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LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Alexander Payne's eagerly awaited comedy "The Descendants" will serve as the closing-night attraction at the New York Film Festival, the Film Society of Lincoln Center announced on Wednesday. The film, featuring George Clooney as a father whose life is shaken when his wife is injured in a boating accident, is Payne's first since the Oscar winner "Sideways."
The festival also announced its main slate of 27 features, some of which had already been confirmed. The lineup includes Michel Hazanavicius silent comedy "The Artist," Lars von Trier's controversial "Melancholia," Martin Scorsese's documentary "George Harrison: Living in the Material World," and Steve McQueen's "Shame," the British director's follow-up to his acclaimed "Hunger."
The opening night attraction, Roman Polanski's "Carnage," was previously announced.
The festival will also feature an in-depth conversation with Payne as part of its "On Cinema" series.
The New York Film Festival, which is presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, runs from September 30 through October 16.
(Reuters) – Actress Glenn Close will receive a lifetime achievement award at the San Sebastian film festival in Spain next month for a career that has shocked, delighted and moved audiences for more than 30 years, organizers said on Friday.
The five-time Academy Award nominee and twice Golden Globe winner will be presented with the award on September 18 and will also travel to the festival for the European premiere of her latest film, "Albert Nobbs", set in 19th-century Ireland.
Close made her big screen splash in the 1982 film "The World According to Garp", for which she earned her first Academy Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actress.
She has gone on to play characters that have been etched into cinematic memory, such as a bunny-boiling obsessed killer in "Fatal Attraction", the evil but hapless Cruella de Vil in "101 Dalmations" and a French aristocrat in "Dangerous Liaisons".
In recent years, Close has won fans and earned an Emmy for playing a tough-as-nails attorney on cable TV series "Damages".
(Reporting by Martin Roberts, editing by Paul Casciato)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Nashville has no theme park, no beach and no casinos.
But it has music. Lots of it.
The National Folk Festival, which is coming to Nashville Labor Day weekend, caps off several months of major events held here that validate Nashville's self-proclaimed moniker "Music City USA."
The free, 73rd folk festival Sept. 2-4 is to feature more than 250 of the country's finest traditional performers and craftsmen, with simultaneous performances on six stages throughout the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. An estimated 60,000 to 80,000 attendees are expected.
Audiences will be treated to authentic blues, gospel, jazz, cowboy, bluegrass, klezmer, Cajun, rhythm and blues, mariachi, Western swing, zydeco and more. Even polka. Yes, in Nashville, the city famed for fiddles and fringe.
Performances will celebrate the cultures of Native American, Celtic, Acadian, Middle Eastern, Caribbean, East Asian, Appalachian, Hispanic, Eastern European, African and Pacific Island.
Organizers also promise "a delicious variety of ethnic and regional food specialties."
If Southern food is more appealing, Nashville has plenty of fried chicken, country ham, pork barbecue, collard greens, red-eye gravy, grits and fried green tomatoes. Wash it down with sweet tea.
Gov. Bill Haslam, in announcing the folk festival, said it "preserves and celebrates the roots and variety of American culture we have here in our state."
The festival will take place a few blocks away from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (a city shrine) and a dozen or so raucous honky-tonks where hot guitars compete with cold beer for popularity.
If visitors want a taste of American culture, there's a Hard Rock Cafe on the downtown waterfront. And a Hooters.
The festival has been produced since 1934 by the National Council for the Traditional Arts. With such a long run, the festival has transcended country music, Big Band, rock `n' roll, disco and rap.
A sampling of scheduled acts this year: La Excelencia, doing salsa; Samba Mapangala & Orchestre Virunga, doing East African rumba and soukous; the Massive Monkeys, doing breakdance; Lloyd Arneach, a Cherokee storyteller.
Nashville, which already has 11 million tourists a year, beat out more than 40 other cities to host the event for the next three years. The festival is projected to pump $10 million into the local economy each year.
The festival will follow in the impressive cowboy bootsteps of a myriad of recent musical treats.
The four-day CMA Festival in June at the Tennessee Titans' LP Field had daily attendance of 65,000 exuberant fans to see an array of country performers including Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban and Reba McEntire. That event left approximately $30 million in direct visitor spending in the city.
