Yet another Spielberg work, Close Encounters, which tells the story of Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) whose life is turned upside down when he discovers a UFO, was nominated for nine Oscars in 1978. At the time of its release, the awe-inspiring film was Columbia’s most successful release of all time, and viewed aliens with wonder and curiosity rather than fear and violence.
Venice Classics will include a wide range of restored classics this year, including the 1964 Michelangelo Antonioni Golden Lion winner Red Desert, starring Monica Vitti and Richard Harris. Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1900 (1976), starring Robert De Niro and Gerard Depardieu, will make its big comeback, as will Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), starring Richard Dreyfuss and Francois Truffaut.
Italian director Giuseppe Piccioni (Not of This World, Light of My Eyes) will chair the jury, which will award the Venice Classics Award for best restored film and best documentary on cinema.
Other highlights of the lineup include Kenji Mizoguchi’s Silver Lion winner Sansho the Bailiff (1954), Milos Forman’s Black Peter (1963), Jean-Luc Godard’s Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1967) and John Landis’ Into the Night (1985).
Venice Classics has been a popular sidebar of the international festival since 2012, presenting world premieres of the best recent film restorations. Its jury, in addition to the chairman, is composed of 26 Italian students of cinema history.
Alongside the restoration, Venice Classics also premieres a new selection of documentaries about cinema and filmmakers. The complete list of Venice Classics documentaries will be announced with the full Venice lineup on July 27.
The 74th Venice International Film Festival is set to run Aug. 30-Sept. 9.
VENICE CLASSICS LINEUP
Wanderers of the Desert, Nacer Khemir
Batch ’81, Mike De Leon
Black Peter, Milos Forman
A Story From Chikamatsu, Kenji Mizoguchi
Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Steven Spielberg
Dainah la metises, Jean Grémillon
Zéro de conduite – rushes, Jean Vigo
Red Desert, Michelangelo Antonioni
Two or Three Things I Know About Her, Jean-Luc Godard
The Ape Woman, Marco Ferreri
Come and See, Elem Klimov
Into the Night, John Landis
Under the Olive Tree, Giuseppe De Santis
1900, Bernardo Bertolucci
Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, Yasujiro Ozu
The Third Lover, Claude Chabrol
The Old Dark House, James Whale
The Revolt of Mamie Stover, Raoul Walsh
Sansho the Bailiff, Kenji Mizoguchi
