Venice Film Festival

Big Hollywood studios will take a back seat at this year's Venice Film Festival, with the competition lineup highlighting independent U.S. cinema, Italian productions and Japanese animation movies. Last year, U.S. and British movies dominated the lineup, with nearly half of the films in the main competition. This year, only five English-language movies will vie for the top prize at the world's oldest film festival. It opens Aug. 27. Among them is Jonathan Demme's "Rachel Getting Married," starring Anne Hathaway and Debra Winger in the story of an ex-model returning home for her sister's wedding after spending 10 years in and out of rehabilitation centers.

“The Bling Ring,” Sofia Coppola's tale of good girls gone bad in Southern California, is heading to Cannes - but not as part of the main competition. The fact-based drama will instead premiere in Un Certain Regard , where it will open the section on Thursday, May 16. Festival organizers made the announcement via Twitter on Wednesday evening in Paris, ahead of the full-slate announcement Thursday morning. THE ENVELOPE: Film festival coverage Though Un Certain Regard is prestigious, it does not hold the luster of the 20-movie main competition section.

What would a film festival be without some juicy controversy? According to this dispatch from the Hollywood Reporter, the Italian press has been in an uproar after it learned that some of the Venice Film Festival's biggest prizes went to filmmakers with longstanding ties to jury president Quentin Tarantino. Sofia Coppola, who is close with Tarantino (the Reporter piece describes her as his former girlfriend), won the Golden Lion, the festival's top prize, for her new film, "Somewhere. " The Silver Lion for best director went to Alex de la Iglesia, another close Tarantino pal, whose new film, "Balada Triste de Trompeta," debuted at the festival.

Sara Montiel Spanish actress was 1950s Hollywood star Sara Montiel, 85, a famed, sultry-voiced Spanish actress who achieved Hollywood stardom in the 1950s, died Monday in Madrid, according to her biographer, Peter Villora. The cause was undetermined. Also known as Sarita Montiel, she was born Maria Antonia Abad on March 10, 1928, in Campo de Criptana in the La Mancha region of central Spain. An acknowledged beauty with an almost husky singing voice, Montiel starred in more than 50 films, many of which were musicals.

Hollywood high-fliers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg launched Wednesday what is being hailed as Venice's most ambitious film festival in years, but their romantic comedy "The Terminal" failed to take it to new heights. More than 70 feature films, many of them world premieres, will screen at the 61st edition of the world's oldest cinema competition, which runs until Sept. 11 -- coincidentally a date that is central to many of its more controversial films.

In its second edition, the Other Venice Film Festival, which runs Friday through Sunday at the Electric Lodge and Switch Studios, has an explosive winner in Detdrich McClure's wrenching and vital "Easy Rider" update "Road Kings." In the film (previously titled "Road Dogs"), two young South L.A. friends, Panther (Glenn Plummer) and Ray (Chris Spencer), flee their lethal gangster existence and head out on their motorcycles for a new life in Washington, D.C.

From Shirley Temple and Jackie Cooper to Patty Duke and Anna Paquin, the movies have given audiences many memorable performances by child actors. But still the news out of the recently concluded Venice Film Festival was enough to raise some eyebrows: a 4-year-old girl won the best actress award.

Film fest: Organizers for the Venice Film Festival said Friday that they have named Italian Marco Muller to replace Moritz de Hadeln of Switzerland as head of the festival. Muller, 50, is an Italian movie producer and former head of smaller festivals in Italy and elsewhere.

Just One More: Actor Joe Pesci is receiving a special award today at the 59th Venice Film Festival. It's from the 150-plus photographers covering the event who applaud his performance as a 1940s tabloid shutterbug in Universal's upcoming "The Public Eye."

South Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-duk's intense mother-son relationship drama "Pieta" was awarded the Venice Film Festival's highest honor, the Golden Lion Award, on Saturday. The Silver Lion Award, the prize for directing, went to Paul Thomas Anderson for "The Master," while the film's stars, Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman, shared the best acting honors. Hadas Yaron won the actress award for her role in the Israeili film "Fill the Void. " "I put my suit on in the bathroom, so please don't judge," Hoffman told the assembled reporters and photographers.

The 69th Venice Film Festival is underway in Italy, and all eyes are on the red carpet. Kristin Scott Thomas turned heads in a silk, paisley print dress from the Giambattista Valli resort 2013 collection; Winona Ryder appeared statuesque in a black lace Dolce & Gabbana gown; and Naomi Watts looked radiant in a beige Marchesa frock at the opening ceremony.  High fashion is taking center stage at the festival, but the stars are getting style nods...

The Venice Film Festival opens Wednesday, unofficially kicking off Oscar season with a slimmed-down lineup that will provide a first look at a number of high-profile titles, including Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master" and Terence Malick's "To the Wonder. " Alberto Barbera, who ran the event from 1998 to 2002, is returning as director for the 69th edition of the festival. This year, 18 films are in competition, five fewer than last year, along with 60 world premieres and 21 titles directed by women.

Brian De Palma's thriller "Passion" and Terrence Malick's "To the Wonder" are among the 18 movies that will compete for the Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion award this year, organizers said Thursday. This year's lineup is slimmed from previous showcases for what creative director Alberto Barbera said should be easier viewer digestion. Sixty films, including 50 world premieres, will be shown at the festival, from Aug. 26 to Sept. 8. Recent festivals have screened upward of 100 films, with as many as 24 in competition.

With a recent increase in violent crime, Port of Spain, Trinidad, isn't one of the easier places to direct a movie. You might be in the middle of filming a scene and from out of nowhere overly vigilant cops draw their guns and chase one of your actors. Shaun Escayg knows these perils firsthand. When the Trinidadian-born filmmaker was shooting a scene in Port of Spain for his new short, “Fish,” he was startled to see his actor pursued by law enforcement officials, who had mistaken a scripted robbery for the real thing.

At one point in Steven Soderbergh's pandemic thriller "Contagion," Dr. Ally Hextall (Jennifer Ehle) gave herself an injection in such a rush that she doesn't even roll up her pants. Dr. Ian Lipkin, one of the film's science advisors, took one look at the scene and started, well, needling the filmmakers. "They tried to persuade me that it was OK — that she's in a real hurry," said Lipkin, the director of Columbia University's Center for Infection and Immunity. "And I said, 'No, no, she's not in that much of a hurry.'" At Lipkin's urging, Soderbergh reshot the sequence.

Throughout the new film "I'm Still Here," Joaquin Phoenix insists he's done with movies — acting, the Oscar-nominated "Gladiator" and "Walk the Line" star says, is "fraudulent" and "misery to me" — as he tries to rock the mike in his new calling as a hip-hop performer. Now it looks as if Phoenix is backing away from his "I'm retired" pronouncement. Several producers have said in recent days that they have been approached by Phoenix's talent agents about their client's return to movie roles.

What would a film festival be without some juicy controversy? According to this dispatch from the Hollywood Reporter, the Italian press has been in an uproar after it learned that some of the Venice Film Festival's biggest prizes went to filmmakers with longstanding ties to jury president Quentin Tarantino. Sofia Coppola, who is close with Tarantino (the Reporter piece describes her as his former girlfriend), won the Golden Lion, the festival's top prize, for her new film, "Somewhere. " The Silver Lion for best director went to Alex de la Iglesia, another close Tarantino pal, whose new film, "Balada Triste de Trompeta," debuted at the festival.