The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, held at the same time 60 miles away on a 700-acre field near Manchester, Tenn., sold all 80,000 tickets.
And there's been more.
There are four Grand Ole Opry shows each week, weekly bluegrass performances and the production "Always...Patsy Cline," which wrapped up summer weekend shows July 24.
U2 performed before 45,000 at Nashville's Vanderbilt Stadium July 2. Lady Gaga and Jimmy Buffett also performed in the city recently.
More music is coming soon and it's not just country weepers.
In September alone, Journey with Foreigner and Night Ranger have a show on the books Sept. 13. Swift is to perform two nights, Sept. 16-17.
Last December, Garth Brooks performed nine sold out shows over seven nights in Nashville, raising $5 million for flood relief in Tennessee.
"Playing music has never felt better or ever felt more right," he said after the shows.
Has there been too much music? Too much of a good thing?
Mayor Karl Dean, ever a Southern gentleman, says no.
"The more we have, the better," he said, adding: "No city in the United States can match our city for the raw talent, creativity and long history of making music."
___
If You Go...
NATIONAL FOLK FESTIVAL: Sept. 2-4, Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park in Nashville; http://www.nationalfolkfestival.com/. Free admission. Festival features more than 250 traditional performers and craftspeople on six stages, plus a marketplace, children's activities, workshops and food.
SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie was close to tears as she received a special award during an unannounced visit to Sarajevo's film festival on Saturday with partner Brad Pitt.
"I will start crying if you don't stop," Oscar-awarded Jolie told the audience who gave her a standing ovation at the city's National Theater.
Jolie chose Bosnia's 1992-95 war as the setting for her first film as a director. "In the Land of Blood and Honey" is due to be released in December.
She has also visited Bosnia as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N.'s refugee agency UNHCR and funded the construction of several houses for returnees in eastern Bosnia.
Festival director Mirsad Purivatra presented Jolie with a heart-shaped award when she appeared at the closing ceremony.
"Tonight we are giving the honorary Heart of Sarajevo to a great artist, not only for the great impact she has in the world of cinema but also for persisting and her active engagement in the complexities of the real world we live in," Purivatra said.
Jolie, dressed in a long peach dress, stood on stage with eyes full of tears waiting for the clapping to die down.
"I told Brad in the car I was afraid I was going to cry," she said, her voice breaking.
Jolie's film tells the story of a love affair between a Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) woman and a Serb, who were on opposite warring sides during the conflict.
She planned to shoot parts of the film in Sarajevo and engaged a local crew. But she had to move to Budapest after some female victims of sexual violence objected to details in the plot and Bosnian authorities canceled a filming permit.
"I am so honored to be here at this festival," Jolie said after receiving the award. "There is no greater example of the strengths of the artists and the festival that began during the war and grew stronger every year."
The Sarajevo film festival was launched toward the end of the Bosnian capital's 43-month siege by Bosnian Serb forces.
Jolie presented Austrian actor Thomas Schubert with the award for best actor for his role in the film "Atmen," directed by Karl Markovics.
"Atmen," the story of a young offender searching for his mother, was also named best film in the festival.
Romanian actress Ada Condeescu won the prize for best actress for her role in the film "Loverboy," a drama about sex trafficking.
(Editing by Andrew Heavens)
NEWPORT, R.I. – Blue skies and strong ticket sales blessed this year's Newport Folk Festival, two days of veteran acts and up-and-comers from a variety of musical genres.
An estimated 10,000 people attended the long-running festival Sunday at Fort Adams State Park, and they were treated to performances from Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, Wanda Jackson and more than a dozen other acts on three stages set around Newport's historic fort.
Hundreds more fans listened from sailboats, kayaks and rafts just offshore.
"We've been trying to get here for 40 years," said Terry Reese, of Fallbrook, Calif., who attended the festival with her husband, Donn, to celebrate their 36th wedding anniversary. "We wanted to hear real music, music that's not canned or packaged."
