Elizabeth Banks' 2015 World Domination Tour Continues. Next Stop Venice

As previously noted, Team Experience won't be covering Venice Film Festival (no funds *sob* but I've wanted to go to Venice ever since I saw virginal Madonna singing on that gondola on MTV as an impressionable young lad) but we have planned a couple of Venice-related treats for you this year. And speaking of treats. The Venice juries were just announced and loaded with so many big names, you'd be hard pressed to guess which among them was the President of the Jury at first glance. But killing the suspense... the main jury's president is Alfonso Cuarón.

COMPETITION JURY MEMBERS:

ALFONSO CUARÓN, PRESIDENT (Mexico)
of The Gravity, Children of Men, Y Tu Mama Tambien fame

THE ELIZABETH BANKS WORLD DOMINATION TOUR (USA): Previous Tour Dates: Directing and Co-starring in Pitch Perfect 2; Best Reviews ever for Love & Mercy; Co-starring in Magic Mike XXL; Next Stops: Netflix Binge-watching Dominance with Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, Conquering Venice Red Carpet Coverage, and wrapping up a phenomenon with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2...

Lynne Ramsay and more after the jump...

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Venice Film Festival Winners

Manuel here to catch us up on the winners of the 71st Venice Film Festival.

The big story (as far as US-based coverage goes) is the "shutout" of Alejandro González Iñárritu Birdman. As it turns out, the Alexandre Desplat-led jury went with another feathered-titled film. Find the full list of winners below.

Golden Lion: A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence by Roy Andersson
Grand Jury Prize: The Look Of Silence by Joshua Oppenheimer
Silver Lion (Best Director): Andrej Koncalovskij, The Postman's White Nights
Best Actor: Adam Driver in Hungry Hearts
Best Actress: Alba Rohrwacher in Hungry Hearts
Marcello Mastroianni Award (Best Young Actor): Romain Paul in Le Dernier Coup De Marteau
Best Screenplay: Rakhshan Banietemad and Farid Mostafavi, Ghesseha (Tales)
Special Jury Prize: Sivas by Kaan Müjdeci

An Emmy nomination. A Venice Film Festival Award. A plum role in an iconic franchise's upcoming entry. A couple of ensemble films opening at the Toronto Film Festival. It's a great time to be Adam Driver, don't you think?

Horizon Awards:

Best Film: Court by Chaitanya Tamhane
Best Director: Naji Abu Nowa, Theeb
Special Jury Prize: Belluscone. Una Storia Siciliana by Franco Maresco
Best Actor or Actress: Emir Hadžihafizbegovi in These Are The Rules
Best Short Film: Maryam by Sidi Saleh

Venice Classic Awards

Best Restored Film: Una Giornata Particolare, Ettore Scola
Best Documentary on Cinema: Animata Resistenza, Francesco Montagner and Alberto Girotto

Which of these films are you most excited about? Just as Hungry Hearts shot up on my own list of "look out for" films following its pair of awards, I'm sure there are others inching up on people's lists of Fall Season films to catch before year's end (it's around this time that my own pretty much looks thrillingly overwhelming).

Get On Link

Towleroad The Imitation Game (we just discussed the trailer) isn't the only Alan Turing focused artwork in the ether. The Pet Shop Boys just debuted their opera Breaking the Code (yes, opera) about the man.
Theater Mania there's a stage adaptation of Shakespeare in Love in the West End. Here's a review
Vulture interviews True Blood's Nelsan Ellis on the lame actor who wouldn't make out with him on True Blood and his role in Get On Up

Kenneth in the (212) Ryan Gosling joins the waxworks at Madame Tussauds
MNPP freaks out for a John Waters retrospective this September. As well we all should.
Variety big weekend expected for Lucy. I guess this means Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow solo film will get a greenlight
Boy Culture Wonder Woman in Madonna drag. LOL
Awards Daily Heart of the Sea, the Ron Howard/ Chris Hemsworth post-Rush collaboration is test screening
/Film new poster for Mad Max: Fury Road 
Superhero Hype Batman's new costume displayed at Comic Con... but I'm sorry it looks so creepy without someone in it
AV Club Project Runway begins its 13th season tonight

