The Seoul Times

The Venice Film Festival that runs from Sept. 2 to 12, 2009 may well have a strong European presence and the latest creations from biggies such as Steven Soderbergh, Michael Moore, Joe Dante, Werner Herzog and Todd Solondz.

Though the actual lineup will be out in Rome on July 30, Festival Director Marco Mueller and his team appear to have decided on movies whose actors would make it a point to fly down to Venice – helping the international event to avoid last year’s criticism of being star starved.

Moore’s documentary (he still has not got into Obama bashing!) will have a go at the current economic crisis, while Soderbergh’s “The Informant” essays Matt Damon as an agriculture business price fixer. Australian helmer John Hillcoat will make his Venetian sojourn with “The Road”, starring Charlize Theron in a post-apocalyptic tale, and Herzog’s “Bad Lieutenant” will have Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes to sail along the picturesque canals across the Adriatic Sea. Charlotte Rampling (remember her in Francois Ozon’s “Swimming Pool”?) will accompany Solondz with his “Life During Wartime”, a kind of sequel to the 1998 “Happiness.”

Interestingly former Gucci creative director Tom Ford is expected to present his first film, "A Single Man," centered on an L.A.-based British college professor who loses his partner of 16 years. The picture stars Julianne Moore.

Italy will be in full force: For the first time in 20 years, an Italian work will herald the Festival. Called “Baaria”, it is a big budget Sicilian epic by Tornatore. Others from the country include Tilda Swinton-starrer “I am Love” (by Luca Guadagnino), “The Big Dream” (Michele Placido), “The White Space” (Francesca Comencini) and “Napoli, Napoli, Napoli” (Abel Ferrara).

In the Gallic basket we could have "White Material," starring Isabelle Huppert and Christophe Lambert; and Patrice Chereau's love triangle "Persecution".

Asia though a favourite with Mueller may not be as hot at this year’s Venice. A reason for this is that Cannes took away many of the significant productions from the continent this May. There is a chance that the Chinese historical work “The Warrior and the Wolf," by Tian Zhuangzhuang, may play there provided it is finished.

Not surprisingly there is no news about India.

Gautaman Bhaskaran is a veteran film critic and writer who has covered Cannes and other major international festivals, like Venice, Berlin, Montreal, Melbourne, and Fukuoka over the past two decades. He has been to Cannes alone for 15 years. He has worked in two of India’s leading English newspapers, The Hindu and The Statesman, and is now completing an authorized biography of India’s auteur-director, Adoor Gopalakrishnan. Penguin International will publish the book, whose research was funded by Ford Foundation.