The festival, first held in 1959 and known as the place where Bob Dylan went electric in 1965, sold out in advance for the first time this year. Festival creator George Wein decided earlier in the year to make the folk festival — and its sister, the Newport Jazz Festival — non-profit in an effort to ensure their long-term survival.
The event's mix of musicians from country, rock, blues and independent genres pleased festival-goer Jason Rosenstein, of Tiverton, R.I. He said that while the festival could rely on only older, established acts, it successfully injects a more youthful spirit by including many younger, up-and-coming bands.
"There's a lot of connecting going on, younger bands, older bands, different genres," he said. "It's a very positive energy."
It was a sentiment echoed by musicians including Taylor Goldsmith, of the band Middle Brother. Goldsmith said the Newport festival is his favorite festival for performing. The waterfront venue, with views of Newport's harbor, is one reason. The crowd and the lineup are others, he said.
"It's less about the festival, less about the acting crazy and more about the music," Goldsmith said.
Harris performed the final set of this year's festival, which began Saturday. Harris said she remembered hearing about the festival when she was a high school student listening to albums by Dylan, who was cheered by fans as an acoustic folk singer at the 1963 and '64 events but was jeered when he performed with an electric guitar in '65.
"I knew there was something going on out here, and there still is," Harris told the audience.
As an encore, folk pioneer Pete Seeger took the stage alongside Harris and several other musicians to lead the audience in singing two classics, "Turn! Turn! Turn!" and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"
The Newport Jazz Festival kicks off Friday at the same site.
SARAJEVO (AFP) – Hollywood stars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, in a surprise visit to Bosnia, on Saturday attended the closing ceremony of the Sarajevo Film Festival at which the actress received an honorary award.
Jolie was given the "Honorary Heart of Sarajevo" award not "only because of her exceptional career in the movie world, but also due to her exceptional engagement in the real world," the festival's director Mirsad Purivatra said at the ceremony.
Purivatra referred to Jolie's activities to help Bosnia's refugees, forced to leave their homes during the bloody 1992-1995 conflict that left 100,000 people dead and almost half of a four-million prewar population displaced.
Jolie, visibly moved by a standing ovation from the audience in the national theatre, broke down in tears as she thanked the organisers stressing she was honoured by being at the festival that was born during Bosnia's war.
"I told Brad in the car I was afraid I was going to cry," the 36-year-old actress, wearing a long peach dress, said.
"It is so wonderful to be here ... we are very honoured to be invited to this festival," Jolie told journalists on the red carpet before entering the theatre in downtown Sarajevo.
"We will be back to the kids tonight, but we will be back" to Sarajevo, she replied when asked how long they were planning to stay in the Bosnian capital.
Hundreds of Sarajevans gathered in the square in front of the theatre and cheered the two actors. The smiling couple posed for photographers and signed autographs for fans.
At one point Jolie approached the crowd to greet a baby being carried by a man.
Organisers of the 17th Sarajevo Film Festival said earlier in a statement that Jolie was their special guest, although the visit was kept secret until the very last moment.
Jolie visited Bosnia twice in 2010 as a UNHCR good will ambassador, meeting some of the refugees.
Last year Jolie filmed her directorial debut, a love story between a Muslim woman and a Serb man set against the background of Bosnia's inter-ethnic war.
"The Land of Blood and Honey" caused controversy in Bosnia when local media speculated that the film was the story of a Muslim rape victim who falls in love with her Serb attacker. The rumours prompted angry reactions from some victims' organisations.
However, Jolie asked the victims to be patient until they see the movie. According to the synopsis, the movie is a wartime love story between a Serb guard in a prison camp and a Muslim detainee, his former girlfriend.
At the SFF closing ceremony the "Heart of Sarajevo" best movie award was given to "Breathing," directorial debut of Austria's actor Karl Markovics.
Thomas Schubert who plays in "Breathing," a drama about a young parolee, received the best actor award while Romania's Ada Condeescu was proclaimed the best actress for her role in "Loverboy."
Born as an act of resistance when the Bosnian capital was under siege during the 1992-1995 war, the Sarajevo Film Festival has become a cutting-edge event where young European talent is revealed.
Besides the official competition for the award for the best movie, 200 films, long and short, were screened at the July 22-30 festival, which has grown to be one of the largest in Europe.
