Elisabetta Canalis + Marisa Berenson + Paris Hilton: Venice Film Festival

Elisabetta Canalis and George Clooney.

Elisabetta Canalis and George Clooney images: Venice Film Festival

Pictured above are Hollywood actor George Clooney and Elisabetta Canalis, an Italian television presenter and sometime actress. Clooney attended the 2009 edition of the Venice Film Festival to plug his two most recent movies: Grant Heslov’s The Men Who Stare at Goats, which Clooney also produced (with Heslov and Paul Lister), and Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air.

The Men Who Stare at Goats also features Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, and Kevin Spacey. In Up in the Air, a potential 2010 Academy Award contender, Clooney stars opposite Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick.

Last year, Clooney was also in attendance at Venice for the world premiere of Joel and Ethan Coen’s Burn After Reading. His co-stars in this ensemble piece are Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and John Malkovich.

Elisabetta Canalis movies

The Sardinian-born Elisabetta Canalis has been featured in only a handful of big-screen releases. Titles include:

• Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005).
  Director: Mike Bigelow.
  Cast: Rob Schneider. Eddie Griffin. Jeroen Krabbé. Til Schweiger. Douglas Sills. Carlos Ponce. Charles Keating.
  Alex Dimitriades. Elisabetta Canalis (bit role).
• La seconda volta non si scorda mai (2008).
  Director: Francesco Ranieri Martinotti.
  Cast: Alessandro Siani. Enzo De Caro. Miriam Candurro.
• La fidanzata di papà (2005).
  Director: Enrico Oldoini.
  Cast: Massimo Boldi. Simona Ventura.

More Venice Film Festival images

Pictured below are, once again, Elisabetta Canalis and George Clooney, in addition to actress Alba Rohrwacher, who plays Tilda Swinton’s daughter in the Venice Film Festival entry I Am Love / Io sono amore, directed by Luca Guadagnino.

Jean-Hugues Anglade, Patrice Chéreau, and Romain Duris were on hand at the photocall for Persécution, which also features Charlotte Gainsbourg. Accompanied by boyfriend Doug Reinhardt, American tabloid celebrity Paris Hilton attended the premiere of Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans, starring Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes.

Dorka Gryllus, Catrin Striebeck, Pheline Roggan, Fatih Akin, Anna Bederke, Wotan Wilke Möhring, Adam Bousdoukos, and Moritz Bleibtreu were present at the premiere of Akin’s Soul Kitchen, winner of the Special Jury Prize. (Click on the Soul Kitchen group image to enlarge it.)

The 2009 Venice Film Festival ran Sept. 2–12.

Paris Hilton.

Paris Hilton, George Clooney, and Elisabetta Canalis images: Courtesy Venice Film Festival.

Margherita Buy in ‘The White Space’: Venice Film Festival

Margherita Buy, Gaetano Bruno, Antonia Truppo, and Giovanni Ludeno attended the photocall for The White Space / Lo spazio bianco at the 2009 Venice Film Festival. (Click on the image above to enlarge it.)

Directed by Francesca Comencini – daughter of veteran filmmaker Luigi Comencini (Bread, Love and Dreams, The Police Commissioner) – The White Space focuses on a professional woman (Margherita Buy) who, reluctantly, becomes the mother of a sickly, prematurely born baby girl.

Margherita Buy movies

The Rome-born Margherita Buy has been featured in nearly 40 films in the last three decades. Among them are:

• The Caiman / Il caimano (2006).
  Director: Nanni Moretti.
  Cast: Silvio Orlando. Michele Placido. Jasmine Trinca. Paolo Sorrentino. Matteo Garrone.
• The Unknown Woman / La sconosciuta (2007).
  Director: Giuseppe Tornatore.
  Cast: Kseniya Rappoport. Michele Placido. Claudia Gerini. Ángela Molina. Nicola Di Pinto.
• Saturn in Opposition / Saturno contro (2007).
  Director: Ferzan Ozpetek.
  Cast: Stefano Accorsi. Pierfrancesco Favino. Ennio Fantastichini. Luca Argentero. Filippo Timi. Serra Yilmaz. Michelangelo Tommaso. Ambra Angiolini. Isabella Ferrari.

Marisa Berenson.

Marisa Berenson movies

American actress Marisa Berenson was in attendance at this year’s Venice Film Festival. Berenson has a supporting role in Luca Guadagnino’s I Am Love / Io sono amore, starring Tilda Swinton, Flavio Parenti, and Edoardo Gabbriellini.

