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Venice International Film Festival Announces Documentary Line-Up

The 63rd Venice International Film Festival, organised by the Venice Biennale, will be held at the Venice Lido from 30th August to 9th September 2006. Here's a taster of what's showing:

When the Levees Broke: A Requiem In Four Acts
Dir: Spike Lee
USA 2006 35 mm b/w Colour 240mins Doc. English

An epic portrait of New Orleans in the wake of devastation caused by hurricane Katrina, brought to life by the heartbreaking personal stories of those who lived to tell the story. This four-hour journey provides a detailed chronology of events, from the tragic failure of the levees to the lack of action that followed. The camera also focuses on the indomitable spirit of the New Orleans population as the city rises from the depths of despair with the help of its rich cultural legacy.

Dong
Dir: Jia Zhangke
China 2006 35 mm Colour 66 mins, Mandarin, Sichuan Dialect

Director Jia Zhangke follows painter Lui Xiaodong as he visits two Asian cities to create his oil painting series “Warm Bed”. In the ancient city of Fengjie on the northern bank of the Yangtze River twelve local deconstruction workers become models for his sketches that present images from a town to be submerged by water with the completion of the Three Gorges Project. In Bankok, Thailand, Xiaodong continues his work using twelve tropical women as models for his next painting in the series. The burning hot city makes the women drowsy, the painter is exhausted and the filmmaker discovers the similarities between the two cities.

Bellissime 2 - Simply Beautiful – Part Two
Dir: Giovanna Gagliardo
Italy 2006 35 mm Colour 180 mins Doc. Italian

Part two of Simply Beautiful looks at events that marked the second part of the 20th Century - from the 60’s to today – as seen by women. Using film footage, clips, photographs, songs and female voices to portray the historical events Gagliardo fashions a film that becomes a century of images that see women often taking the leading role. From the first single mothers proud of their “irregular” married status, to squares filled with the feminist protests of the Seventies, to leading women politicians.

The US V’s John Lennon
Dir: David Leaf & John Scheinfeld
USA 2006 35 mm Colour 99 mins Doc. English

A look at John Lennon's transformation from beloved musical artist to anti-war activist to iconic inspiration for peace that also reveals the true story of why and how the U.S. Government tried to silence him. This was not just an isolated episode in American history, the issues and struggles of that era remain relevant today.

Ana Alati Tahmol Azouhour Ila Qabriha - I Am the One Who Brings Flowers to Her Grave
Dir: Hala Alabdalla & Ammar Al Beik
Syria 2006 35mm b/w 110 mins Doc. Arabic

A film like a puzzle in black and white made up of journeys and returns that speak of prison and exile; the past and the present; love and death. A film that maps Syria with roads travelled, locations of unmade films and forgotten relationships. A film that searches for the poetry in the journey through life.

Tachiguishi: The Amazing Lives of the Fast Food Grifters
Dir: Mamoru Oshii
Japan 2006 35 mm Colour 104 mins Japanese

In this documentary-style feature Oshii depicts 1950’s Japan emerging from the ashes of war. In Tokyo, 1945, the Fast Food Grifters set up their scheme to get away without paying for their noodles by haranguing the restaurant proprietor with their refined rhetoric skills. These anti-heroes, working a fictional trade invented by the director, illuminate different stages in Japan’s post-war history.


To find out more about the festival see our festivals pages.

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More information:

See also: www.labiennale.org/