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina – Angelina Jolie attended the closing ceremony of the eight-day Sarajevo Film Festival in Bosnia's capital Saturday and organizers presented her with a special award for bringing attention to refugees from the country's 1992-95 war.
The award, called "The Heart of Sarajevo," was handed to Jolie by festival director, Miro Purivatra, who said it was being given to her not only for her great impact in the movie industry, but also "for persisting in her active engagement in the complexities in the real world we live in."
Jolie visited Bosnia several times last year as UNHCR ambassador and drew attention to the plight of 117,000 people who haven't able to return to their homes even though the Bosnia war ended 16 years ago. Accompanied by Brad Pitt, she visited several refugee camps. The visit resulted in a U.S. government donation that provided housing for the last 15 people living in one of the rundown facilities.
"I told Brad in the car I was afraid I was going to cry," she said with tears in her eyes as the audience gave her a standing ovation at the Sarajevo National Theater.
Jolie said she experienced the "warmth and hospitality" of the city during her visits and was honored to receive the award — a silver heart she took out of the box and pressed against her chest.
"There is no greater example of the strength of artists than a festival that begun during the war and grows stronger every year. I find it remarkable," she said.
Jolie and Pitt later watched a film about refugees by Oscar-winning Bosnian director Danis Tanovic.
The Sarajevo Film Festival started in 1994 in the besieged city, as its founders tried to offer citizens some sense of normal life. Residents braved mortar shells raining on the city to gather in a downtown basement and watch Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction," sometimes unsure whether the sounds of shooting came from the soundtrack or battles outside.
The next year, filmmakers shipped boxes of videotapes to Sarajevo along with food deliveries. Now, thousands from the region flock to Sarajevo every year to spend several days watching movies in more than 10 locations, and nights partying at concerts and other after-screening events.
Last year, Jolie shot some of the scenes of her first movie as director — a love story between a Serb man and Bosnian Muslim woman who fall in love and get separated during the war — in Bosnia. The film, "In the Land of Blood and Honey," will be released in December and casts local actors.
"In my career, I have never worked with such disciplined and talented artists," she said.
The project was overshadowed for a while by rumors that her movie featured a rape victim who falls in love with her assailant. This angered The Association of Women Victims of War, made of Bosnian wartime rape victims. They protested the production, claiming they were insulted by such a story line.
Mass rape was a taboo topic in the immediate aftermath of the country's 1992-95 war between Serb and Bosnian Muslim forces, but since then victims have formed a group to campaign for their rights, which has become one of the country's most powerful lobbies.
Jolie's filming permit was even briefly withdrawn but given back when her producers proved the rumor was not true and the entire Bosnian art community voiced support for her.
This year's festival hosted among others German director Wim Wenders and actress Charlotte Rampling. Over eight days, about 100,000 viewers watched over 200 films from dozens of countries.
Promoted in part by the festival, Bosnia is experiencing a film boom, despite its poverty. The country's filmmakers have won prestigious awards, including a foreign-film Oscar for Danis Tanovic's "No Man's Land" in 2002 and the Berlin Film Festival's Golden Bear for Jasmila Zbanic's "Grbavica" in 2006.
The festival has hosted stars such as Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman, Michael Moore, Daniel Craig and Mickey Rourke.
SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie was close to tears as she received a special award during an unannounced visit to Sarajevo's film festival Saturday with partner Brad Pitt.
"I will start crying if you don't stop," Oscar-awarded Jolie told the audience who gave her a standing ovation at the city's National Theater.
Jolie chose Bosnia's 1992-95 war as the setting for her first film as a director. "In the Land of Blood and Honey" is due to be released in December.
She has also visited Bosnia as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N.'s refugee agency UNHCR and funded the construction of several houses for returnees in eastern Bosnia.
Festival director Mirsad Purivatra presented Jolie with a heart-shaped award when she appeared at the closing ceremony.
"Tonight we are giving the honorary Heart of Sarajevo to a great artist, not only for the great impact she has in the world of cinema but also for persisting and her active engagement in the complexities of the real world we live in," Purivatra said.