In the last (almost) four decades, Marisa Berenson has been featured in about 30 films. Notable titles include:

• Death in Venice (1971).
  Director: Luchino Visconti.
  Cast: Dirk Bogarde. Björn Andresen. Silvana Mangano. Romolo Valli. Franco Fabrizi. Leslie French.
• Barry Lyndon (1975).
  Director: Stanley Kubrick.
  Cast: Ryan O’Neal. Patrick Magee. Hardy Krüger. Steven Berkoff.
• Elles / Women (1997).
  Director: Luís Galvão Teles.
  Cast: Carmen Maura. Miou-Miou. Marthe Keller. Joaquim de Almeida. Didier Flamand.

The 2009 Venice Film Festival runs Sept. 2–12.

More Venice Film Festival images

Pictured below are The White Space actress Margherita Buy and director Francesca Comencini; U.S. filmmaker Michael Moore, whose documentary Capitalism: A Love Story opens later this year; and actors Maria de Medeiros, Massimo Poggio, and Thyago Alves, three of the stars of Marco Filiberti’s David’s Birthday / Il compleanno.

In David’s Birthday, which, like Todd Haynes’ Far from Heaven, attempts to emulate Old Hollywood (or just “old-style”) melodramas, a married man (Massimo Poggio) falls madly in love with a much younger stud (Thyago Alves), much to the distress of his wife (Maria de Medeiros).

Also in the David’s Birthday cast: Alessandro Gassman, Michela Cescon, Christo Jivkov, and Piera Degli Esposti.

Margherita Buy.

Maria de Medeiros.

Massimo Poggio and Thyago Alves at ‘David’s Birthday’ photocall.

See also: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, and Joel and Ethan Coen at Venice’s photocall last year for the Coen brothers’ comedy Burn After Reading.

Images of Margherita Buy, Gaetano Bruno, Marisa Berenson, Maria de Medeiros, Massimo Poggio, Thyago Alves, Francesca Comencini, Antonia Truppo, Giovanni Ludeno: Courtesy Venice Film Festival.

Ennio Morricone and Margareth Madè: Venice Film Festival

Veteran composer Ennio Morricone, actress Margareth Madè, filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore, and actor Francesco Scianna were present at the Baarìa photocall held at the 2009 Venice Film Festival. Written and directed by Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso), the semi-autobiographical, Sicilian-set Baarìa follows three generations in the town of Bagheria (a.k.a. Baarìa), where the filmmaker was born.

Also in the Baarìa cast: Veteran Ángela Molina (That Obscure Object of Desire, Good News), Raoul Bova, Nicole Grimaudo, Enrico Lo Verso, Monica Bellucci, Michele Placido, Fabrizio Romano, Gaetano Bruno, Michele Russo, Alfio Sorbello, and Lollo Franco.

Ennio Morricone.

Ennio Morricone movies

One of the most prolific film composers ever, in the last half century Ennio Morricone has come up with scores for more than 500 movies and television productions. Titles include:

• A Fistful of Dollars / Per un pugno di dollari (1964).
  Director: Sergio Leone.
  Cast: Clint Eastwood. Marianne Koch. Gian Maria Volontè. Antonio Prieto. Margarita Lozano.
• Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).
  Director: Sergio Leone.
  Cast: Henry Fonda. Claudia Cardinale. Jason Robards. Charles Bronson. Jack Elam.
• The Mission (1986).
  Director: Roland Joffé.
  Cast: Jeremy Irons. Robert De Niro. Ray McAnally. Aidan Quinn. Cherie Lunghi. Ronald Pickup. Liam Neeson.
• Cinema Paradiso (1968).
  Director: Giuseppe Tornatore.
  Cast: Philippe Noiret. Marco Leonardi. Salvatore Cascio. Leopoldo Trieste. Jacques Perrin. Brigitte Fossey. Isa Danieli.

More Venice Film Festival images

Pictured below are Baarìa actors Margareth Madè and Francesco Scianna; and U.S. filmmaker George A. Romero, whose Survival of the Dead, featuring Stefano DiMatteo, premiered at Venice 2009.

Actor Toni Servillo is seen below at a photocall for Maurizio Zaccaro’s The Little / Il piccolo, also featuring Giuseppe Battiston and Mariangela Melato, and which was screened in the festival’s Controcampo sidebar.

Filmmaker Tinto Brass, and actors Alberto Petrolini, Caterina Varzi, and Vincenzo Varzi were in attendance for the photocall of their short film Hotel Courbet, screened as part of a Brass retrospective.

Margareth Madè.

Toni Servillo.

Toni Servillo, Alberto Petrolini, Caterina Varzi, Tinto Brass, Vincenzo Varzi, Ennio Morricone, Giuseppe Tornatore, Francesco Scianna, and Margareth Madè photos: Courtesy Venice Film Festival.

Charlotte Rampling: Venice Film Festival.

