LIFESTYLE THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2014 Features38 Stars flock to Venice as world’s oldest film fest begins

Italian actress Luisa Ranieri, godmother of the 71st Venice Film Festival, poses.

British costume designer and mem- ber of the jury, Sandy Powell, poses.

A picture shows a winged lion statue at (From left) Actors Amy Ryan, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, actors Michael Keaton the entrance of the Casino. and Andrea Riseborough pose for photographers during a photo call for Birdman.

he Venice film festival kicked off yesterday with the arrival of interna- of the best directors today. “We are not here to be daring or audacious but producers in need of funds with investors and distributors—as well as Final tional stars for a fortnight dominated by art house tales of war, poetry discover new worlds, films, subject, faces—and hopefully have fun, too,” he Cut, which showcases finished films from Africa and the Middle East to Tand the mafia. Tim Roth of “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction” fame said. Desplat was among the cinema luminaries quaffing prosecco at the buyers. There is buzz from critics already over the only first feature compet- could be seen relaxing ahead of the opening night’s red carpet, where he festival’s opening party on a roof terrace near Saint Mark’s Square in the ing for the Lion, “Sivas” by Turkey’s Kaan Mujdeci, about a young boy who is expected to dazzle alongside Emma Stone (“Easy A!”) and a boyish look- floating city Tuesday, inaugurating two weeks of glamorous beach galas befriends a dog he saves in a bid to protect himself from a violent society. ing Edward Norton (“American History X”). The first flick to take the stage at and red-carpet ceremonies. American Ramin Bahrani looks at the fallout of the economic crisis with the world’s oldest film festival will be Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Festival director Alberto Barbera brushed off criticisms that this year’s his drama “99 Homes” about a father trying to recover his house after an Inarritu’s “Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance”, starring Michael edition was light on Hollywood stars, saying the aim of the organizers had eviction, while Russia’s Andrei Konchalovsky dwells on loneliness in “The Keaton, who starred in “Beetlejuice” and two “Batman” films. been to create space for high-quality, innovative flicks which risk falling Postman’s White Nights”. The only documentary in competition is “The Other hotly-awaited world premieres include “Good Kill” by New Zea- through the cracks. “I have nothing against glamour, but it cannot be the Look of Silence”, Joshua Oppenheimer’s follow-up to his acclaimed 2012 land’s Andrew Niccol, starring Ethan Hawke as a drone operator in Afghani- only component in a festival. The idea is to explore cinema today in all its “The Act of Killing”, which this time sees Indonesian genocide survivors stan, and David Gordon Green’s “Manglehorn” with Al Pacino as an ex-con complexities,” he said. confront the killers of their brother. Out-of-competition slots have gone to turned locksmith with a broken heart. French film composer Alexandre He said two directors who had been expected at the festival were un- US director Peter Bogdanovich’s “She’s Funny That Way”, a comedy starring Desplat—whose dozens of works include the scores for “The King’s Speech” able to make it because they had been imprisoned—Iran’s Mohammadi Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston, as well as American Lisa Cholodenko’s and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”—is heading up the main jury at Mahnaz and Ukraine’s Oleh Sentsov, charged respectively for propaganda four-part HBO series “Olive Kitteridge”, starring Bill Murray, and pulp master the festival, which runs until September 6. against the regime and a “terrorist” plot—and called for their swift release. Joe Dante’s horror comedy “Burying the Ex”. —AFP

‘Have some fun’ New talent Desplat denied suggestions that being the first non-actor or director to The festival is bringing a new generation of artists to the Lido this year head up the jury would be a hindrance, saying he had worked with some with its first edition of a gap-financing market—which matches young Kate Bush returns to stage after 35 years cstatic fans welcomed British pop singer Kate and the rule was strictly enforced. Bush burst onto Bush back to the stage for her first show for the scene in 1978 at the age of 19, when her debut E35 years on Tuesday, in the same venue as her single “Wuthering Heights” went to the top of Brit- only previous tour. The crowd stood and roared ain’s singles chart and stayed there for four weeks. with approval as Bush, dressed in black, entered the The song’s distinctive soprano vocals and ethe- stage with her back-up singers and opened with her real video divided audiences, but Bush cemented 1993 song “Lily”. Over 80,000 tickets for the 56-year- her reputation as one of pop’s true innovators with old’s 22 shows in the “Before the Dawn” tour at the follow-up singles such as “Running Up That Hill”. Hammersmith Apollo, where Bush last performed Artists as diverse as Tupac Shakur, Sex Pistol Johnny in 1979, sold out in 15 minutes when they went on Rotten, Bjork and Coldplay have all cited Bush as an sale in March as fans clamored to be part of history. influence. Second-hand tickets have been advertised Her 2011 album “50 Words for Snow” was the last online for over £1,000 ($1,650). The theatrical show of 10 album releases, but her only tour took place included video, a helicopter and a sea rescue scene, in April and May of 1979. Despite the success of the and ranged over the three decades of Bush’s career “Tour of Life”, a theatrical spectacle involving magi- with songs such as “Hounds of Love”, “Oh England cians, poetry and 17 different costume changes, it My Lionheart” and “Babooshka”, before ending on would take her three decades to go back on tour. A basketball player made of pumpkins is seen yesterday at the Experience Farm in Klaistow, Germany during “The Man with the Child in His Eyes”. “There was un- Various theories were put forward to explain her a traditional pumpkin exhibition. – AFP photos doubtedly only one artist who would have had the reluctance to play live including a lack of artistic bloody mindedness, nerve and beautifully skewed control, a chronic fear of flying and the anguish imagination to pull it off,” wrote the Mirror. caused by the death of a roadie during one of her The performance made the front page of many 1979 shows. But she told the BBC in 2011 that it was of Britain’s newspapers, with the Daily Mail describ- the physical strain of her energetic shows which ing it as a “triumphant return” and the Guardian had put her off. Three and a half decades later, the calling it “unbelievable”. Eleven of her albums have ambitious staging and a voice untouched by time risen into this week’s Top 100 albums chart for sales, meant “the long wait felt worth it”, the Independent with her greatest hits collection “The Whole Story” wrote. “It’s quite stunning, undoubtedly the most reaching number eight, according to Official- ambitious, and genuinely moving, piece of theatri- Charts.com. Her most recent release—“50 Words cal pop ever seen on a British stage.” – AFP Of Snow”—also saw the biggest week on week percentage increase of 810 percent and has sold 155,000 copies so far, the charts company said. Bush had asked the audience in advance not to use phones or cameras during the performance,

Kate Bush performs her ‘Before the Dawn’ concert at the Hammersmith Apollo in west Lon- don. – AP

A ski jumper made of pumpkins is pictured.