businessman and politician. Count Volpi developed utilities which brought electricity to Venice, northeast Italy, in 1911-1912, he acted as a negotiator in ending the Italo-Turkish War. He was the governor of the colony of Tripolitania from 1921 to until 1925 and he was replaced in July 1928 by Antonio Moscini. He also founded the Venice Film Festival and his son is automobile racing manager Giovanni Volpi
12.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931 film)
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Marchs performance has been much lauded, and earned him his first Academy Award. The film tells the story of Dr. Henry Jekyll, a kind English doctor in Victorian London, one evening, Jekyll attends a party at the home of his fiancée Muriel Carew, the daughter of Brigadier General Sir Danvers Carew. After the other guests have left, Jekyll informs Sir Danvers that, after speaking to Muriel, Sir Danvers sternly refuses Jekylls request. Later, while walking home with his colleague, Dr. John Lanyon, Jekyll spots a bar singer, Ivy Pierson, Jekyll drives the man away and carries Ivy up to her room to attend to her. Ivy begins flirting with Jekyll and feigning injury, but Jekyll fights temptation, Muriel and Sir Danvers leave London for a few months. In the meantime, Jekyll develops a drug that releases the evil side in himself, along with his behavior, Dr. Jekylls appearance changes as well. He transforms into something more menacing and primitive looking, unlike Dr. Jekyll, Hyde has no conscience. Hyde has no restrictions, no boundaries, he is free to do what he pleases, Hyde returns to the music hall where Ivy works, and offers to tend to her financial needs in return for her company. Hyde manipulates Ivy into accompanying him by terrorizing her, being violent and he remains at her boarding house until he finds out that Muriel and her father are returning to London, and leaves Ivy but threatens her that hell be back. On advice from her landlady Mrs. Hawkins, Ivy goes to see Dr. Jekyll, when she arrives, Ivy sees that the celebrated Dr. Jekyll was the same man who saved her from abuse just months before. She breaks down in tears over her situation with Hyde, Jekyll is extremely distraught over the pain that he has caused her and promises Ivy that she will never have to worry about Hyde again. While on his way to a party at the Carews home to celebrate their return, Ivy, who thought she was free of Hyde forever, is terrified when Hyde appears before her. Hyde angrily confronts her about seeing Jekyll and, just before murdering her, reveals that he and Jekyll are one, Hyde escapes and heads back to Jekylls house but his servant Poole refuses to open the door. Desperate, Hyde writes a letter to Lanyon from Jekyll instructing Lanyon to get certain chemicals and have them waiting for him at Lanyons home, when Hyde arrives, Lanyon pulls a gun on him and demands that Hyde take him to Jekyll. Hyde tells Lanyon that Jekyll is safe, but Lanyon doesnt believe him, realizing there is not much time, Hyde drinks the formula in front of Lanyon. Lanyon is shocked to witness the transformation and tells his friend that he has damned his soul for tampering with the laws of God. With Ivys murder, Sir Danvers anger towards him for missing the party and he later goes to the Carews where Sir Danvers coldly rejects his visit but Muriel welcomes him. Jekyll, realizing the monster he really is, tells Muriel that he cannot be with her anymore and he feels that he is already damned and fears that he will harm her
13.
Venice Film Festival
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The film festival is part of the Venice Biennale, which was founded by the Venetian City Council in 1895. The film festival has taken place in late August or early September on the island of the Lido, Venice. Screenings take place in the historic Palazzo del Cinema on the Lungomare Marconi, since its inception the Venice Film Festival has grown into one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world. The 74th Venice International Film Festival is scheduled to be held from 30 August to 9 September 2017, the first edition of the Venice Film Festival was carried out from the 6 to the 21 of August in 1932. The festival began with an idea of the president of the Venice Biennale Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata and Luciano De Feo, with good reason, the festival was considered the first international event of its type, receiving strong support from authorities. This first edition was held on the terrace of the Hotel Excelsior on the Venice Lido, and at that stage it was not a competitive event. The very first film to be shown in the history of the Festival was Rouben Mamoulians Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the second edition was held two years later, from 1 to 20 of August in 1934. For the first time it included a competition, at least 19 countries took part with over 300 accredited journalists. The Mussolini Cup was introduced for best foreign film and best Italian film, other awards were the Great Gold Medals of the National Fascist Association for Entertainment to best actor and actress. The prize for best foreign film went to Robert J. Flahertys Man of Aran and was a confirmation of the taste of the time for auteur documentaries, starting in 1935, the Festival became a yearly event under the direction of Ottavio Croze. The actors award was renamed Volpi Cup, in 1936 an international jury was nominated for the first time and in 1937 the new Cinema Palace, designed by the architect Luigi Quagliata, was inaugurated. The 1940s represent one of the most difficult moments for the review, the conclusion of the Second World War divides the decade in two. Before 1938 political pressures distorted and ruined the festival, in addition, few countries participated and there was an absolute monopoly of institutions and directors that were members of the Rome-Berlin Axis. The festival resumed full speed in 1946, after the war, with the return of normalcy, Venice once again became a great icon of the film world. In 1947 the festival was held at the Doges Palace, a most magnificent backdrop for hosting a record 90 thousand participants, surely it can be considered one of the greatest editions in the history of the festival. For the next twenty years the festival continued its development and expansion in accordance with the plan set in motion after the war. In 1963 the winds of change blow strongly during Luigi Chiarini’s directorship of the festival, during the years of his presidency, Chiarini aspired to renew the spirit and the structures of the festival, pushing for a total reorganization of the entire system. The social and political unrest of 1968 had strong repercussions on the Venice Bienniale, from 1969 to 1979 no prizes were awarded and the festival returned to the non-competitiveness of the first edition
14.
