From a shortlist of finally three films the INTERFILM Jury at the 73rd International Film Festival Venice has chosen the winner of the 6th INTERFILM Award for Promoting Interreligious Dialogue. The jury decided for the Nepalisian film "Seto Surya" (White Sun) by Deepak Rauniyar which was screened in the Orizzonti section of the festival. The two other favourites of the jury were "Frantz" by French director François Ozon and the Chilean competition entry "El Cristo ciego" (The Blind Christ), directed by Christopher Murray.
The official festival jury presided by director Sam Mendes awarded the Golden Lion to "Ang babaeng humayo" (The Woman Who Left) by Lav Diaz from the Philippines. The film of nearly four hours is loosely based on one of the folk tales by Leo Tolstoj, "God Knows the Truth But Waits". The opening film of the festival was the romantic musical "La La Land", directed by Damien Chazelle and starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone who won the Best Actress Award. The competition included new films by Andrej Končalovskij, François Ozon and Wim Wenders among others. Emir Kusturica has extended his episode "Our Life" of the 2014 Venice entry "Words With Gods" to a full-length feature film entitled "Na mliječnom putu" (On the Milky Road). Terrence Malick took part with the documentary "Voyage of Time", a philosophical meditation in images about the universe, nature and humanity. A remake of John Sturges' western "The Magnificent Seven" which transferred Akira Kurosawa's original "Seven Samurai" to America closed the festival program.
The festival has expanded the "Cinema nel Giardino" screenings introduced in 2015 to a new festival section which is open to visitors without tickets. The market has a new title, "Venice Production Bridge", and a new structure. Also the program section "Biennale College" offering young filmmakers possibilities to develop their projects has been enlarged.
Link: Festival-Website