Films directed by women dominate the independent auteur diaries at the Venice Film Festival, which unveiled a full lineup of debuts and special events including “Peaches Goes Bananas,” French director Marie Lauzier’s tribute to the iconic Canadian actress Peaches.
Filmed over 17 years, “Peaches Goes Bananas” offers an intimate portrait of the former teacher, who in the 1980s moved from Canada to Berlin and became a lesbian feminist icon, breaking taboos and “turning her body into art,” as the documentary’s synopsis says.
The Venice Days competition — also known as Venice Days — includes 10 world premieres, six of them first works, in a collection that artistic director Gaia Forrer described in her notes as “rigorous” and “stylistically eclectic.”
Forer stressed that 16 of the 25 titles in the section were directed by women, a fact she called important “because many of them made difficult work while often facing disadvantageous situations and there are still very strong gender barriers,” she said.
The Venice Days competition also includes Sanatorium Under the Hourglass, the third feature film from the London-based Quay brothers (Stephen and Timothy). It is a story told through puppet animation and live action, inspired by the book of the same name by Bruno Schulz, which involves a ghostly train journey that takes a man to visit his dying father in a sanatorium on the edge of a mythical forest. Sales are handled by Match Factory.
Dutch director Jan Willem van Erik, whose epic film “Atlantic” premiered in Toronto, is also in contention with his psychological thriller “Alpha,” a tortured father-son relationship set in the Swiss Alps.
Notable debuts include the atmospheric French drama “The Book of Joy,” directed by Camille Logan, a former Jacques Audiard executive, and featuring Asia Argento and Raphaël Thierry (“The Dreamer”); Iranian director Shahab Ftouhi’s Tehran-set relationship drama “Boomerang”; and Isabella Torre’s out-of-competition finalist “Basilia,” developed at the Sundance Lab and produced by Jonas Carpignano. “Basilia” is about an archaeologist who awakens an ancient presence while exploring a tomb in the rugged Aspromonte mountains of southern Italy. The cast includes Angela Fontana (“Indivisibile”) and Danish-American actor Elliot Croset-Hoff (“God’s Land”).
In addition to “Peaches Turning into Bananas,” special events at Venice Days include “The Open Couple” by Federica Di Giacomo, a farce about sexual politics in marriage based on a play by Dario Fo, the Nobel Prize-winning Italian playwright, and his wife Franca Rami.
Short films by Malaysian director Tan Chee Mui (“Barbarian Invasion”) and Argentine director and producer Laura Citarella (“Trinqui Laoquin”) will be screened as part of Prada’s “Tales of Miu Miu Women” series, a series of short films directed by women.
The 21st Venice Days will take place from August 28 to September 7, coinciding with the Venice Film Festival’s Official Selection. See the full line-up below.
In competition
“Alpha” Jan Willem van Erik
“Antique” Russian Glurgidze
Boomerang by Shihab Fattouhi
“Manas” by Mariana Brennand
“Hourglass Sanatorium” by Stephen and Timothy Quay
“The Book of Joy” by Camille Logan
“So happy forever”, Kohei Igarashi
“Sugar Island” by Johanni Gomes Terrero
“Monamor Taxi” Cerro de Caro
“Killing a Mongolian Horse” by Xiaoxuan Jiang
Out of competition
“Basilia” Isabella Torre
Special Events
“Open Couple” by Federica Di Giacomo
“Spirit of the Desert” by Monica Taboada Tapia
“Cora” by Claudia Fariao
“The Possibility of Heaven” by Mladen Kovacevic
“Peaches Turn into Bananas” by Marie Lussier
“Sudan, Remember Us” Hind Meddeb
Women's Tales Project (Short Films), in collaboration with Miu Miu, a Prada brand
“I am the beauty of your beauty, I am the fear of your fear” Choi Mui Tan
“The Miu Miu Case” by Laura Citarella