Man of Aran
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Man of Aran is a 1934 Irish fictional documentary film directed by Robert J. Flaherty about life on the Aran Islands off the western coast of Ireland. Some situations are fabricated, such as one scene in which the fishermen are almost lost at sea in a sudden gale. Additionally, the members shown are not actually related, having been chosen from among the islanders for their photogenic qualities. Man of Aran is Flahertys re-creation of culture on the edges of modern society and it is impressive, however, for its drama, for its spectacular cinematography of landscape and seascape, and for its concise editing. The film opens with a boy crab fishing and we then observe three fishermen landing a flimsy holed curragh in the force of the wind and the huge waves. Some contend that Man of Aran is more valuable as a documentary of Robert Flaherty’s vision of life than it is of life itself, others see it as a betrayal of documentary’s mission, “to tell it like it is”. And yet, according to Richard Barsam, Flaherty is one of the innovators of the documentary form…creating a nonfiction genre all of his own. According to anthropologist John Messenger there are one hundred factual errors in the film. Among the most notable is the hunting sequence, which dominates the latter half of the story. Kimball says this practice had disappeared so long ago that the islanders didnt know how to make or use the harpoons and had to be taught the skills of the hunt. Messenger who visited Islands between 1958 and 1968 goes further, claiming that the Islanders had never engaged in shark hunting then, Flaherty brought fisherman from Scotland to teach the locals how it is done. “Flaherty…created new customs, such as fishing, and seriously distorted numerous indigenous ones in order to make the Man of Aran fit his preconceptions. Other falsehoods include creating the Aran family who were unrelated cast members handpicked by Flaherty to play the roles of mother, father, in another sequence Flaherty shows the mother buffeted by a storm as she carries seaweed along the Inishmore cliffs. What appears to be an activity carried out by Aran women is a fabrication. The seaweed is collected for fertilization and is gathered from the low lying shores twice a month, and Kimball points out that religion which is deeply rooted in the Islanders lives, even among the locally recruited actors, is entirely absent. Flaherty also exposed the Islanders to great risk asking them to perform the most astonishing feats in stormy seas despite the fact none of the Islanders could swim. As Flaherty says, “looking back I should have shot for what I asked these superb people to do for the film…for the enormous risks…and all for the sake of a keg of porter and five pound a piece. ”The full extent of Man of Aran’s deceptions was revealed at the 1978 Ethnographic Film Conference in Canberra. The conference had gathered, in part, to praise direct cinema which in contrast to the classic tradition promised a new level of realistic interpretation
15.
Doge's Palace
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The Doges Palace is a palace built in Venetian Gothic style, and one of the main landmarks of the city of Venice in northern Italy. The palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the authority of the former Republic of Venice. Today, it is one of the 11 museums run by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia. In 810, Doge Angelo Partecipazio moved the seat of government from the island of Malamocco to the area of the present-day Rialto, when it was decided a palatium duci, a ducal palace, should be built. However, no remains of that 9th-century building as the palace was partially destroyed in the 10th century by a fire. The following reconstruction works were undertaken at the behest of Doge Sebastiano Ziani, a great reformer, he would drastically change the entire layout of the St. The new palace was built out of fortresses, one façade to the Piazzetta, political changes in the mid-13th century led to the need to re-think the palaces structure due to the considerable increase in the number of the Great Councils members. The new Gothic palaces constructions started around 1340, focusing mostly on the side of the building facing the lagoon, in 1483, a violent fire broke out in the side of the palace overlooking the canal, where the Doges Apartments were. Once again, an important reconstruction became necessary and was commissioned from Antonio Rizzo, another huge fire in 1547 destroyed some of the rooms on the second floor, but fortunately without undermining the structure as a whole. However, there are some classical features — for example, since the 16th century, as well as being the ducal residence, the palace housed political institutions of the Republic of Venice until the Napoleonic occupation of the city in 1797, when its role inevitably changed. Venice was subjected first to French rule, then to Austrian, over this period, the palace was occupied by various administrative offices as well as housing the Biblioteca Marciana and other important cultural institutions within the city. In 1923, the Italian State, owner of the building, since 1996, the Doge’s Palace has been part of the Venetian museums network, which has been under the management of the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia since 2008. The ground floor arcade and the loggia above are decorated with 14th- and 15th-century capitals, in 1438–1442, Giovanni Bon and Bartolomeo Bon built and adorned the Porta della Carta, which served as the ceremonial entrance to the building. In the space above the cornice, there is a portrait of the Doge Francesco Foscari kneeling before the St. This is, however, a 19th-century work by Luigi Ferrari, nowadays, the public entrance to the Doges Palace is via the Porta del Frumento, on the waterfront side of the building. The north side of the courtyard is closed by the junction between the palace and St, mark’s Basilica, which used to be the Doge’s chapel. At the center of the courtyard stand two well-heads dating from the mid-16th century, in 1485, the Great Council decided that a ceremonial staircase should be built within the courtyard. Since 1567, the Giants’ Staircase is guarded by Sansovino’s two colossal statues of Mars and Neptune, which represents Venice’s power by land and by sea, members of the Senate gathered before government meetings in the Senator’s Courtyard, to the right of the Giants’ Staircase
16.
Piazza San Marco
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Piazza San Marco, often known in English as St Marks Square, is the principal public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as la Piazza. All other urban spaces in the city are called campi, the Piazzetta is an extension of the Piazza towards the lagoon in its south east corner. The two spaces together form the social, religious and political centre of Venice and are considered together. This article relates to both of them, a remark usually attributed to Napoleon calls the Piazza San Marco the drawing room of Europe. The Square is dominated at its end by the great church of St Mark. It is described here by a perambulation starting from the west front of the church, the Piazzetta dei Leoncini is an open space on the north side of the church named after the two marble lions, but now officially called the Piazzetta San Giovanni XXIII. The neo-classic building on the east side adjoining the Basilica is the Palazzo Patriarcale, beyond that is the Clock Tower, completed in 1499, above a high archway where the street known as the Merceria leads through shopping streets to the Rialto, the commercial and financial centre. To the right of the clock-tower is the church of San Basso, designed by Baldassarre Longhena. Mark, high officers of state in the days of the republic of Venice and they were built in the early 16th century. The arcade is lined with shops and restaurants at ground level, turning left at the end, the arcade continues along the west end of the Piazza, which was rebuilt by Napoleon about 1810 and is known as the Ala Napoleonica. It holds, behind the shops, a staircase which was to have led to a royal palace. Turning left again, the arcade continues down the side of the Piazza. Again, the floor has shops and also the Caffè Florian, a famous cafe opened in 1720 by Floriano Francesconi. The upper floors were intended by Napoleon to be a palace for his stepson Eugène de Beauharnais, his viceroy in Venice, at the far end the Procuratie meet the north end of Sansovinos Libreria, whose main front faces the Piazzetta and is described there. The arcade continues round the corner into the Piazzetta, opposite to this, standing free in the Piazza, is the Campanile of St Marks church, rebuilt in 1912 comera, dovera after the collapse of the former campanile on 14 July 1902. Across the Piazza in front of the church are three large mast-like flagpoles with bronze bases decorated in relief by Alessandro Leopardi in 1505. The Venetian flag of St Mark used to fly them in the time of the republic of Venice. The Piazzetta di San Marco is not part of the Piazza, the Piazzetta lies between the Doges Palace on the east and Jacopo Sansovinos Biblioteca which holds the Biblioteca Marciana on the west
17.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
18.
The Rome-Berlin Axis
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The Rome-Berlin Axis is a 1949 book by British historian Elizabeth Wiskemann. It is a study of the Axis alliance of Fascist Italy and it was published by Oxford University Press as a 376-page hardcover in 1949. Collins published a 446-page revised edition in 1966, list of Adolf Hitler books Review of The Rome-Berlin Axis by Raymond J. Sontag in American Historical Review, Vol.55, No. Review of The Rome-Berlin Axis by Eric C, kollman in The Journal of Modern History, Vol.23, No. Review of The Rome-Berlin Axis by Beatrice McCown Mattison in The American Political Science Review, Vol.43, Review of The Rome-Berlin Axis by Martin Wight in International Affairs, Vol.25, No
19.
