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Al-Ahram Weekly 26 Aug. - 1 Sep. 1999 Issue No. 444 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 26 Aug. - 1 Sep. 1999 Issue No. 444
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Focus Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Venetian screens.
ON WEDNESDAY 1 September, one of the oldest and most prestigious cinematic events in the world, the Venice International Film Festival, will open with Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, which was released posthumously and stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman; and close, on 11 September, with Martin Scorsese' tribute to the Italian cinema, Il Dolce Cinema. Though the official competition, whose jury is headed by Yugoslavian filmmaker Emir Kusturica, admits only 18 films (this year's selection comprises 10 European, four American and four Asian films), other entries in the various sections of the festival number 120 films, and include the directorial debut of Egyptian filmmaker Atef Hatata's Al-Abwab Al-Moghlaqa (Closed Doors), starring Mahmoud Hemeida and Sawsan Badr. With the exception of Shadi Abdel-Salam's unforgettable landmark, The Night of Counting the Years, which participated in 1968, Hatata's offering is the first Egyptian film to make it to Venice. Among the official competition's highlights are Chinese filmmaker Jang Yuan's Seventeen Years which, after much debating, sealed the official competition's dozen and a half array; Antonio Banderas' directorial debut, Crazy in Alabama; and Australian filmmaker Jane Campion's latest film, Holy Smoke. The festival will also pay tribute to Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, who died during last year's round, by screening his last film, After the Rain, another posthumous release. Hitchcock's birth centenary will also be celebrated, and American comedian Jerry Lewis (73 years old) will receive a prize or his lifetime contribution to the field.
