Venice film festival’s Giornate degli Autori 2024 line-up includes Quay Brothers animation and Peaches biopic

By Tim Dams2024-07-19T11:40:00+01:00

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Sanatorium Under The Sign Of The Hour Glass

Source: Quay Brothers

Sanatorium Under The Sign Of The Hour Glass

The Quay Brothers’ Sanatorium Under The Sign Of The Hour Glass, and Marie Losier’s biopic of feminist singer Peaches are among the line-up for this year’s Giornate degli Autori.

The independent sidebar of the Venice Film Festival runs from August 28-September 7 and has 10 films in competition.

Sanatorium Under The Sign Of The Hour Glass is a blend of stop-motion animation and live action, inspired by the story collection of the same name by Polish writer Bruno Schulz where the search for his late father becomes a metaphysical journey.

It is the only the third feature from UK-based animators the Quay Brothers, and their first since The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes (2005). Their body of work includes acclaimed short Streets of Crocodiles (1986) and feature Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life (1995).

Playing out of competition as a special event is Peaches Goes Bananas by French filmmaker Losier, which is described as “an anti-biographical portrait” of the Canadian artist Peaches.

In competition, Dutch filmmaker Jan-Willem Van Ewijk plays his third feature Alpha, a thriller revolving around a troubled father-and-son relationship set in the Swiss Alps.

Also in competition is Selon Joy by Camille Lugan, one-time AD to Jacques Audiard, that has a cast including Asia Argento and Raphaël Thiéry. It explores the clash between good and evil, and between innocence and crime.

Taxi Monamour, the fourth feature film by Ciro De Caro, is the only Italian film in competition and stars Rosa Palasciano and Yeva Sai as two women who have lost their way.

The sidebar’s opening film, screening out of competition, is The Open Couple by Federica Di Giacomo, starring Chiara Francini, who is also the producer, and based on the play by the same name by Franca Rame and Dario Fo.

“Our lineup is rigorous, lean, and stylistically eclectic,” said artistic director Gaia Furrer, “one that puts stories about people front and centre: their encounters, relations, breakups, and losses.”