Carlo Lizzani
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Carlo Lizzani was an Italian film director, screenwriter and critic. After directing documentaries, he debuted as a director with the admired World War II drama Achtung. Respected for his awarded drama Chronicle of Poor Lovers, he has proven a solid director of films, notably crime films such as The Violent Four. His film Loro di Roma examined events around the final deportation of the Jews of Rome, for his 1968 film Bandits in Milan he won a David di Donatello award as best director and a Nastro dArgento award for best screenplay. Lizzani worked frequently for Italian television in the 1980s and supervised the Venice International Film Festival for four editions, in 1994 Lizzani was a member of the jury at the Berlin Film Festival. For his 1996 film Celluloide, which deals with the making of Rome, Open City and he committed suicide in Rome at the age of 91, when he jumped from the balcony of his home in Via dei Gracchi on 5 October 2013. Carlo Lizzani at the Internet Movie Database
20.
Gian Luigi Rondi
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Gian Luigi Rondi was an Italian screenwriter and film director. He was a member of the jury at the 12th and 15th Moscow International Film Festival and he was also a member of the jury at the 11th and 32nd Berlin International Film Festival. He was also a member of the three times at the Cannes Film Festival in 1963,1967 and 1980. Obsession Gian Luigi Rondi at the Internet Movie Database
21.
Gillo Pontecorvo
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Gillo Pontecorvo was an Italian filmmaker. He worked as a director for more than a decade before his best known film La battaglia di Algeri was released. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1966 and his other films include Kapò, which takes place in a World War II concentration camp, and Burn. starring Marlon Brando and loosely based on the failed slave revolution in Guadeloupe. In 2000, he received the Pietro Bianchi Award at the Venice Film Festival and he was also a screenwriter and composer of film scores, and a close friend of the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. Pontecorvo, born in Pisa, was the son of a wealthy non-observant Italian Jewish family, Gillo Pontecorvo studied chemistry at the University of Pisa, but dropped out after passing just two exams. It was there that he first became aware of opposing forces, coming into contact with leftist students. In 1938, faced with growing anti-Semitism, he followed his elder brother Bruno to Paris, in Paris he involved himself in the film world, where he made a few short documentaries. He became an assistant to Joris Ivens, the Dutch documentary filmmaker and he also assisted Yves Allégret, a French director known for his work in the film noir genre whose films include Une Si Jolie Petite Plage and Les Orgueilleux. In addition to influences, Pontecorvo began meeting people who broadened his perspectives, among them Pablo Picasso, Igor Stravinsky. It was during this time that Pontecorvo truly developed his political ideals and he was particularly affected when many of his friends in Paris packed up to go and fight in the Spanish Civil War. Pontecorvo joined the Italian Communist Party in 1941 and he traveled to northern Italy to help organize anti-Fascist partisans and going by the pseudonym Barnaba, becoming a leader of the Resistance in Milan from 1943 until 1945. Pontecorvo broke ties with the party in 1956 after the Soviet intervention in Hungary and he didnt, however, renounce his dedication to Marxism and in a 1983 interview with the UK’s Guardian newspaper, said, I am not an out-and-out revolutionary. I am merely a man of the Left, like a lot of Italian Jews and he bought a 16mm camera and shot several documentaries, mostly self-funded, beginning with Missione Timiriazev in 1953. He then directed Giovanna, which was one episode of La rosa dei venti, in 1957 he directed his first full-length film, La grande strada azzurra, which foreshadowed his mature style of later films. It deals with a fisherman and his family on the island off the Dalmatian coast of Italy. Because of the scarcity of fish in nearby waters, the fisherman, the film won a prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Pontecorvo spent months, and sometimes years, researching the material for his films in order to represent the actual social situations he commented on. In the next two years, Pontecorvo directed Kapò, a set in a Nazi death camp
22.
Moritz de Hadeln
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Moritz de Hadeln is a Swiss documentary Film director and photographer, who became a Film Festival director. He headed the Locarno International Film Festival from 1972 to 1977, the Berlin International Film Festival from 1980 to 2001 and he was also a member of the jury at the 23rd Moscow International Film Festival. Born in 1940 in Exeter, England, de Hadelns European family background provided him with an education in the Arts. Moritz de Hadeln after obtaining the French Certificate A level, started studying Physics and he soon joined the film research laboratory Avenue Hoch as an apprentice. After freelancing as a photographer for some years, de Hadeln was given the opportunity to direct his first documentary Le Pèlé in 1963, followed several years of work with cinematographer Ernest Artaria in Zurich. Moritz married Erika von dem Hagen in 1968, in 1969, Moritz de Hadeln and his wife founded the Nyon International Documentary Film Festival in Switzerland, which he directed until 1979. He assisted Erika when she took over as head of the festival from 1981 to 1993, in those 25 years, they made Nyon a unique meeting place for documentary filmmaking while discovering many new talents. From 1972 to 1977, de Hadeln headed the Locarno International Film Festival and he gave an original profile to the newly introduced outdoor screening on the Piazza Grande and introduced several sidebar events to broaden the festivals international impact. In 1979, de Hadeln was invited to head the Berlin International Film Festival, in the early 1980s, in spite of the ongoing Cold War situation in the divided city, he managed to bring East and West together at the festival. Together with Beki Probst, he founded the European Film Market, tireless world traveler, de Hadeln was one of the first to discover the newly emerging Chinese cinema. In May 2001, Moritz de Hadeln founded in Berlin together with his wife Erika de Hadeln & Partners, in March 2002, as first ever non-Italian, Moritz de Hadeln was invited to head the Venice International Film Festival - part of the Venice Biennale. He directed only the two events in 2002 and in 2003, finally, early in 2005 he was named Program Director of the short-lived New Montreal FilmFest of 2005, an event wanted by both Federal and Quebec governments. The first and only edition of the event, meant as work in progress, in spite of the limited time available, Moritz de Hadeln and his team were able to deliver a program with over 22 world premières. But local mismanagement by those in charge of its organization led regretfully to discontinue the event, Moritz de Hadeln has served on many International Juries among others in the festivals of Karlovy Vary, Venice, Moscow, Montreal, Torino, Tehran, Damascus, Kiev and Yerevan. He is member of the European Film Academy, Swiss citizen since 1986, Moritz de Hadeln currently resides Gland, Vaud where he is from 2007 to 2011, as part of the Socialist group, a member of the Town Council. Actually he is a member of Greens local party called Les Verts de Gland, - ISBN 2-88346-009-4 de Hadeln, Moritz “LInsupportable Vérité, Chronique de six années turbulantes ”,132 pages, Ed. Nyon International Film Festival,1993 – ISBN 2-88346-014-0 Jacobsen, Wolfgang 50 years Berlinale,563 pages, nicolai,2000 – ISBN 3-87584-906-X Baer, Volker and de Hadeln, Moritz “Closing the Book”, Moritz de Hadelns Berlinale,89 pages, Ed. Berlin Festspiele GmbH,2001 – Catalogue of the Deutsche National Bibliothek Roddolo, Enrica La Biennale, Arte, polemiche, scandali e storie in Laguna,262 pages, Ed
23.
