Venice at Home: Day 10 – The Artist Is (Not) Present

by Cláudio Alves

Well, it's time to say goodbye to the Venice at Home project. Maybe it'll return next year as other cinephiles flood the Lido and those of us who don't share in the FOMO.  There are three remaining directors in the official competition. First, Jafar Panahi, incarcerated since earlier this year but no less capable of dazzling cinephiles with his political, profoundly personal work. No Bears sounds like another triumph. Also vying for the honor is Susanna Nicchiarelli, whose Chiara completes an unofficial trilogy about historical women (Miss Marx and Nico, 1988 also screened at Venice). Finally, Roschdy Zem jumps behind the camera after having graced festival audiences with his acting in Other People's Children. For Les Miens he does triple duty as star, director, and screenwriter.

This miniseries was always intended to celebrate great artists, so it's fitting that the last three films are about them as we focus on an Iranian filmmaker (This is Not a Film), a German singer (Nico, 1988), and a French clown (Chocolat) of Afro-Cuban heritage… 

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Linking on Empty

• Washington Post reviews a new book on Elizabeth Taylor & Montgomery Clift's friendship
• TFE <--- in case you missed it we discussed every one of Clift's films for his centennial this past fall
• Vulture To say we're thrilled to hear that Todd Haynes will be reuniting with Julianne Moore for his next film, is an understatement. It's a psychodrama called May December in which Natalie Portman will play an actress who is playing Moore's character in a movie based on her scandalous love affair.
• IndieWire Why Brooke Smith is running an Emmy campaign on her own without the studio's blessing (I mean she has a point about paying your dues. But we know from years of experience and category fraud that Hollywood cares very little about non-leads.

Queer horror, Jane Campion's latest, Harrison Ford, fav musicals, Sex and the City, and more after the jump...

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Showbiz History: Hedy's Nude Scene and Paul Dano's Debut

4 random things that happened on this day, January 20h, in showbiz history

1933 The infamous erotic drama Extase (Ecstacy) starring Hedy Lamarr, and filmed simultaneously in three languages (German, Czech, French) premieres in Czechoslovakia. It would take years to travel the Globe since it kept running into trouble with censors due to Hedy's nude scenes and being one of the very first movies to depict a female orgasm (Hedy's perfect face in close-up). Famously brainy Lamarr helped translate the original Czech screenplay into German and French for filming...

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