The advent of summer is wonderful for obvious reasons (temperatures wax, clothes wane) but also for one known only to movie-die hards: festival announcements*. While eager crowds are lining up to eat the baby-shit sandwich called Shrek 3, pretentious assholes like me are staring into a computer screen (or worse: Film Comment**) to see what’s been billed as the opening night for a festival we’ll probably never get to. The reason? Obviously, if I know that Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises is going to be at a fest in September, then we’ll all get to see it not long after that.
And now, the film I’m reserving the deepest car crash/unexpected victory fascination for, Coppola’s Youth Without Youth, has a festival date. The film will have it’s world premiere at the second RomeFilmFest in October. Granted, the film already has a December date pretty much locked thanks to Sony Pictures Classics, but word of mouth out of Rome could change how SPC decides to market the thing: tiny arthouse oddity (Tim Roth, lightning strikes and Nazis? Not a stretch.) or big-ticket award bait.
And speaking of Cronenberg, contrary to some expectations his film won’t be opening the Toronto fest in September. The first flick out of the gate for the festival’s 32nd year will be Jeremy Podeswa’s Fugitive Pieces, about the life of a guy who escaped Poland during WWII and eventually landed in Canada. The film is noted as an interesting opening pick for not having any stars, but it does feature Rosamund Pike and Stephen Dillane. That’s the film’s world premiere, and get used to the name because, if it’s well-received, you’ll hear more about it in the run-up to the award season.
*Sometimes these things even coincide. Check this week’s EW photo of Erika Christensen from Tribeca to verify.
** Yes, I have a subscription.