MULLER'S MANDATE: The 68th Venice International Film Festival (31 August-10 September), writes Samir Farid from Venice, opened with The Ides of March, directed by George Clooney. The official competition features 22 films: five from the US, 12 from Europe, and five from Asia. Highlights include Roman Polanski's Carnage and Poulet aux Prunes (Chicken with Plums), directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, both French, as well as David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method, a German production, and the Russian filmmaker Aleksander Sokurov's Faust. On the fringe are 23 films from 14 countries, including the Egyptian documentary Tahrir 2011 by Tamer Ezzat, Amr Salama and Ayten Amin. The producer Marianne Khouri is on one of the juries. Held at the magnificent Lido Island, the festival also includes, on Giardini Island, an art exhibition in which works by Ahmed Bassiouny, one of the martyrs of the revolution, are featured; Hassan Khan is on the jury. Directed by Marco Muller for the eighth year now, the 68th round provides further testimony to the fact that Muller has managed to restore the oldest film event in the world to its glory. After ensuring that Venice could compete with younger rivals like Cannes and Toronto despite the fact that it has nothing to give the American film market, Muller may not be staying on for future rounds.