Oshri Cohen
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Oshri Cohen is a well known Israeli actor. He started his way as a kid at the Beit Lessin Theater in Tel Aviv, in 2006 Cohen won the Israeli Theaters award for Promise of the Year. Today he is a part of the Israel national theater Habima with a called, All His Life in Front of Him. In addition to roles, Cohen has performed in films such as Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi. In 2007 Cohen starred in the Israeli war film Beaufort, which tells the story of the last unit of soldiers on the legendary Beaufort outpost. He has also starred in Lost Islands and Lebanon, which won the Leone dOro at the 66th Venice International Film Festival
24.
Lebanon (2009 film)
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Lebanon is a 2009 Israeli war film directed by Samuel Maoz. It won the Leone dOro at the 66th Venice International Film Festival, in Israel itself the film has caused some controversy. The film was nominated for ten Ophir Awards, including Best Film, the film also won the 14th Annual Satyajit Ray Award. Maoz based the film on his experience as a young Israeli conscript during the 1982 Lebanon War, the British newspaper The Guardian has described it as an anti-war film. The film depicts warfare as witnessed exclusively from the inside of a tank, the crews window to the outside world is a gunsight. As a way of adding realism to the effect, every change in the horizontal and vertical viewing directions is accompanied by the hydraulic whine of the gun turret. The film is set during the 1982 Lebanon War, there are four Israeli soldiers inside, the driver in the tanks hull, the loader, the gunner and the commander in the turret. For part of the time there is also the body of a dead Israeli soldier, a Syrian POW, a higher officer, and a visiting Phalangist who threatens the POW with torture. The soldiers are ordered to clear an area of Lebanese personnel and they are instructed to include the use of phosphorus grenades that are forbidden by international treaty. The gunner has never fired the cannon in a situation and is hesitant at first. As a result, a fellow Israeli soldier is killed along with an innocent man in a subsequent incident involving equally poor judgment, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 90% out of 97 professional critics gave the film a positive review, with a rating average of 7. Apparently they are fine, they work, get married, have children, but inside the memory will remain stabbed in their soul. This is something you cant do if films are boycotted and it makes no sense to boycott art. Maybe I wouldnt have won if Jane Fonda was on the jury, the Guardian described it as a controversial choice, noting that some commentators in Israel have raised concerns that the film will deter young men from volunteering for the army. The Golden Lion is the highest award given to an Israeli film to date, Maoz says many Israeli figures were against Lebanon even being featured at the Venice International Film Festival. The Venice jury was chaired by Ang Lee, who had won the Golden Lion award in Venice in 2005 with Brokeback Mountain and in 2007 with Lust, Lebanon competed against 24 other entries. The win in Venice caused a boost in the popularity at the Toronto International Film Festival. The New York Times described Lebanon as a piece of cinema
25.
66th Venice International Film Festival
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The 66th annual Venice Film Festival held in Venice, Italy, was opened on 2 September 2009 by Baarìa - La porta del vento. International competition jury, led by Ang Lee, awarded Leone dOro to Lebanon, the festival was closed on 12 September 2009, with Maria Grazia Cucinotta serving as the festivals hostess. The following 25 films competed for the Leone doro, official website 66th Venice Film Festival 2009
26.
65th Venice International Film Festival
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The 65th Venice International Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, was opened on August 27,2008, by Burn After Reading, and closed on September 6,2008. International competition jury, led by Wim Wenders, awarded Leone dOro to The Wrestler, 77-year-old Italian film director Ermanno Olmi received a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. The festival opened on August 27,2008, with the anticipated film directed by the Coen brothers. Unlike the Cannes Film Festival, American filmmakers have only won the coveted prize at Venice. It is also famine for British films, as none were selected for competition in this years festival, despite the dearth of English-speaking films, several films at the fest are likely to make a splash at this years Oscars in Hollywood. A trend has been several films launched in Venice have gone on to garner multiple Academy Award nominations. In 2005, Taiwan-born director Ang Lees film, Brokeback Mountain earned its director a Best Director Oscar, lee has won the top prize at Venice twice in the past few years. The glamour of the Venice Film Festival as well as the link with the upcoming Academy Awards has helped raise the Venice Film Festivals profile. Nonetheless, the event has a reputation for showcasing emerging cinema, including films from Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Festival organizers have announced that the festivals shorts competition will begin on September 1 with Natalie Portmans directorial debut, rising Russian star Kseniya Rappoport will also host the opening and closing ceremonies. German independent film director Wim Wenders will head the Venice film jury, vianello subsequently declared the strike illegal, but if it goes ahead, ordinary festivalgoers may find themselves traveling with the stars. The festival will close on September 6,2008 and this years Venice Film Festivals film selections had been widely criticized as being among the weakest in years, with some publications even describing it as the worst ever. Later showings made It improve from bad to better, but it might have too late. The 65th Venice International Film Festival will be dedicated to the late Egyptian director Youssef Chahine, Chahine who died recently at age 82, was a notable in post-war Arab cinema. Festival director Marco Mueller said, Who else could have succeeded in mixing the philosopher Averroes with Fred Astaire, thats what cinema should be about, Mueller said, referring to Chahines film Destiny. Of the 52 films selected to screen at this years Venice Mostra, most of the films at Venice will be world premieres, including the things that go boom psychological thriller directed by Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker. The film deals with the physical and emotional strains faced by EOD bomb squads in Iraq, also premiering at the festival is home-grown favorite Birdwatcher directed by Italys own Marco Bechis. Other strong contenders for the coveted Golden Lion award are the Darren Aronofsky directed film, The Wrestler, with no British pictures and a diminished U. S
27.
Volpi Cup for Best Actor
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The Volpi Cup is the principal award given to actors at the Venice Film Festival and is named in honor of Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata, the founder of the Venice Film Festival. ‡ – indicates the performance was nominated for an Academy Award The festival was officially competitive for the first time in 1934. The acting award was named Grande medaglia doro dellAssociazione Nazionale Fascista dello Spettacolo per il migliore attore, after a four-year hiatus caused by the war, the festival was once again competitive in 1947. The acting award in the immediate post-war period was named Premio Internazionale per il migliore attore, the winners did not receive cup-shaped awards but were instead given rectangular plaques. In 1988, for the first time in 20 years, the most recognizable prizes of the festival were re-established, the two acting award was officially named Coppa Volpi per la migliore interpretazione maschile. The Venice Film Festival at the IMDb Coppa Volpi for best actors since 1935 from La Biennale website Enrico Lancia, I premi del cinema, Gremese Editore,1998
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Volpi Cup for Best Actress
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The Volpi Cup is the principal award given to actresses at the Venice Film Festival and is named in honor of Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata, the founder of the festival. The award winner is selected by the jury from the films in the competition slate. The official name of the award has changed several times over the course of the years, the awards given from 1983 to 1987 were not Coppa Volpis but rather square plaques. The award can be given for lead or supporting performances, there are additional awards given within the festival that recognize acting performances. From 1993 to 1995 the festival awarded a Best Supporting Actress prize that is included below, the main Best Actress Award resumed in 1983
29.
