10/02/2006

The 63rd edition of the Venice International Film Festival will be held August 30 – September 9, 2006. Venice Director Marco Muller and Biennale President Davide Croff announced the dates at the Berlin Film Festival, currently underway.

Both men took advantage of the occasion to remind everyone of the success achieved by the films screened on the Lido last September. Croff and Muller will be at the Oscars on March 5, where six of the films screened in Venice will compete for a record 23 nominations, including Brokeback Mountain, Good Night, and Good Luck, The Constant Gardener [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Italian title Don’t Tell [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Cristina Comencini.

In the meantime, Venice organizers are concentrated on building the new Palazzo del Cinema, a necessary move for competing with the new Cinema Festival in Rome and simultaneously re-launching the Venice Festival (this year’s main sponsor will be FIAT). In January, Veneto Region Governor Giancarlo Galan and Venice Mayor Massimo Cacciari signed an agreement to build a new “Palazzo” on the Lido. The agreement includes the requalification of the Ospedale al Mare zone, the construction of the new Palacinema (with an investment of up to €100m) and the reorganization of the adjacent area.

(Translated from Italian)