Venice preview

We look ahead to the Italian film festival, where new films from David Lynch and Darren Aronofsky will screen.

Aug 30 2006

The 63rd edition of the Venice Film Festival - the longest-running film festival in the world - opens today and boasts a broad programme of new films from directors including David Lynch, Brian De Palma, Alfonso Cuaron, Alain Resnais, Darren Aronofsky, Paul Verhoeven, Stephen Frears, Ethan Hawke and Spike Lee.

As ever, Time Out will be reporting from the event, with reviews of the big films as they emerge and reports of the goings-on beyond the big events - the discoveries, the news, the views.

There are a number of hotly anticipated titles in this year's line-up. 'The Fountain' is Darren Aronofsky's first film since 'Requiem for a Dream' (2000) and is said to be a work of three parallel stories that spans 1,000 years. Also taking a sci-fi approach with his new film is Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron ('Y Tu Mama Tambien', 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'), whose 'Children of Men' imagines a world in 2027 in which human reproduction is no longer possible. Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine star in this adaptation of a P D James novel.

The only British film in competition is Stephen Frears' 'The Queen', which will be released in the UK on September 15. 'The Queen' reunites Frears with writer Peter Morgan - together they made 'The Deal' - in a daring and amusing dose of historical reconstruction that imagines the goings-on behind the closed doors of Downing Street and Balmoral in the week between the death and funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997. Helen Mirren delivers a superb performance as the Queen.

Other titles that Time Out is looking forward to are the new works from Faouzi Bensaidi ('Mille Mois') from Morocco and Mahamat-Saleh Haroun ('Abouna') from Chad. Ethan Hawke delivers his second film as a director (after 'Chelsea Walls') with 'The Hottest State', an adaptation of his own first novel. Paul Verhoeven returns to the Dutch language with 'Black Book', and Spike Lee delivers his verdict on Hurricane Katrina with his four-hour 'When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts'.

No film, however, will be scrutinised more than David Lynch's 'Inland Empire', his first film since 'Mulholland Dr.' in 2001. As ever, much secrecy surrounds Lynch's new film, but it's known that the director shot the entire film on digital both in California and eastern Europe and it stars Laura Dern, Jeremy Irons and Harry Dean Stanton.

Come back on September 7 for the first review of 'Inland Empire', and before then check here regularly for reviews of other films at Venice.

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