VENICE: American indie filmmaker James Gray is not the first name that springs to mind when you think of a Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster, but Ad Astra, which boasts Hollywood mega-star Brad Pitt in the leading role, is an accomplished film with enough artistic backbone to score a slot in the main competition in Venice.

VENICE: Director Todd Phillips enters the Venice competition lineup with what just might be the first Batman film that is for non-Batman fans. His film Joker takes the usual Hollywood comic book franchise into much deeper and more interesting psychological territory than the usual special effects laden star vehicles. while still managing to deliver all the expected Gotham City sets and characters in full regalia. Set in a thinly disguised New York City of either the late 1970s or the not distant future, when the city is overwhelmed with crime, greed, filth and society’s breakdown, we see the origins of the famous characters of the later films.

VENICE: Director Noah Baumbach already has ten feature films to his credit so it is no surprise that this already accomplished and respected filmmaker has landed in the Venice competition with his latest offering Marriage Story. What is surprising is that this just might be his best film yet.

GDYNIA: The 44th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, which took place 16 - 21 September 2019, awarded its top prize Golden Lion for best film to Mr. Jones directed by Agnieszka Holland. Corpus Christi by Jan Komasa dominated the gala and won nine prizes, including best director and best script.

VENICE: Václav Marhoul is the first Czech director to score a place in the Venice competition lineup since Jiri Menzel’s The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin in 1994. The Czech, Slovak and Ukrainian coproduction The Painted Bird is based on the acclaimed 1965 novel by Jerzy Kosinski and makes tough viewing with its uncompromising take on the pain and suffering of its main character.

The 76th Venice Film Festival opened with a pre-festival screening of the restored Czech classic Extase directed by Gustav Machaty and a Czech and Slovak film The Painted Bird screened in the main competition for the first time in 25 years. FNE TV spoke to Michal Bregant Director of Czech National Film Archives, Czech director Vaclav Marhoul and Slovak producer Zuzana Mistrikova about this year’s festival.

VENICE: American director Todd Phillips was awarded the top prize for his film Joker in the main competition of 76th Venice Film Festival, which took place from 28 August to 7 September 2019. Polish director Roman Polański took home the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize for the French/Italian coproduction An Officer and a Spy.

VENICE: Film New Europe celebrated European audiovisual innovation with a cocktail in the garden of the Venice VR Island on Sunday. FNE and several members of its team invited participants and visitors to join them for a glass of prosecco and to learn more about how FNE is promoting AV innovation on its online platform www.filmneweurope.com

VENICE: FNE spoke to Michal Bregant, Director of Czech National Film Archives, about the selection of Extase (Czechoslovakia, 1934) directed by Gustav Machaty for Venice Classics section of this year’s festival and why there is an increasing interest in restored classics at international film festivals.

FNE asked Pascal Diot what is new this year at the Venice Production Bridge and how it has evolved since its inception as well as what are some of the high profile projects participating from filmmakers from Central and Eastern Europe.