Charlotte Rampling: Venice Film Festival

Charlotte Rampling attended the premiere of Todd Solondz’s Life During Wartime, held at the Sala Grande during the 66th Venice Film Festival. Rampling is one of about a dozen stars featured in Solondz’s comedy-drama. Others in the cast:

Shirley Henderson. Michael Kenneth Williams. Allison Janney. Michael Lerner. Dylan Riley Snyder. Ciarán Hinds. Renée Taylor. Paul Reubens. Ally Sheedy. Gaby Hoffmann. Emma Hinz. Rich Pecci.

Charlotte Rampling movies

Among Charlotte Rampling’s best-known movies are the following:

• The Damned (1969).
  Director: Luchino Visconti.
  Cast: Dirk Bogarde. Helmut Berger.
• The Night Porter (1974).
  Director: Liliana Cavani.
  Cast: Dirk Bogarde.
• Stardust Memories (1980).
  Director: Woody Allen.
  Cast: Woody Allen. Jessica Harper. Marie-Christine Barrault.
• The Verdict (1982).
  Director: Sidney Lumet.
  Cast: Paul Newman. James Mason.
• Under the Sand (2000).
  Director: François Ozon.
  Cast: Bruno Cremer. Jacques Nolot. Alexandra Stewart.
• Swimming Pool (2003).
  Director: François Ozon.
  Cast: Ludivine Sagnier. Charles Dance. Jean-Marie Lamour.

Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee: ‘The Road’ photocall

Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee were on hand for the Venice 2009 photocall for John Hillcoat’s dystopian drama The Road. Mortensen and Smit-McPhee play father and son in the film, which also features Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Robert Duvall, Garret Dillahunt, Molly Parker, and Michael Kenneth Williams.

Todd Haynes, Salman Rushdie: More Venice 2009 images

Pictured further below are Viggo Mortensen going solo at The Road photocall, and Iranian filmmaker Shirin Neshat, this year’s Best Director Silver Lion winner for the psychological/political drama Women Without Men (co-screenwriter Shoja Azari collaborated on the direction).

Director Bobby Paunescu, and actors Doru Boguta and Monica Barladeanu are seen at the premiere of the Romanian drama Francesca, about a kindergarten teacher whose dreams of emigrating to Italy become increasingly further from reach. The Francesca contingent is accompanied by controversial author Salman Rushdie.

Actors Michele Riondino and Isabella Ragonese, and author/filmmaker Valerio Mieli were in attendance for the Ten Winters / Dieci inverni photocall. In the romantic drama – the title refers to the time span of the narrative – Riondino’s and Ragonese’s characters meet, fall in love, grow apart, meet others, but remain connected all the same.

U.S. filmmaker Todd Haynes showed up at the photocall for Angela Ismailos’ Great Directors, which, according to the festival’s website, “captures the essence and independent spirit of ten living auteurs.” Besides Haynes, the “auteurs,” – all from either Western Europe (France, Italy, the U.K.) or the U.S. – are:

Bernardo Bertolucci. Catherine Breillat. Liliana Cavani. Stephen Frears. Richard Linklater. Ken Loach. David Lynch. John Sayles. Agnès Varda.

The 2009 Venice Film Festival ran Sept. 2–12.

Michele Riondino, Valerio Mieli and Isabella Ragonese.

Todd Haynes.

Viggo Mortensen.

Charlotte Rampling, Michele Riondino, Valerio Mieli, Isabella Ragonese, images: Courtesy Venice Film Festival.

Doru Boguta, Bobby Paunescu, Monica Barladeanu, Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Shirin Neshat, Todd Haynes, Salman Rushdie photos: Courtesy Venice Film Festival.

Omar Sharif: Venice Film Festival

Basma Hassan, Sherif Ramzzy, Cyrine AbdelNour, and Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago actor Omar Sharif are pictured above at the photocall for Ahmed Maher’s Al Mosafer / The Traveller at the 2009 Venice Film Festival. (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

The Traveller depicts three crucial days, spread over decades (1948, 1973, 2001), in the life of an Egyptian man who falls in love with a woman on board a ship crossing the Atlantic. Khaled El Nabawy plays the young Hassan; Omar Sharif plays the older Hassan. Also in the cast, Sharif’s grandson, Omar Sharif Jr.

Kseniya Rappoport, Martina Gedeck: More Venice Film Festival images

Pictured further below are Omar Sharif and Cyrine AbdelNour on the Red Carpet for The Traveller; Adam Bousdoukos and Moritz Bleibtreu, two of the stars of Fatih Akin’s ensemble piece Soul Kitchen, winner of the festival’s Special Jury Prize; and Sergio Castellitto and Martina Gedeck (the leading lady in the 2006 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar winner The Lives of Others) at the photocall for Vincenzo Terracciano’s comedy Bets & Wedding Dresses / Tris di donne & abiti nuziali.