Marcello Mastroianni
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Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni, Knight Grand Cross was an Italian film actor. His honours included British Film Academy Awards, Best Actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival, Mastroianni was born in Fontana Liri, a small village in the Apennines in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, and grew up in Turin and Rome. He was the son of Ida and Ottone Mastroianni, who ran a shop. During World War II, after the division into Axis and Allied Italy, he was interned in a loosely guarded German prison camp, from which he escaped to hide in Venice. Mastroianni made his debut as an uncredited extra in Marionette when he was fourteen. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times, for Divorce Italian Style, A Special Day and Dark Eyes, Mastroianni, Dean Stockwell and Jack Lemmon are the only actors to have been twice awarded the Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival. Mastroianni won it in 1970 for The Pizza Triangle and in 1987 for Dark Eyes, Mastroianni starred alongside his daughter, Chiara Mastroianni, in Raúl Ruizs Three Lives and Only One Death in 1996. For this performance he won the Silver Wave Award at the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival and his final film, Voyage to the Beginning of the World, was released posthumously. Mastroianni married Flora Carabella on August 12,1950 and they had one daughter together, Barbara, but eventually separated because of his affairs with younger women. Mastroiannis first serious relationship after the separation was with Faye Dunaway, Dunaway wanted to marry and have children, but Mastroianni, a Catholic, refused to divorce Carabella. In 1971, after three years of waiting for Mastroianni to change his mind, Dunaway left him, Mastroianni had a daughter, Chiara Mastroianni, with French actress Catherine Deneuve, who was nearly 20 years his junior and lived with him for four years in the 1970s. During that time, the couple made four movies together, It Only Happens to Others, La cagna, A Slightly Pregnant Man, according to People magazine, Mastroiannis other lovers included actresses Anouk Aimee, Ursula Andress, Claudia Cardinale and Lauren Hutton. Around 1976, he involved with Anna Maria Tatò, an author. They remained together until his death, Mastroianni died of pancreatic cancer on 19 December 1996 at the age of 72. Both of his daughters, as well as Deneuve and Tatò, were at his bedside, the Trevi Fountain in Rome, associated with his role in Fellinis La Dolce Vita, was symbolically turned off and draped in black as a tribute. At the 1997 Venice Film Festival, Chiara, Carabella and Deneuve tried to block the screening of Tatòs four-hour documentary, Marcello Mastroianni, the festival refused and the movie was shown. The three women reportedly tried to do the thing at Cannes. Tatò said Mastroianni had willed her all rights to his image. com
30.
Jaeger-LeCoultre
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Jaeger-LeCoultre is a Swiss luxury watch and clock manufacturer based in Le Sentier, Switzerland, that dates back to the first half of the nineteenth century, founded by Antoine LeCoultre in 1833. The company has been a fully owned subsidiary of the Swiss luxury group Richemont since 2000, in 1558, he obtained the status of “inhabitant” but left the following year to acquire a plot of land in the Vallée de Joux. Over time, a community formed and in 1612, Pierre LeCoultre’s son built a church there. In 1844, he invented the worlds most precise measuring instrument at the time, the Millionomètre, four years later, he was awarded a gold medal for his work on timepiece precision and Mechanization at the first Universal Exhibition in London. Pooling their employees’ expertise under one roof, under this set-up, they developed in 1870 the first partially mechanised production processes for complicated movements. From 1902 and for the next 30 years, LeCoultre & Cie. produced most of the movement blanks for Patek Philippe of Geneva. In 1903, Paris-based watchmaker to the French Navy, Edmond Jaeger, challenged Swiss manufacturers to develop, the movements were produced by LeCoultre. Edmond Jaeger also acquired the patent for the atmospherically driven clock Atmos from its inventor Jean-Léon Reutter and licensed it to LeCoultre from 1936 for France, the collaboration between Jaeger and LeCoultre led to the company being officially renamed Jaeger-LeCoultre in 1937. After 1985, Jaeger-LeCoultre was adopted uniformly worldwide, according to factory records, the last movement to be used in an American LeCoultre watch was shipped out of Le Sentier in 1976. Some collectors and misinformed dealers have made the claim that American LeCoultre is not associated with Jaeger-LeCoultre Switzerland. Collectors have confused this distribution channel with the manufacture of the watches, according to Jaeger-LeCoultre enthusiast Zaf Basha, the Galaxy, an upmarket mysterious dial diamond watch, is a collaboration between Vacheron & Constantin and LeCoultre for the American market. It features “LeCoultre” on the front and “Vacheron & Constantin — LeCoultre” stamped on the case, the LeCoultre trademark expired in 1985 and was replaced by the Jaeger-LeCoultre trademark. LeCoultre of Switzerland and Jaeger of France formed a company in England, Jaeger Limited, in 1921 to make instruments for prestige car manufacturers. In 1927 Jaeger LeCoultre sold 75 per cent of the company to S Smith & Sons, since Jaeger-LeCoultre’s founding, the company has produced over 1,242 different calibres, registered approximately 400 patents and created hundreds of inventions. Invented by Antoine LeCoultre in 1844, the Millionomètre was the first instrument in history capable of measuring the micron, the invention was never patented, as no such system existed in Switzerland at the time. However, its composition was kept a closely guarded secret. It was presented at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1900, in 1847, Antoine invented a keyless watch, the second simple and reliable winding and time-setting system to do without a key after Patek Philippes version of 1845. Instead, it relied on a small push-piece that activated a lever to change over from one function to another, again, the invention was not patented, allowing other watchmakers to quickly implement the system
31.
