Venice Film Festival's Horizons Sidebar Names Closing Films

ROME – Marian llmestys (The Annunciation) from Finland’s Elija-Liisa Ahtila and Monkey Sandwich by Belgian director, choreographer and photographer will be the two closing films in the Venice Film festival’s Horizons sidebar, officials announced Thursday, while Siglo ng pagluluwal (Century of Birthing), the latest film from award-winning Philippine director Lav Diaz has been added to the sidebar’s lineup.

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The world premiere of Siglo ng pagluluwal, which tells two parallel stories, one about a filmmaker working on what he believes will be his greatest project and the other about a rural Christian cult leader. Diaz, the father of the New Philippine Cineman movement, is a Horizons regular: He’s had films in the section twice before and was a member of the jury last year.

Meanwhile, the festival said that the back-to-back screenings of Marian llmestys and Monkey Sandwich was selected to close the section because they represented “the fusion of different forms of expression.”

Marian llmestys is a “cinematic reworking of the elements of a video installation,” while Monkey Sandwich is a “fictional backstage rendering of a theatre mise-en-scene which features dance.”

Ahtila, the director of Marian llmestys, will already be in Venice as a member of the main competition jury.

The 68th edition of the Venice Film Festival will take place this year August 31-Sept. 10.