Jolie, dressed in a long peach dress, stood on stage with eyes full of tears waiting for the clapping to die down.
"I told Brad in the car I was afraid I was going to cry," she said, her voice breaking.
Jolie's film tells the story of a love affair between a Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) woman and a Serb, who were on opposite warring sides during the conflict.
She planned to shoot parts of the film in Sarajevo and engaged a local crew. But she had to move to Budapest after some female victims of sexual violence objected to details in the plot and Bosnian authorities canceled a filming permit.
"I am so honored to be here at this festival," Jolie said after receiving the award. "There is no greater example of the strengths of the artists and the festival that began during the war and grew stronger every year."
The Sarajevo film festival was launched toward the end of the Bosnian capital's 43-month siege by Bosnian Serb forces.
Jolie presented Austrian actor Thomas Schubert with the award for the best actor for his role in the film "Atmen," directed by Karl Markovics.
Atmen, about a young offender searching for his mother, was also named best film in the festival.
Romanian actress Ada Condeascu won the prize for best actress for her role in the film "Loverboy."
(Editing by Andrew Heavens)
Tunis (Reuters) – In a suburb once firmly controlled by the family of the ousted president, young Tunisians are singing and dancing in a break from the months of tension and fear that have followed their country's revolution.
Rap, reggae and house music boomed out through the old Tunis port of La Goulette as the International Festival of Carthage opened for the first time since the violent overthrow six months ago of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
The festival, based around the ancient ruins of Carthage, near Tunis, gained a reputation as one of the country's most important cultural events and became a major draw for tourists visiting the north African country.
While the "Jasmine Revolution" lit a fire that has burned through much of the Arab world, Tunisians have since had to contend with political uncertainty, seemingly endless demonstrations and fear of crime.
Political reform under the new interim government is making slow progress, with elections to an assembly charged with drawing up a new constitution put back to October 23.
But as groups of young musicians got the latest edition of the Carthage festival off to an ebullient start earlier this month, culture minister Ezzeddine Bachaouch said he hoped the event would "bring joy and happiness to the hearts of Tunisians who had not been able to rejoice after their revolution."
Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia on January 14 after violent street protests in which more than 300 people were shot dead by the police.
Since then, many Tunisians have experienced feelings of fear despite their pride at having ousted the dictator who dominated their lives for 23 years.
People are reluctant to go out at night as they used to and shops in central Tunis close early. Fear of crime has risen following several well-publicized jail-breaks while the police presence in some neighborhoods has been weak.
So, in an effort to cheer people up, the Ministry of Culture put together a varied festival program of music, dance and theater from Tunisia, the Palestinian territories, Serbia, Italy, Spain and Syria.
In La Goulette, Hameda ben Amor, a young rapper known as the General, entertained hundreds of young people with his songs of freedom and revolution.
The General became the voice of thousands of disadvantaged young Tunisians before the revolution when he used his songs to criticize Ben Ali, who had him thrown in jail.
"YOUR PEOPLE ARE DYING"
Last December, just before the revolution, the General released a song on the Internet entitled "President, your people are dying" that addresses the problems of youth unemployment, a major factor behind the revolution.
A girl dancing and singing in the audience told Reuters: "These are great moments ... We forgot all our fear and we went out to celebrate. We are tired of staying at home because of the fear that we have lived with for months."
With a large security presence, the evening was quiet with no incidents reported.
"It is fun to sing for the people in the street and give some joy .. I'm happy because I see happiness and joy in the eyes of the people and we sing for free for people who do not have money to buy tickets," singer Sofian Safta told journalists.
Girls and young men danced and sang "Glory to Tunisia," waving the national flag in an expression of pride that the Arab Spring revolutions had their origins in Tunisia.
"It is good to celebrate victory. The memory of our victory over a tyrant will not be erased from history," one young man named Ayman Nasseri told Reuters.
"We do not feel fear today. We forgot fear when we overthrew Ben Ali," he said. "And while we are waiting to finally clean up the country of his ideas, let's relax a little and celebrate a great victory which impressed the whole world."
Under the old regime, an event like that held at La Goulette would not have been possible.