Kitano Takeshi
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Takeshi Kitano is a Japanese comedian, television personality, director, actor, author, and screenwriter. While he is primarily as a comedian and TV host in his native Japan. With the exception of his works as a director, he is known almost exclusively by the stage name Beat Takeshi. Kitano rose to prominence in the 1970s as one half of the comedy duo Two Beat, before going solo, after several small acting roles, he made his directorial debut with 1989s Violent Cop and garnered international acclaim for Sonatine. But he was not accepted as a director in Japan until Hana-bi won the Golden Lion in 1997, in December 2016, it was announced that Kitanos first crime trilogy for the Outrage series would be completed in 2017 with Outrage, Final Chapter in post-production as of April 2017. Many of Kitanos films are dramas about yakuza gangsters or the police, many of his films express a bleak or nihilistic philosophy, but they are also filled with humor and affection for their characters. Takeshi Kitano was born in Adachi, Tokyo with two brothers and an older sister. His father worked as a painter, with Kitano revealing that he was also possibly a yakuza, while his mother was a strict disciplinarian. In his working-class neighborhood, the children looked up to players and yakuza. Kitano entered Meiji University and studied engineering, before dropping out at age 19 and he went to the Asakusa district in 1972 to become a comedian. While working as an operator at the Asakusa France-za striptease, he became an apprentice of its comedian Senzaburo Fukami. In the 1970s, he formed a duo with his friend Nirō Kaneko. They took on the stage names Beat Takeshi and Beat Kiyoshi and this sort of duo comedy, known as manzai in Japan, usually features a great deal of high-speed back-and-forth banter between the two performers. Kiyoshi played the man against Takeshis funny man. In 1976, they performed on television for the first time and became a success, the reason for their popularity had much to do with Kitanos material, which was much more risqué than traditional manzai. The targets of his jokes were often the socially vulnerable, including the elderly, the handicapped, the poor, children, women, the ugly, complaints to the broadcaster led to censorship of some of Kitanos jokes and the editing of offensive dialogue. Kitano confirmed in a interview that he was forbidden to access the NHK studios for five years for having exposed his body during a show when it was totally forbidden. Although Two Beat was one of the most successful acts of its kind during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Kitano decided to go solo, together with Sanma Akashiya and Tamori, Kitano is said to be one of the Big Three television comedians of Japan
32.
Abbas Kiarostami
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Abbas Kiarostami was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer. An active film-maker from 1970, Kiarostami had been involved in over forty films, including shorts and documentaries. Kiarostami attained critical acclaim for directing the Koker trilogy, Close-Up, Taste of Cherry – which was awarded the Palme dOr at the Cannes Film Festival that year – and The Wind Will Carry Us. In his later works, Certified Copy and Like Someone in Love, he filmed for the first time outside Iran, in Italy and Japan, Kiarostami had worked extensively as a screenwriter, film editor, art director and producer and had designed credit titles and publicity material. He was also a poet, photographer, painter, illustrator and these filmmakers share many common techniques including the use of poetic dialogue and allegorical storytelling dealing with political and philosophical issues. He is also known for his use of Persian poetry in the dialogue, titles, Kiarostamis films contain a notable degree of ambiguity, an unusual mixture of simplicity and complexity, and often a mix of fictional and documentary elements. The concepts of change and continuity, in addition to the themes of life and death and he majored in painting and graphic design, and supported his studies by working as a traffic policeman. As a painter, designer, and illustrator, Kiarostami worked in advertising in the 1960s, designing posters, between 1962 and 1966, he shot around 150 advertisements for Iranian television. In the late 1960s, he began creating credit titles for films and its debut production and Kiarostamis first film was the twelve-minute The Bread and Alley, a neo-realistic short film about a schoolboys confrontation with an aggressive dog. The department became one of Irans most noted film studios, producing not only Kiarostamis films, but acclaimed Persian films such as The Runner and Bashu, in the 1970s, Kiarostami pursued an individualistic style of film making. When discussing his first film, he stated, Bread and Alley was my first experience in cinema, I had to work with a very young child, a dog, and an unprofessional crew except for the cinematographer, who was nagging and complaining all the time. Well, the cinematographer, in a sense, was right because I did not follow the conventions of film making that he had become accustomed to, following The Experience, Kiarostami released The Traveler in 1974. The Traveler tells the story of Qassem Julayi, a troubled and troublesome boy from a small Iranian city. Intent on attending a match in far-off Tehran, he scams his friends and neighbors to raise money. In addressing the boys determination to reach his goal, alongside his indifference to the effects of his actions, the film examined human behavior. It furthered Kiarostamis reputation for realism, diegetic simplicity, and stylistic complexity, in 1975, Kiarostami directed two short films So Can I and Two Solutions for One Problem. In early 1976, he released Colors, followed by the fifty-four-minute film A Wedding Suit, Kiarostamis first feature film was the 112-minute Report. It revolved around the life of a tax collector accused of accepting bribes, in 1979, he produced and directed First Case, Second Case
33.
Sylvester Stallone
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Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone is an American actor, filmmaker, and screenwriter. He wrote or co-wrote most of the 14 films in all three franchises, and directed many of the films, Stallones film Rocky was inducted into the National Film Registry as well as having its film props placed in the Smithsonian Museum. Stallones use of the front entrance to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the Rocky series led the area to be nicknamed the Rocky Steps, Philadelphia has a statue of his Rocky character placed permanently near the museum. It was announced on December 7,2010 that Stallone was voted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the non-participant category, in 1977, Stallone was nominated for two Academy Awards for Rocky, Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor. He became the man in history to receive these two nominations for the same film, after Charles Chaplin and Orson Welles. He received critical raves, as well as his first Golden Globe Award win and third Academy Award nomination, Stallones father was born in Gioia del Colle, Apulia, Italy, and immigrated to the United States in the 1930s. Stallones mother is of half French and half Russian Jewish descent and his younger brother is actor and musician Frank Stallone. As a result, the left side of his face is paralyzed – including parts of his lip, tongue. Around the age of 4, Stallone was flat-footed and put in a tap dancing school by his mother and his father moved the family to Washington, D. C. in the early 1950s, where he opened a beauty school. His mother opened a gymnasium called Barbellas in 1954. Stallones parents divorced when Sylvester was nine, and he lived with his mother. When Stallone was 16, he scored poorly in school and his mother got him a job at her beauty salon. He attended Notre Dame Academy and Lincoln High School in Philadelphia, and Charlotte Hall Military Academy, prior to attending Miami Dade College, Stallone had his first starring role in the soft core pornography feature film The Party at Kitty and Studs. He was paid US$200 for two days work, Stallone later explained that he had done the film out of desperation after being evicted from his apartment and finding himself homeless for several days. He has also said that he slept three weeks in the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City prior to seeing a casting notice for the film. In the actors words, it was either do that movie or rob someone, the film was released several years later as Italian Stallion, in order to cash in on Stallones newfound fame. While he was in Switzerland, Stallone got his start in films, playing an extra eating in a restaurant near to stars Robert Redford and Camilla Sparv, in the sports drama, Downhill Racer. In 1970, Stallone appeared in the film No Place to Hide, which was re-cut and retitled Rebel, in the Lemmon film, Jack Lemmons character chases, tackles and mugs Stallone, thinking that Stallones character is a pickpocket
34.
