The Artistic Director of the Rome Film Festival, Marco Müller, has announced that internationally renowned director and photographer Larry Clark will preside over the International Jury of the CinemaXXI section, the programme that the Festival devotes to new trends in world cinema. Amongst the most important and controversial creative figures of the past fifty years, Clark won the Golden Marc’Aurelio for Best Film at the last edition of the Rome Film Festival with his latest feature-length film, Marfa Girl. The Jury, chaired by Larry Clark, who will be joined by four other leading personalities in international cinema and culture, will assign the CinemaXXI Award, the Special Jury Prize – CinemaXXI (both reserved for feature-length films), and the CinemaXXI Award for Short Films.
What about the movies?
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, directed by Francis Lawrence, produced by Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF) and distributed in Italy by Universal Pictures International Italy, will be presented Out of Competition on November 14th at the 8th Rome Film Festival (Festival Internazionale del Film di Roma), which will be held from November 8th to 17th at the Auditorium Parco della Musica.
The highly anticipated followup to TheHunger Games, the first installment of the saga inspired by Suzanne Collins’ young adult novels, is the 14th highest-grossing North American release of all time and has grossed nearly $700 million at the worldwide box office. The film stars Oscar®-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook, X-Men:First Class, Winter’s Bone) as Katniss Everdeen, who is joined by Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Sam Claflin and Stanley Tucci. It will be released in Italy on November 27th.
Also Fear of Falling, the new film by American director, screenwriter, and producer Jonathan Demme will world premiere at the 8th Rome Film Festival (8-17 November 2013, Auditorium Parco della Musica), in the CinemaXXI section, dedicated to new trends in international cinema. In an accompanying Master class, Demme will meet the audience to talk about his relationship with cinema, commenting on the most significant film scenes in his career and answering questions from the audience.
The first four English-language films in the Competition line up: “Another Me” by Isabel Coixet, “Dallas Buyers Club” by Jean-Marc Vallée, “Her” by Spike Jonze, and “Out of the Furnace” by Scott Cooper
Marco Müller, artistic director of the Rome Film Festival (November 8-17, 2013, Auditorium Parco della Musica), has announced the first four English-language films in the Competition line up, which are: Another Me written and directed by Isabel Coixet (with Sophie Turner, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Claire Forlani, Gregg Sulkin, Rhys Ifans, Geraldine Chaplin), Dallas Buyers Club by Jean-Marc Vallée (with Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner and Jared Leto), Her written and directed by Spike Jonze (with Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde, Scarlett Johansson), and Out of the Furnace written and directed by Scott Cooper (starring Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Forest Whitaker, Zoe Saldana, Sam Shepard, Willem Dafoe).
Directed by Spanish filmmaker and screenwriter Isabel Coixet, director of the critically-acclaimed My Life Without Me (in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, and winner of two Goya Awards); The Secret Life of Words (presented at the Venice International Film Festival and winner of four Goya Awards, including Best Film and Best Director); Elegy, and Map of the Sounds of Tokyo (in competition at the Cannes Film Festival). Another Me is a supernatural thriller based on theeponymous novel by Cathy MacPhail (published by Bloomsbury) starring Sophie Turner (one of the protagonists in the acclaimed tv series “Game of Thrones”) as a teenager haunted by a secret past in search of inner peace.
Dallas Buyers Club is directed by the Canadian filmmaker and screenwriter Jean-Marc Vallée, whose previous films are C.R.A.Z.Y , The Young Victoria, and the critically-acclaimed Café de Flores. Inspired by a true story, the film tells of the intense struggle for survival waged by Ron Woodroof, played by American actor and screenwriter Matthew McConaughey (Contact, Amistad, Edtv, Killer Joe), winner of the Independent Spirit Award as Best Supporting Actor for his role in Magic Mike by Steven Soderbergh.