Under Ben Ali, politically activist singers, whether from Tunis or abroad, were discouraged.
Events took place in closed venues surrounded by national flags and pictures of the former president and his wife, while singers were encouraged to include numbers that praised the modern development of Tunisia.
Now, the culture ministry says: "Festivals after the revolution will give opportunities to artists who were marginalized previously."
As the Carthage festival music fades, however, Tunisians are facing an uncertain future. The October 23 election is expected to set off intense competition between secular parties and the Islamic Ennahda movement.
That, many Tunisians fear, might trigger further violence that could return the country to where it was six months ago.
(Editing by Giles Elgood)
NEW YORK (Reuters) – When rock and roll fans flock to an outdoor music festival in upscale East Hampton next month, the pampered pooches and kitties at a neighboring animal shelter may be popping Valium to cope.
In fact, the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons is so concerned about the well-being of its 150 furry "residents" that executive director Sara Davidson also is considering noise-reducing earmuffs for the animals.
The shelter sits on 22 wooded acres flanked by an airport where the weekend-long "Music to Know Festival" is expected to draw 6,000 fans daily on August 13 and 14.
Featured artists include Ellie Goulding, the British pop singer who performed for the royal wedding of Prince William and the former Kate Middleton, as well as the Tom Tom Club and the band Vampire Weekend.
Along with the possibility of tranquilizers and earmuffs, soothing classical music will be pumped through the kennels to drown out the rock music din, Davidson said.
"The veterinarian will make the determination if any animals are reacting adversely to the sound (of the rock festival)," Davidson said.
"She will make the determination of what if any medication they need. Valium is given to animals that are experiencing nervous conditions."
The festival was originally planned for the wealthy village of Amagansett before complaints and a lawsuit caused the concert to be moved to an old runway at the East Hampton Airport, said organizer Chris Jones.
Even in its new location, the music festival has been generating complaints for months - about possible snaking traffic, blaring music and mounds of litter.
But shelter worries about the dire effect rock music will have on the dogs and cats seem a bit of a stretch, Jones said.
"The animal shelter is literally 50 yards away from the main runway at the airport," he said.
"So you literally have a G-5 engine that flies to England taking off 50 yards from the animal shelter. I don't think there's going to be noise anywhere near the animal shelter other than noise from the airplanes."
Davidson said the animals are used to the roar of jet engines but could be disturbed having to listen to rock and roll from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. two nights in a row.
"What we don't know is how the animals are going to react to amplification and the low base line," she said.
(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Jerry Norton)
ROME – American filmmakers dominate the lineup of this year's Venice Film Festival, where George Clooney and four others will be competing for the Golden Lion, while Madonna, Al Pacino and Steven Soderbergh will premiere their latest directorial efforts.
The strong lineup also includes Roman Polanski, presenting "Carnage," an adaptation of the Broadway show "God of Carnage" featuring Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz; David Cronenberg's take on psychoanalysis in "A Dangerous Method," featuring Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender; and "Shame," a drama by British director Steve McQueen featuring Fassbender and Carey Mulligan.
All 22 movies in competition at the world's oldest festival are world premieres, organizers said Thursday. One of the 22 titles was kept secret and will be announced in coming weeks.
"We have looked for and strengthened a relationship with American cinema each year," said festival director Marco Mueller. However, he stressed that the guidelines for selecting the movies were just "to take beautiful movies, movies that would make one think and dream."
He cited Clooney's political drama "The Ides of March" as an example of a "sharp film that takes a look at today with a critical eye." The film about corruption and idealism in American politics, which stars Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman, will open the festival on Aug. 31.
The other American movies in competition are: the end-of-the-world film "4:44 Last Day on Earth" by Abel Ferrara; "Dark Horse" starring Mia Farrow and Christopher Walken directed by Todd Solondz of "Happiness" fame; "Killer Joe," a black comedy by William Friedkin starring Matthew McConaughey in the title role; and the second feature film by Ami Canaan Mann, "Texas Killing Fields," a murder drama featuring Sam Worthington and Jessica Chastain.
Chastain, who had previously starred in "The Tree of Life," also appears in Pacino's "Wilde Salome."
