The surprise winner of the 68th Venice Film Festival was [...]

Marjane Satrapi’s “Poulet aux Prunes” (“Chicken with Plums”) is the French-Iranian filmmaker’s live-action adaptation of her namesake graphic novel. Co-directing once more with Vincent Paronnaud, who also worked on the 2007 film adaptation of “Persepolis,” Satrapi creates a fairly-tale 1950s Tehran as the backdrop for the story of Nasser Ali, a violinist (Satrapi’s uncle, or so she claims) who resolves to die

Costume dramas and fairy tales set the tone for the opening days of the 68th Venice Film Festival. David Cronenberg’s hotly-awaited A Dangerous Method details the collaboration and rivalry between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud and set on the eve of World War One. “A Dangerous Method” arrived on day three of the festival and has been one of the stronger entries in the 22-film-strong main competition program.

Do you remember the documentary Protagonist (Jessica Yu, 2007) about [...]

Basically, if the year overall has been stuffed to the gills with good movies then Cannes will have a great edition. But if the vintage is not a good one, it will show down on the riviera. On the other hand, Toronto and the Venice Film Festival (the "Mostra") have the perfect time slot. Because anything that's been done in the first half of the year will be scheduled for a Mostra or a Toronto premiere--once the large blockbusters have cleared the Summer pipeline, here come the indie and foreign heavy-hitters; but sales will go in a frenzy at Toronto, since the Mostra does not have a market.

I was looking for some music on iTunes when, by some coincidence, I ran into the “Carnival of the Animals” suite by French romantic composer Camille de Saint Saëns. In fact, I was looking for some house music for my morning jog at the gymn.

The arrangement I found was by Barry Wordsworth and the London Symphonic Orchestra. The melodies had a pleasant, cinematic quality to them. The titles--“Kangaroos,” “People with long ears”—sounded as if they’d been lifted from Michel Gondry’s scrap book.

And then, the unpredictable occurred: “Aquarium,” the better-known piece from "Carnival of the Animals" came on the loudspeakers. I couldn’t believe it; this was the same music that’s been used by the Cannes Film Festival for the opening title sequence which plays before every screening (see video player below).

The same fairytale-like splendor, the whirlwind-like glissandos, it was all there—I was spellbound by it. Here I was, right back in my seat at the Lumière Theatre, waiting for the first screening to start.

The same day I contacted Gilles Jacob to ask him about this all came to be.

The beautiful Marisa Tomei will be starring opposite George Clooney and Ryan Gosling in "Ides of March," which will premiere at the next Venice Mostra.