Mani Ratnam
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Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam, commonly known by his screen name Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Cited by the media as one of Indias influential filmmakers, Mani Ratnam is widely credited with revolutionising the Tamil film industry, although working in the mainstream medium, his films are noted for their realism, technical finesse, and craft. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri, acknowledging his contributions to film in 2002, despite being born into a film family, Mani Ratnam did not develop any interest towards films when he was young. Upon completion of his post graduation in management, he started his career as a consultant and he entered the film industry through the 1983 Kannada film Pallavi Anu Pallavi. The failure of his subsequent films would mean that he was left with fewer offers, however, his fifth directorial outing, Mouna Ragam, established him as a leading filmmaker in Tamil cinema. He followed that with the Godfatheresque Nayagan, which is regarded as a film over the years. Mani Ratnam is well known for his Political trilogy consisting of Roja, Bombay, the commercial and critical success of Roja established him as a leading filmmaker in Indian cinema. Mani Ratnam is married to Tamil actress Suhasini and has a son with her and he has won several film awards, including six National Film Awards,7 Filmfare Awards South and three Bollywood Filmfare Awards, and a few awards at various international film festivals. Mani Ratnam was born on 2 June 1955, as the child of a family that was closely associated with film production. His father S. Gopala Ratnam was a distributor who worked for Venus Pictures. His elder brother G. Venkateswaran would go on to some of his films. His younger brother, G. Srinivasan, who like Venkateswaran would co-produce some of his films, Mani Ratnam grew up in Madras, along with his siblings and cousins in a joint-family. Despite being a family, the children were not allowed to watch films as the elders considered it a taboo. During this time, he developed an admiration towards actors like Sivaji Ganesan and Nagesh, by the time when he was 15, he got to know about director K. Balachander, and became a fan of him. Upon completing his schooling, he graduated with a degree in commerce from the Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College, later, he did his Master of Business Administration in finance from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. After finishing his post-graduation in 1977, he was employed in a firm in Madras as a management consultant, Mani is married to Suhasini, an established actress in South Indian cinema then. The two first met in 1988 and got married the same year, the couple have a son Nandhan. The family resides in Alwarpet, Chennai, where he runs his production company, Mani Ratnam was not satisfied with his job as a consultant as he found it to be a mere extension of his academics
35.
Al Pacino
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Alfredo James Al Pacino is an American actor of stage and screen, filmmaker, and screenwriter. DeMille Award, and the National Medal of Arts and he is also one of few performers to have won a competitive Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony Award for acting, dubbed the Triple Crown of Acting. He achieved international acclaim and recognition for his role as Michael Corleone in Francis Ford Coppolas The Godfather. He received his first Oscar nomination and would reprise the role in the successful sequels The Godfather Part II. Pacinos performance as Corleone is now regarded as one of the greatest screen performances in film history, for his performances in The Godfather, Dick Tracy and Glengarry Glen Ross, Pacino was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. A lifelong fan of Shakespeare, Pacino directed and starred in Looking for Richard, a film about the play Richard III. He has also acted as Shylock in a 2004 feature film adaptation, since 1994, Pacino has been the joint president of the Actors Studio with Ellen Burstyn and Harvey Keitel. Pacino was born in New York City, to Sicilian-American parents Salvatore Pacino and Rose and his mother moved to The Bronx to live with her parents, Kate and James Gerardi, who, coincidentally, had come from a town in Sicily named Corleone. His father, who was from San Fratello in the Province of Messina, moved to Covina, California, in his teen years Sonny, as he was known to his friends, aimed to become a baseball player, and was also nicknamed The Actor. Pacino went through Herman Ridder Junior High School, but in secondary school dropped out of many classes and he attended the High School of Performing Arts, but dropped out of school at age 17. His mother disagreed with his decision, they argued and he left home and he worked at low-paying jobs, messenger, busboy, janitor, and postal clerk, to finance his acting studies. He once worked in the room for Commentary magazine. He began smoking and drinking at age nine, and took up casual cannabis use at age 13 and his two closest friends died from drug abuse at the ages of 19 and 30. Growing up in The Bronx, he got into fights and was considered something of a troublemaker at school. He acted in basement plays in New Yorks theatrical underground but was rejected for the Actors Studio while a teenager, Pacino then joined the Herbert Berghof Studio, where he met acting teacher Charlie Laughton, who became his mentor and best friend. In this period, he was unemployed and homeless, and sometimes slept on the street, in theaters. In 1962, his mother died at the age of 43, the following year, Pacinos grandfather James Gerardi, one of the most influential people in his life, also died. After four years at HB Studio, Pacino successfully auditioned for the Actors Studio, the Actors Studio is a membership organization of professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights in the Hells Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City
36.
Spike Lee
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Shelton Jackson Spike Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company,40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983, Lee has acted in ten of his own films. Lees movies have examined race relations, colorism in the community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty. Lee was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Jacqueline Carroll, a teacher of arts and black literature, and William James Edward Lee III, a jazz musician and composer. Lee also had three younger siblings Joie, David, and Cinqué, who all worked in different positions in Lees films. Director Malcolm D. Lee is his cousin, when he was a child, the family moved to Brooklyn, New York. His mother nicknamed him Spike during his childhood and he attended John Dewey High School in Brooklyns Gravesend neighborhood. Lee enrolled in Morehouse College, a black college, where he made his first student film. He took film courses at Clark Atlanta University and graduated with a B. A. in mass communication from Morehouse and he did graduate work at New York Universitys Tisch School of the Arts, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts in film & television. In 1991, Lee taught a course at Harvard about filmmaking and it was there that he received his Master of Fine Arts and was appointed Artistic Director in 2002. Lees independent film, Joes Bed-Stuy Barbershop, We Cut Heads, was the first student film to be showcased in Lincoln Centers New Directors/New Films Festival, in 1985, Lee began work on his first feature film, Shes Gotta Have It. With a budget of $175,000, he shot the film in two weeks, when the film was released in 1986, it grossed over $7,000,000 at the U. S. box office. Lees 1989 film Do the Right Thing was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1989, many people, including Hollywoods Kim Basinger, believed that Do the Right Thing also deserved a Best Picture nomination. Driving Miss Daisy won Best Picture that year, after the 1990 release of Mo Better Blues, Lee was accused of antisemitism by the Anti-Defamation League and several film critics. They criticized the characters of the club owners Josh and Moe Flatbush, Lee denied the charge, explaining that he wrote those characters in order to depict how black artists struggled against exploitation. Lee said that Lew Wasserman, Sidney Sheinberg or Tom Pollock and he said he could not make an antisemitic film because Jews run Hollywood, and thats a fact. His 1997 documentary 4 Little Girls, about the killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham. On May 2,2007, the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival honored Spike Lee with the San Francisco Film Societys Directing Award and he received the 2008 Wexner Prize
37.