The lineup suggests a star-studded red carpet, though Mueller would not say which stars will attend the festival.
Among the most highly-anticipated events is Madonna's second feature film, "W.E." The movie intercuts between the romance of a modern woman (Abbie Cornish) and the relationship of American socialite Wallis Simpson and Britain's King Edward VIII, who abdicated the throne for love in the 1930s.
The festival runs through Sept. 10. The jury awarding the Golden Lion and other official prizes is headed by American director Darren Aronofsky.
HONOLULU – When Roy Sakuma first rounded up ukulele players for a festival at a Waikiki Park, he gathered 50 musicians and had an audience of 100.
This year, some four decades later, 900 people strummed and plucked their wooden four-string instruments in front of several thousand people lounging on benches and under tents on a sunny day at Kapiolani Park.
"That sweetness and charm of this instrument, just attracts you," said Sakuma, on the sidelines of the 41st Annual Ukulele Festival on Sunday.
The players ranged from novice five-year-olds attending Sakuma's ukulele schools on Oahu to stars like Jake Shimabukuro, who first performed at the event as a child decades ago.
The musicians were also international, including artists from Thailand, Italy, South Korea, and the U.S. mainland.
Sakuma said many people have long failed to take the ukulele seriously because they thought it was a toy. But he said that's changing as more people encounter it.
Mainstream artists, like Eddie Vedder, the leader singer of the band Pearl Jam, have taken up it up. Vedder was recently been on tour to promote his solo album, "Ukulele Songs."
Shimabukuro, who is in Hawaii only briefly between U.S. mainland and Japanese tours, said Internet sites like the video sharing service YouTube are helping spread the popularity of the kulele.
"It's so easy to watch and copy, and you can learn right away," he said.
He also attributes the instrument's appeal to its sound, which he said resembles children laughing.
"When people hear that it makes them feel young, it makes them feel like a kid," he said. "That's wonderful because it brings a different type of joy to you and that joy is infectious."
BERN, Switzerland – Rain turned to sunshine on the last afternoon of the Gurten Festival Sunday, as Liam Gallagher, Beady Eye's hard-rocking front man, charged through songs from their new album.
Former Oasis frontman Gallagher and his band took advantage of the timely change in weather, lifting the packed crowd with "Four Letter Word," "Beatles and Stones" then rattled off "Millionaire" and "The Roller" — their updates on classic British rock.
The audience sang along, and band camarderie was strong — drummer Chris Sharrock threw a drumstick high in the air, and caught it without missing a beat on "Three Ring Circus," and similar antics from guitarists Gem Archer and Andy Bell — all former Oasis members — helped lift the crowd.
Liam's older brother, Noel — Oasis' former main songwriter, lead guitarist and backing vocalist — has announced that he, too, will be putting out a new album. The brothers' well-known antics and rivalry finally broke up the band, but at one time Oasis considered itself — and perhaps was — the biggest in the world.
But no one yelled for an Oasis' song Sunday, and there was a sense in the crowd that maybe they were seeing the beginnings of another great British band.
"You're beautiful!" Gallagher told an enthusiastic sea of faces, just before their last song in their hourlong set.
The four-day Gurten Festival, atop the hilltop of the Gurten overlooking the Swiss capital and the Bernese Alps, began Thursday and ended Sunday. A small train takes festival-goers up and down the hill, and attracts thousands of music lovers each year.
This year's festival also featured the Arctic Monkeys, who played later Sunday, Jamiroquai, Kasabian and dozens of other popular bands.
LOS ANGELES – Perhaps the only ones more excited than the 130,000 fans getting ready for next week's Comic-Con are the Hollywood studios and networks hoping to capture their attention.
San Diego's annual pop-culture festival draws passionate (and often costumed) consumers of movies, TV shows, video games, collectibles and comic books. It's a crowd that's quick to tweet or blog about their favorite things, and Hollywood covets that fandom and their Internet reach.
Sony will showcase seven upcoming films at the four-day convention. Paramount is bringing Steven Spielberg to his first Comic-Con. Twentieth Century Fox is ballyhooing its film slate, including "Rise of the Planet of the Apes." Universal is holding its world premiere of "Cowboys & Aliens" at Comic-Con.