Also: Hollywood filmmaker and Venice jury member Joe Dante (Gremlins, Amazon Women on the Moon), and Best actress Venice winner Kseniya Rappoport, director Giuseppe Capotondi, and co-star Filippo Timi at the The Double Hour / La doppia ora photocall. In the film Rappoport plays a Slovenian chambermaid in Turin who becomes involved with an ex-cop (Timi); things start to unravel once her murky past bubbles up to the surface.

The 2009 Venice Film Festival runs Sept. 2–12.

Sergio Castellitto and Martina Gedeck.

Kseniya Rappoport, Martina Gedeck, Sergio Castellitto, Filippo Timi, Giuseppe Capotondi, Joe Dante, Adam Bousdoukos, Moritz Bleibtreu, Sherif Ramzzy, Cyrine AbdelNour, Omar Sharif photos: Courtesy Venice Film Festival.

Jacques Rivette, Jane Birkin: Venice Film Festival

Veteran Jacques Rivette, whose film career began with the short Aux quatre coins in 1949, was in attendance at the premiere of Around a Small Mountain / 36 vues du Pic Saint Loup at the 2009 Venice Film Festival. (Click on the image above to enlarge it.) Also present were the film’s two stars: Jane Birkin, who plays a traveling circus performer in the film, and Sergio Castellitto, who plays the stranger who becomes fascinated by Birkin’s character.

Jacques Rivette movies

Jacques Rivette has directed a total of 32 movies, including both features and shorts. Besides Around a Small Mountain, other titles include:

• Celine and Julie Go Boating / Céline et Julie vont en bateau: Phantom Ladies Over Paris (1974).
  Cast: Juliet Berto. Dominique Labourier. Bulle Ogier. Marie-France Pisier. Barbet Schroeder.
• La Belle Noiseuse (1991).
  Cast: Michel Piccoli. Jane Birkin. Emmanuelle Béart. Marianne Denicourt.
• The Duchess of Langeais / Ne touchez pas la hache (2007).
  Cast: Jeanne Balibar. Guillaume Depardieu. Bulle Ogier. Michel Piccoli. Anne Cantineau. Marc Barbé. Barbet Schroeder.

Jane Birkin movies

Beginning with an uncredited bit in Richard Lester’s Palme d’Or winner The Knack… and How to Get It (1965), Jane Birkin has been featured in nearly 70 films. Besides Around a Small Mountain and La Belle Noiseuse, titles include:

• La Piscine (1968).
  Director:
  Jacques Deray.
  Cast: Alain Delon. Romy Schneider. Maurice Ronet. Paul Crauchet.
• Je t’aime moi non plus (1976).
  Director: Serge Gainsbourg.
  Cast: Joe Dallesandro. Hugues Quester. Reinhard Kolldehoff (as René Kolldehoff). Gérard Depardieu. Jimmy Davis.
• Death on the Nile (1978).
  Director: John Guillermin.
  Cast: Peter Ustinov. Mia Farrow. Simon MacCorkindale. Bette Davis. Maggie Smith. Angela Lansbury. David Niven. Michael York. Olivia Hussey. Lois Chiles. Jon Finch. I.S. Johar. Jack Warden. Harry Andrews. Sam Wanamaker. Uncredited: Celia Imrie.
• Daddy Nostalgia / Daddy Nostalgie (1990).
  Director: Bertrand Tavernier.
  Cast: Dirk Bogarde. Odette Laure. Emmanuelle Bataille. Narrator: Bertrand Tavernier.

Jane Birkin.

More Venice Film Festival images

Pictured further below are actors Kalki Koechlin, Mahie Gill, and Abhay Deol at the photocall of Anurag Kashyap’s Dev D, a romantic comedy-drama based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s classic Bengali novel Devdas. In the film, a spoiled, rich young man (Abhay Deol) is torn between his feelings for his childhood sweetheart (Mahie Gill) – who has gotten married to somebody else – and a half-European sex worker (Kalki Koechlin) in charge of her own life.

Also below are photos of The Informant actor Matt Damon and filmmaker Steven Soderbergh; Sri Lankan filmmaker Vimukthi Jayasundara at a photocall for the contemplative Between Two Worlds, in which a mysterious man falls from the sky; and model/actress Elisa Sednaoui (Grégoire Colin’s short Fox Bay).

Matt Damon.

Jane Birkin, Sergio Castellitto, Jacques Rivette, Steven Soderbergh, and Matt Damon photos: Courtesy Venice Film Festival.

Kalki Koechlin, Mahie Gill, Abhay Deol photos: François Durand / 2009 Getty Images. Courtesy: Jaeger-LeCoultre.

Elisa Sednaoui photo: Vittorio Zunino Celotto / 2009 WireImage.

Venice Film Festival website.