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The titles of the two world premiere Surprise Films, at the 66th Venice International Film Festival (September 2-12 2009), which had been announced for the Out of Competition and Orizzonti sections, can now be revealed.

The Surprise Film screened in world premiere in the Out of Competition section is Green Days, the newest film by Hana Makhmalbaf – the youngest member (21 years old) of the famous Iranian family of directors – who made her debut in 2003 in Venice at the young age of 15 with her first film Joy of Madness (Lezate Divanegi). Green Days alternates documentary parts (“on the scene” documentaries of the development of the social uprising), with fictional parts on the condition of women in Iran. A “sociological” film in which the “camera works like a mirror to show you Iranian society undergoing a revolution with all its hopes and doubts” (Hana Makhmalbaf).

In the Orizzonti section, the Surprise Film (international premiere) is The Movie Orgy-Ultimate Version by Joe Dante, the new 280’ version of the “cult” compilation film – a passionate tribute to the B-movies of the 1950s and 1960s – made by the director in 1968 when he was a college student, with film clips, trailers and footage from TV programs (it originally lasted 7 hours).

The program of the 66th Venice International Film Festival is enriched by two new films, also in their world premiere screenings: The Marriage by Peter Greenaway (Orizzonti Eventi) dedicated to Veronese’s paintings “The Wedding at Cana”, recently explored by the director in the performance “The Wedding at Cana. A Vision by Peter Greenaway”; and Great Directors (Orizzonti Eventi), the debut film by the director of Greek descent (who lives and works in New York) Angela Ismailos, dedicated to the protagonists of modern and contemporary cinema Bernardo Bertolucci, Catherine Breillat, Liliana Cavani, Stephen Frears, Todd Haynes, Richard Linklater, Ken Loach, David Lynch, John Sayles and Agnès Varda. The film will be accompanied in Venice by Todd Haynes, Richard Linklater and John Sayles.


Green Days Hana Makhmalbaf (Iran)
World premiere – Out of Competition
Ava is a depressed young Iranian woman. She goes to the psychologist for treatment. She sees past political incidents in Iran as the cause of her depression. The psychologist advises her to do some manual labour like cleaning staircases, and even asks her to work on a play. However, her play, which is inspired by the reality and the problems in her society, is banned. Suddenly people gather their hopes and come out on the streets, they decide to participate in the election to vote against the current president. But Ava still doesn´t believe change will come. She goes out and starts to talk to people in the street, trying to regain her hopes ...
“I am not a sociologist, but my film is sociological – states Hana Makhmalbaf – My camera works like a mirror to show you Iranian society undergoing a revolution with all its hopes and doubts. I prefer not to explain this film as the people in the film paint a clear picture of their situation and themselves.”
Hana Makhmalbaf is the younger sister of director Samira Makhmalbaf, and the daughter of director and film professor Mohsen Makhmalbaf and of director Marzieh Meshkini Makhmalbaf. Her first short film was shown at the Locarno Film Festival when she was eight years old. In 2003, at the early age of 15, she presented her debut film at the Venice International Film Festival, Joy of Madness (Lezate Divanegi), a documentary on the “making of” At Five in the Afternoon (Panj è asr), directed by her sister Samira. She was then assistant director for Stray Dogs (Sag-haye velgard) by Marzieh Makhmalbaf, again presented in Venice in 2004. She then won the Crystal Bear in Berlin with the second film she directed Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame (Buda as sharm foru rikht, 2007).


The Movie Orgy-Ultimate Version Joe Dante (USA, 280’)
International premiere – Orizzonti Eventi
The Movie Orgy - of which the 66th Venice International Film Festival presents the “definitive” 280’ version – is a “cult” film made in 1968 by Joe Dante. This is a 7-hour assemblage of clips that includes trailers, film clips and commercials made by the director when he was in college. A passionate compilation film designed to evoke nostalgia for the shared entertainment experiences of early baby-boomers, The Movie Orgy includes clips and trailers from television programs, the B-movies of the 1950’s and 1960’s, as well as commercials, music clips, newsreels, satiric short films and promotional and government films. The effect is something like a simulation of a lazy Saturday of channel surfing or a long double (or triple) matinee at the movies. The film is primarily structured around extended clips from Attack of the 50 Foot Woman by Nathan Juran (1958) and Speed Crazy by William J. Hole Jr. (1959). As it progresses, segments primarily culled from about a dozen other films and programs are increasingly intercut, and interrupted by commercial breaks and other assorted side features.


The Marriage Peter Greenaway (Great Britain, 40’)
World Premiere – Orizzonti Eventi
The Marriage continues the exploration that Greenaway – known for his experimentation with mixing the history of art and film language – has undertaken on Veronese’s painting “The Marriage at Cana”, which he recently worked on in the performance “The Wedding at Cana, a Vision by Peter Greenaway”. This initiative is part of a bold artistic project by Greenaway in which he intends to “visit” – with contemporary sensibility and employing cutting-edge image technology – “Nine classic paintings” among Western art history’s most renowned, from the Renaissance up to the avant-garde of Picasso and Pollock. “The Wedding at Cana” is the third painting he has worked on after “Nightwatch” by Rembrandt at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (2006) and “The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci in Milan (20008). Greenaway made The Marriage in collaboration with Dutch director and special effects wizard Reiner van Brummelen. The Marriage is produced by Change Performing Arts in Milan, in cooperation with the Fondazione Giorgio Cini Venezia and the Semana de Musica Religiosa de Cuenca, and in collaboration with the Sociedad Don Quijote de Conmemoraciones Culturales de Castilla La Mancha.


Great Directors Angela Ismailos (USA, Italy, France, 90’)
World Premiere – Orizzonti Eventi
Great Directors explores the nature and the independent spirit of ten protagonists of modern and contemporary cinema – Bertolucci, Breillat, Cavani, Frears, Haynes, Linklater, Loach, Lynch, Sayles and Varda – who talk about their lives as artists in extensive conversations. From Varda’s Parisian courtyard to David Lynch’s Hollywood, the film becomes a journey through politics, society, opportunity, failure and self-discovery. The scenes from films and film archives illustrate the works of these directors and the influence of cinematic movements and historical events on their art. “The intention of this film – says Angela Ismailos, the director of Greek descent who lives and works in New York – “is to observe different filmmakers from the most wide-ranging contexts. Interviewing the directors was fantastic, because we shared ideas and values and cinema was our point of contact. But bringing together so many stories and historic events, finding a common thread linking all the directors, was hard. I wish audiences would forget the idea that film is a sort of “real-life material”.







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