Small-screen offerings include Showtime's "Dexter" and "Shameless," Fox's "Glee," "Family Guy" and "The Simpsons," HBO's "True Blood" and "Game of Thrones," and dozens of other popular shows distributed by ABC, NBC, MTV and Warner Bros. Television.
Then there are scores of video games, graphic novels and, yep, comic books that will make their debut or reconnect with their audiences at Comic-Con.
"It's all about fandom," said Lisa Gregorian, chief marketing officer for Warner Bros. Television Group, which will be featuring "The Big Bang Theory" and "Fringe," among others. "The convention, you can say it's about science-fiction, you can say it's about pop culture. I say it's about fandom. It's people going there because they have an affinity for our titles in a big way, so they become evangelists for us, and it's perfect timing for us when our shows are launching in the fall."
The Comic-Con crowd comprises the most passionate of fans, said Morgan Spurlock, who will unveil his book, "Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope" at the convention this year.
"What Comic-Con represents is the creme de la creme of all those people, of all those fans, of all those bloggers, of all those ticket buyers who are the most discerning of fans and who will scream from the mountaintops when they like something," he said. "So if you're a studio or you're a publisher, whether it be of comics or video games, or you're a producer of television programs and that's your audience, you want to make sure that they get to see it. There's no better champion of this type of material than the people who go to Comic-Con."
It's an educated group, too, said Jon Favreau, who introduced his last several movies at the convention, including the first and second "Iron Man" and his latest effort, "Cowboys & Aliens." It was he who suggested bringing a Hollywood-style world premiere to the festival — a Comic-Con first.
"I owe so much to Comic-Con that it seemed like it would be a really fun and fitting end to the story to actually allow them to experience not just the first look at (the film) the year prior, but also let them be part of the premiere and see what that part of the equation is like," he said. "What's nice about Comic-Con — it's people who give entertainment movies a lot of thought. They know their movies, so you're presenting it to a refined set of tastes, but yet they also love popcorn movies. They're not snobbish. ... That's a combination I aspire to."
The Comic-Con crowd is connected online year round. When the cast of "Twilight" was first introduced at the convention in 2008, Twi-hards from across the country planned a pilgrimage to San Diego and slept overnight on the grass outside the convention center for a chance to be among the first to see the hunky vampires and werewolves in person.
"It was just incredible. I never saw The Beatles live, but that's what I imagine it was like," said Nancy Kirkpatrick, president of worldwide marketing for Summit Entertainment, distributor of the "Twilight" flicks. "It put `Twilight' on the map as far as a mainstream movie... But overall, you have those real hardcore pop-culture fans and media from around the world that can gauge what the response is from those fans, so it's a great opportunity to set up a movie."
Summit Entertainment will show footage from the penultimate installment in the "Twilight" franchise at this year's festival.
Sony introduced "District 9" at Comic-Con in 2009, before the film became a cult hit and an Oscar nominee.
"It got a huge, huge launch from there," said Marc Weinstock, the studio's president of worldwide marketing.
This year, Sony plans to show footage from the new "Spider-Man" movie, along with a peek at "Total Recall," the new "Ghost Rider," two animated properties and its forthcoming R-rated comedy, "30 Minutes or Less." Weinstock said the studio purposely delayed the release of the "Ghost Rider" trailer so it could make its debut at Comic-Con.
Though movies have a major presence at Comic-Con, it's not a film festival.
"It's more of like a marketing festival," Weinstock said. "(Typically) you're not showing the film. You're showing scenes or clips or sizzle reels, so it's more of almost just a trailer festival, like oh my god; I'm going to see stuff that no one else gets to see for months and months."
Comic-Con success does not always lead to commercial success, but filmmakers and marketers say it's worth the risk to bring properties straight to their eventual consumers.
"Does everything that gets momentum out of Comic-Con guarantee it's going to be a mainstream hit? No, it doesn't," said Favreau. "But the right piece of material at that place, it will blast you into the stratosphere."
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Online:
http://www.comic-con.org
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AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/APSandy.