Ettore Scola
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Ettore Scola was an Italian screenwriter and film director. He received a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 1978 for his film A Special Day, Scola was born in Trevico, Avellino, Campania. He entered the industry as a screenwriter in 1953, and directed his first film, Lets Talk About Women. In 1974 Scola enjoyed international success with We All Loved Each Other So Much, the film won the Golden Prize at the 9th Moscow International Film Festival. In 1976 he won the Prix de la mise en scène at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival for Brutti, Scola made further successful films, including A Special Day, That Night In Varennes, What Time Is It. and Captain Fracassas Journey. He directed close to 40 films in some 40 years and his film Passione damore, adapted from a nineteenth-century novel, was adapted by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine into the award-winning musical Passion. He was a member of the jury at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival, Scola died in Rome on January 19,2016 at the age of 84. Lets Talk About Women Thrilling Hard Time for Princes The Devil in Love Will Our Heroes Be Able to Find Their Friend Who Has Mysteriously Disappeared in Africa. 2001, 23rd Moscow International Film Festival Best Director for Concorrenza sleale 2001, Taormina Arte Award at Taormina Film Fest Ettore Scola at the Internet Movie Database
38.
James Franco
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James Edward Franco is an American actor and filmmaker known for his work in both comedic and dramatic films and TV shows. For his role in 127 Hours, Franco was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor and he also portrayed the title character in the TV biographical film James Dean, for which he won a Golden Globe Award. He had recurring roles on the soap opera General Hospital and sitcom Angie Tribeca and he will star in the David Simon-created HBO drama The Deuce in 2017. Franco volunteers for the Art of Elysium charity, and has taught film classes at New York University, the University of Southern California, UCLA, Studio 4. Franco was born in Palo Alto, California and his mother, Betsy Lou, is a writer and occasional actress, and his father, Douglas Eugene Doug Franco, ran a Silicon Valley business. The two met as students at Stanford University, Francos father was of Portuguese and Swedish descent. Francos mother is Jewish, from a family of Russian Jewish ancestry and his maternal grandfather, Daniel, had changed the family surname from Verovitz to Verne some time after 1940. Francos paternal grandmother, Marjorie Franco, is an author of young adult books. Francos maternal grandmother, Mitzie Verne, owned the Verne Art Gallery, a prominent art gallery in Cleveland, Francos family upbringing was academic, liberal, and largely secular. He grew up in California with his two brothers, Tom and Dave, a math whiz, Franco interned at Lockheed Martin. He was often encouraged by his father to get good grades and he graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1996, where he acted in plays. This led to him attending CSSSA in 1998 for theatre, in his high school years, Franco was arrested for underage drinking, graffiti, and for being a part of a group that stole designer fragrances from department stores and sold them to classmates. These arrests led to his becoming a ward of the state. Facing the possibility of juvenile hall, Franco was given a chance by the judge. I was uncomfortable in my own skin, I changed my ways just in time to get good grades, he recalled of his troubles with the law. Although the idea of becoming a marine zoologist interested him, Franco had always wanted to become an actor. Franco instead chose to take acting lessons with Robert Carnegie at the Playhouse West, around this time, Franco took up a late-night job at McDonalds to support himself because his parents refused to do so. He was a vegetarian until working there, while working at the establishment, he would practice accents on customers, an experience he remembered nostalgically in a 2015 Washington Post editorial
39.
Brian De Palma
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Brian Russell De Palma is an American film director and screenwriter. He is considered part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking, in a career spanning over 40 years, he is best known for his suspense, psychological thriller, and crime films. De Palma, who is of Italian ancestry, is the youngest of three boys and was born in Newark, New Jersey to Vivienne and Anthony Federico De Palma, an orthopedic surgeon. He was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, and attended various Protestant and Quaker schools, when he was in high school, he built computers. He won a regional science-fair prize for a project titled An Analog Computer to Solve Differential Equations, enrolled at Columbia as a physics student, De Palma became enraptured with the filmmaking process after viewing Citizen Kane and Vertigo. An early association with a young Robert De Niro resulted in The Wedding Party, De Niro was unknown at the time, the credits mistakenly display his name as Robert Denero. The film is noteworthy for its invocation of silent film techniques, De Palma followed this style with various small films for the NAACP and The Treasury Department. In an interview with Gelmis from 1969, De Palma described the film as very good and its distributed by Pathe Contemporary and makes lots of money. I shot it in four hours, with synched sound, I had two other guys shooting peoples reactions to the paintings, and the paintings themselves. Dionysus in 69 was De Palmas other major documentary from this period, the film records The Performance Groups performance of Euripides The Bacchae, starring, amongst others, De Palma regular William Finley. The play is noted for breaking traditional barriers between performers and audience, the films most striking quality is its extensive use of the split-screen. De Palma recalls that he was floored by this performance upon first sight, and in 1973 recounts how he began to try and figure out a way to capture it on film. I came up with the idea of split-screen, to be able to show the actual audience involvement, to trace the life of the audience, De Palmas most significant features from this decade are Greetings and Hi, Mom. Both films star Robert De Niro and espouse a Leftist revolutionary viewpoint common to their era, Greetings was entered into the 19th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won a Silver Bear award. His other major film from this period is the slasher comedy Murder a la Mod, Greetings is about three New Yorkers dealing with the draft. The film is considered the first to deal explicitly with the draft. The film is noteworthy for its use of experimental techniques to convey its narrative in ultimately unconventional ways. Footage was sped up, rapid cutting was used to distance the audience from the narrative, Greetings ultimately grossed over $1 million at the box office and cemented De Palmas position as a bankable filmmaker
40.
Amir Naderi
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Amir Naderi is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and photographer. He is best known for The Runner and Vegas, Based on a True Story, amir Naderi grew up in Abadan, a working-class port city in the south of Iran. He became interested in photography and cinema at an early age, Naderis early films explored similar themes and visual strategies, but they did so within the context of Iranian life and culture. Naderi made his debut with Goodbye Friend in 1971. Naderi continued to make films after the Iranian revolution and his 1984 film The Runner is one of the seminal films of this period in Iranian cinema. However, these films already hinted and anticipated the directors desire to leave Iran, by the 1990s, Naderi emigrated to the United States. Film scholar Alla Gadassik argues that Naderis films both before and after his move to the United States share a preoccupation with displacement, fragmented spaces, the films also emphasize the importance of sensory experience and corporeal endurance in locating ones home in the world. In this, Naderis work is exemplary of wider themes and motifs in Iranian diasporic cinema, due to smaller distribution and advertising budgets, Naderis films are not as well known as most Hollywood films. Despite that and the lack of recognizable actors in most of his films, his tends to find distribution. Naderi’s films and photography are also frequently the subject of retrospectives at major festivals, the most recent retrospective of his work was screened at the Busan International Film Festival, the largest in Asia. Naderi has served as a member of international film festivals for over a decade. His 2011 film Cut was shot entirely in Japanese and stars Hidetoshi Nishijima, search Two The Runner Ab, Bad, Khak a. k. a. Water, Wind, Dust Manhattan by Numbers A, B, C
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