And please to enjoy the Venice Film Festival Lineup. They're sharing some titles with TIFF like Good Kill, The Humbling, 99 Homes, and Red Amnesia. But ther opening night film Birdman is all theirs. Feel the envy. I'd do a whole post as with TIFF but I'm not going to Venice *sniffle* whereas I might be a TIFF and also as you read this I am fulfilling my obligations as a citizen via Jury Dutyzzz. No, for real. Feel for me as I sit in the rooms waiting for my name to be called or not.

Meanwhile in Venice...

While I struggle to keep up at TIFF (good lord what a learning curve) the Venice Film Festival wrapped up and announced its awards. We didn't share them in a timely fashion. My apologies. The winners were...

Stray Dogs

Golden Lion: Sacro GRA (Gianfranco Rosi)
This surprise winner is a documentary about a famous highway in Rome. Sometimes non-sexy subject matter translates into great films.
Grand Jury Prize: Stray Dogs (Tsai Ming-liang)
From the sounds of twitter this was the sensation of the festival though it doesn't screen at TIFF until after I leave town. *snifffle*
Silver Lion (Best Director): Alexandros Avranas, Miss Violence
Best Actor: Themis Panou, Miss Violence
I have a terrible habit of skipping films which then become winners at festivals. This is also playing Toronto but descriptions make it sound like a Greek version of The Virgin Suicides and I didn't bite. In hindsight and with awards under its belt a Greek version of The Virgin Suicides sounds tempting.
Best Actress: Elena Cotta, A Street in Palermo
Luckiest Gown: "Versayce" on Scarlett Johansson
okay that's not a real award but it should be. because dayum...

Marcello Mastroianni Award (Best Young Actor): Tye Sheridan, in Joe
Between this and his wonderful work in Mud, quite an arrival, huh
Best Screenplay: Philomena (Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope)
Dench was rumored to be the frontrunner for Best Actress but the jury thought otherwise... which might be telling since they obviously liked the film.
Special Jury Prize: The Police Officer's Wife (Phillip Groning)
Luigi de Laurentiis Award (Best Debut Feature): White Shadow (Noaz Deshe)
This one is a Tanzanian film (!) about an albino on the run from witch doctors.  

Theres another set of awards called "Horizon" and they chose...

Eastern Boys

Best Film: Eastern Boys (Robin Campillo)
A film about Eastern European young male immigrant hustlers in Paris's Gare du Nord station. 
Best Director: Still Life (Uberto Pasolini)
Special Jury Prize: Ruin (Michael Cody)
Award for Innovative Content: Fish and Cat (Shahram Mokri)
Best Short Film: Kush

Have you ever been to Venice or Toronto? Are they way up on your dream festival list or are you all about Cannes?

The Link (To Be Retitled)

The Guardian I have to admit I'm mystified by this MPAA ruling against TWC's The Butler using that rather generic title. They'll have to rename it but any random search on IMDb will prove that a ton of movies have the same title. Why is it an issue this time - especially with a century separating the titles?
Variety The Venice Film Festival will open with Gravity (albeit out of competition). Nice get there on the Lido
Empire Steven Spielberg beats Robert Redford to the rights to remake The Grapes of Wrath which is a pity really because Redford wanted to make it into a miniseries which would at least not be competing directly with the 1940 film classic

MPAA is excited about the Veronica Mars movie with this pic from the set. Confession: I have never been able to tell the cast members of this series apart. (I'm having the same problem with the third season of Teen Wolf in which all the women except Lydia have long dark and relatively straight hair)
Tribeca Joe Reid picks the five best performances of the year from Brie Larson to Greta Gerwig
/Film looks forward to The Wizard of Oz 3D/IMAX makeover with a trailer
Playbill asked readers which films Disney should give the Broadway stage treatment to. Good, unexpected and terrible choices mingle among the suggestions. FWIW I could totally see Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Hocus Pocus working theatrically. You?