Spike Jonze, director of the award-winning Being John Malkovich (1999), Adaptation and Where the Wild Things Are, creator and scriptwriter of the controversial television series “Jackass”, and director of ground-breaking music videos (among others for Beastie Boys, Arcade Fire, Bjork, Chemical Brothers, R.E.M., Daft Punk), returns to feature filmmaking with Her, the story of Theodore – played by Joaquin Phoenix (To Die For, Gladiator, Walk the Line, Two Lovers, The Master) – a lonely writer who begins an unlikely relationship with his new operating system, voiced by Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, The Girl with the Pearl Earring, The Black Dahlia, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Under the Skin).
A searing drama about family, fate, circumstance, and justice, Out of the Furnace is directed by Scott Cooper, winner of two Oscars® (including Best Actor to Jeff Bridges) and two Golden Globes in 2010 for Crazy Heart. Oscar®-winner Christian Bale (Empire of the Sun, Public Enemies, Batman Begins, The Dark Night, The Fighter), plays Russell Baze, a former inmate recently released from prison, who must decide whether to give up his own freedom or seek justice for his brother, played by Casey Affleck (the Ocean’s trilogy, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Killer Inside Me).
Another Me
Written and directed by Isabel Coixet
With Sophie Turner, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Claire Forlani, Gregg Sulkin, Rhys Ifans, Geraldine Chaplin, Leonor Watling
U.K. Spain, 2013, 86’
The film will be distributed internationally by Fox International Productions.
A psychological thriller about a teenage girl, Fay (Sophie Turner), whose once seemingly perfect life slowly begins to unravel when she suspects that she’s being stalked by a mysterious “double”, who is out to steal not just her identity, but her life.
Dallas Buyers Club
Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, written by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack
with Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner and Jared Leto
U.S., 2013, 117’
The film will be distributed internationally by Focus Features.
In 1985, the devil-may-care existence of Ron, an electrician and rodeo cowboy from Texas, is suddenly blindsided by an unexpected event; he is diagnosed as H.I.V.-positive and given thirty days to live. Despite what everyone says, Woodroof refuses to accept this “death sentence” and begins his struggle for survival. He soon discovers that there are no approved treatments in the United States, and so decides to cross the border into Mexico where he learns about alternative medical treatments, and begins to smuggle the new medications into the United States. Ron challenges the American scientific community and even his doctor Eva Saks (Jennifer Garner). An outsider to the gay community, the hero finds an unlikely ally in Rayon (Jared Leto), an H.I.V.-positive transsexual who shares Ron’s lust for life and entrepreneurial spirit. Seeking to avoid government sanctions against selling non-approved medicines, together they establish a “Buyers Club,” where AIDS patients pay monthly dues for access to the newly acquired supplies. Ron fights for dignity, for his new friends, and for the acceptance of their rights.
Her
Written and directed by Spike Jonze
with Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde, Scarlett Johansson
U.S., 2013, 120’
Set in Los Angeles, in the near future, Her follows Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a complex, soulful man who makes his living writing touching, personal letters for other people. Heartbroken after the end of a long relationship, he becomes intrigued with a new, advanced operating system, which promises to be an intuitive and unique entity in its own right. Upon initiating it, he is delighted to meet “Samantha,” a bright, female voice (Scarlett Johansson) who is insightful, sensitive and surprisingly funny. As her needs and desires grow, in tandem with his own, their friendship deepens into an eventual love for each other.
Out of the Furnace
Directed by Scott Cooper, written by Brad Ingelsby and Scott Cooper
with Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Forest Whitaker, Zoe Saldana, Sam Shepard, Willem Dafoe
U.S. U.K., 2013, 116’
The film will be distributed internationally by Red Granite.
Russell Baze (Christian Bale) has a rough life: he works a dead-end blue collar job at the local steel mill by day, and cares for his terminally ill father by night. When Russell’s brother Rodney (Casey Affleck) returns home from serving time in Iraq, he gets lured into one of the most ruthless crime rings in the Northeast and mysteriously disappears. The police fail to crack the case, so – with nothing left to lose – Russell takes matters into his own hands, putting his life on the line to seek justice for his brother.