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VENICE FILM FESTIVAL

Thrillers to terrorise Venice in Golden Lion bid

The oldest film festival in the world is going big on nail-biters this year with thrillers dominating the race for Venice's coveted Golden Lion award, organisers said on Thursday.

Thrillers to terrorise Venice in Golden Lion bid
Ethan Hawke stars in 'First Reformed'. Photo: Angela Weiss/AFP

Stars George Clooney, Matt Damon, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert Redford and Jane Fonda are expected to be among the A-listers spotted posing on the red carpet or hopping into gondolas at the gala's 74th edition.

This year the festival, a key launchpad for heavyweight Oscar contenders, has gone big on US flicks in particular.

Hollywood heavyweight Ethan Hawke will star in director Paul Schrader's “First Reformed”, a spine-chiller about members of a church who are tormented by the deaths of loved ones – and harbouring a dark secret.

It goes up against hotly-awaited “mother!” by Darren Aronofsky, the US director behind the 2010 psychological horror film “Black Swan”. Starring Jennifer Lawrence, the film tells the tale of a couple thrown into turmoil by uninvited guests.

And Britain's Martin McDonaugh – best known for 2008 black comedy “In Bruges” – will hope to suitably unnerve the jury with thriller “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”, starring Frances McDormand as a middle-aged mother who challenges police after her daughter is murdered but no killer is found.

It's not all white-knuckle suspense: the beachside festival on the Lido island, which runs from July 30 to August 9 and is set to feature 21 world premieres, will kick off on a lighter tone.

Oscar-winning US director Alexander Payne's latest sci-fi comedy “Downsizing” will open the show, starring Matt Damon as a man who realises he would have a better life if he shrank, and Kirsten Wiig as his indecisive wife.

Secrets, gangsters and exorcisms

Damon also stars in Clooney's new flick “Suburbicon”, a dark comedy written by the Coen brothers and set in 1959, in which he plays a father of a suburban family that discovers the neighbourhood's dark underbelly of violence.

Teaser pictures released by Paramount show a very blonde Julianne Moore co-starring in Clooney's sixth directorial effort.

Chief juror Annette Bening and her panel of experts – including filmmakers Michel Franco and Edgar Wright and actress Rebecca Hall – are likely to be already lusting after the latest by Mexican fantasy master Guillermo del Toro.

The Cold War-era love fairytale story “The Shape of Water” by the man behind “Pan's Labyrinth” (2006) stars Sally Hawkins as a custodial worker in a government laboratory who discovers and smuggles out a top-secret experiment.

Two documentaries are also in the running: Frederick Wiseman's “Ex Libris, New York Public Library” and Ai WeiWei's “Human Flow”, which was filmed in 23 countries and explores the staggering scale of today's global migration issue.

Tunisian-French director Abdellatif Kechiche will bring “Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno”, a 1980s coming-of-age story, while Italy's Paolo Virzi will premiere “The Leisure Seeker”, starring Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland.

Out of competition but by no means less eagerly awaited, Britain's Stephen Frears will debut “Victoria & Abdul”, about Queen Victoria's unlikely friendship with a young Indian clerk, starring Judi Dench, Ali Fazal and Eddie Izzard.

“Exorcist” director William Friedkin delves into the story of a real-life exorcism with his documentary “The Devil and the Father Amorth” while Netflix reveals its first Italian original series “Suburra”, about gangsters and politicians in Rome.

Last but not least, US greats Robert Redford and Jane Fonda will be celebrated with Golden Lion lifetime achievement awards.

By Ella Ide

VENICE FILM FESTIVAL

Spain’s film queen Penelope Cruz wins best actress in Venice

Penelope Cruz took home the best actress award at the Venice Film Festival, the latest success for the all-conquering queen of Spanish cinema.

Spain's film queen Penelope Cruz wins best actress in Venice
Spanish actress Penelope Cruz poses with the Coppa Volpi she received for Best Actress in "Madres Paralelas" (Parallel Mothers) at the 78th Venice Film Festival. Photo: Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP

Cruz won for her starring role in “Parallel Mothers”, her latest collaboration with legendary Spanish director Pedro Almodovar.

It was a surprisingly political turn for the flamboyant filmmaker, exploring the trauma of the 1930s Spanish civil war alongside the tale of two mothers sharing a maternity ward.

It marks a departure into dark historical territory for the director, while still focusing on the themes of motherhood and female relationships that have been central to many of his films.

Cruz described Almodovar as “my safety net” in a press conference ahead of their red carpet appearance in Venice.

“He can ask me to do something that can really scare me but I know he will be there waiting to sustain me,” she said, adding that she was grateful to the director for giving her “so many different, challenging characters”.

Cruz has appeared in seven of Almodovar’s movies, including “All About My Mother” and “Volver”.

She had a busy fortnight in Venice, also starring in the well-received “Official Competition”, a comedy about ego-maniacs in the film business that saw her in a rare appearance alongside her Spanish megastar Antonio Banderas.

Young talent

Born in Madrid in 1974, she appeared destined for a career in the entertainment, initially studying ballet at Spain’s National Conservatory before winning an acting competition that led to roles on TV and in music videos.

Her break into film came in Spanish director Bigas Luna’s “Jamon, Jamon” in 1992, which received critical acclaim and was notable for its erotic scenes featuring a 16-year-old Cruz and Javier Bardem, who would much later become her husband.

That was followed soon afterwards by “Belle Epoque”, which won the Oscar for best foreign film, and featured Cruz as one of four sisters vying for the love of an army deserter.

The next milestone came in 1997, when she was cast in her first film by Pedro Almodovar.

“Live Flesh” marked the beginning of a decade-long collaboration between Almodovar and the actress which has included roles in another foreign language Oscar-winner, 1999’s “All About My Mother”.

Hollywood struggles

Cruz struggled to establish herself in mainstream Hollywood.

She achieved a rare but unwanted feat in 2001 when she received three nominations in the “Golden Raspberries” Oscars spoof for “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin,” “Blow” and “Vanilla Sky”.

The latter cast her alongside Tom Cruise, whom she ended up dating for three years.

Other flops followed including “Gothika” and “Sahara”.

But she bounced back, picking up an Oscar nomination for the 2006 Almodovar film “Volver”.

And she made history by becoming the first Spanish actress to win an Oscar in 2009 for her part in the Woody Allen comedy “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”.

She was again paired with Bardem in that film, triggering a romance that led to their marriage in 2010.

The fiercely independent Cruz is also wary of being type-cast simply for her striking physical beauty.

“The most difficult thing in the world is to start a career known only for your looks, and then to try to become a serious actress,” she has said. “No one will take you seriously once you are known as the pretty woman.”

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