PREVIEW: Venice Film Festival is expected to shine and to surprise

By Peter Mayer Aug 27, 2010, 9:08 GMT

Venice, Italy - Excitement surrounds this year's Venice Film Festival where the competition jury, headed by Quentin Tarantino, could face a tough task picking a Golden Lion award winner out of a selection of highly anticipated movies from the United States, Asia, Europe and Latin America.

The festival, which runs September 1-11, marks a prestigious return to the lagoon city for US filmmaker Tarantino.

Many observers will be curious to see if his somewhat quirky and off-beat cinematic tastes will result in some major surprises once the awards are announced.

When Tarantino served as president of the Cannes Film Festival in 2004, Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 was the controversial winner of that event's prestigious Palme d'Or prize.

Tarantino has in the past played a more minor role at the Venice Film Festival, curating some side events that paid homage to Spaghetti westerns and Italian B movies and splatter thrillers - genres that have been dismissed as low-brow by some critics, but that he has often referenced in several of his own much-acclaimed films, such as Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and more recently Inglourious Basterds.

Tarantino has also frequently acknowledged as a major source of inspiration Asian action and martial arts movies, so it is perhaps apt that this year's Venice Film Festival career Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement will be awarded to one of his 'heroes,' Hong Kong filmmaker John Woo.

As for this year's main competition, 24 films are in the running, including festival opener, Darren Aronfosky's Black Swan, a dark, psychological tale set in New York City's ballet world. The film stars Natalie Portman and Vincent Cassel.

Besides Black Swan other US films vying for top honours include Sofia Coppola's Nowhere, starring Stephen Dorff and Benicio Del Toro, and Julian Schnabel's Miral, starring Willem Dafoe and Vanessa Redgrave.

The US is the most represented nation, boasting six out of the 23 in-competition films that have been announced to date. A 'surprise' selection will be unveiled during the festival on September 6.

But cinema from 10 other nations will also feature in the competition, including China with Hark Tsui's Detective Dee and the Mystery of Phantom Flame, Germany with Tom Tykwer's Drei, and Chile with Pablo Larrain's Post Mortem.

Japanese director Takashi Miike, whose portrayal of violence often stirs controversy - and of whom Tarantino's has spoken with admiration - will present his latest effort, 13 Assassins, in Venice too.

Four films will fly the flag for host nation Italy, including Saverio Costanzo's La solitudine dei numeri primi, starring Isabella Rossellini.

Veteran French actors Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu star in Francois Ozon's Potiche, one of three films from France in the competition lineup.

Several of the out-of-competition films in Venice are also set to generate interest, including the world premiere of The Town, which Ben Affleck directed and starred in.

The festival will also feature the first public screening of Robert Rodriguez's Machete, with an ensemble cast starring Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba and Steven Seagal, among others.