Strand Releasing has acquired Francois Ozon's latest, "Time To Leave" (Le Temps qui reste), in a deal negotiated with Celluloid Dreams. The film, starring Jeanne Moreau, is screening in Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival. Charlotte Mickie from Celluloid Dreams negotiated the pact with Jon Gerrans from Strand. Strand is planning a July '06 release for the film.

Ryan Werner has left his post as head of theatrical distribution at Wellspring, joining IFC Films as the company's new VP of Marketing. The company said in an announcement that Werner will "be charged with overseeing the development and implementation of media strategies for all the company’s slate of film properties in addition to developing poster/trailer campaigns and strategic promotional efforts." He is replacing Ron Tsuruda and Nevette Previd who have left the company.

While at Wellspring, Wener handled the releases of "Tarnation", "The Brown Bunny", "Palindromes" and "The Beat That My Heart Skipped", among others, and he has previously worked for Palm Pictures, Magnolia Pictures, Sundance Channel, and IFP.

In the latest example of experimentation with collapsing distribution windows, Martin Scorsese's "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan" will be screened in 30 cities as part of a deal set to be announced by Emerging Pictures. Emerging will join forces with Thirteen/WNET New York for free screenings of the two-part, nearly four hour doc that screened at the Teluride Film Festival this past weekend and is also set for a screening in Toronto. It will be shown in 30 cities before its PBS airdates on September 26th & 27th and a full length DVD from Paramount is anticipated a week before the TV airdate as well.

Venice is the oldest film festival in the world and quite possibly the most eccentric. This year's edition, the 62nd, has been the usual Felliniesque mix of carnival and chaos. There have been parties in the Doge's palace, packed screenings, tight but haphazard security and stormy press conferences. As for the films, the consensus among critics is that the programme has been far stronger than in recent years. Even more surprising, everything has run pretty much on time. Geoffrey McNab reports in The Guardian.

The Venice Film Festival is the perfect launch pad for an Oscar bid. It gives directors and actors art-house kudos and is the ideal place to promote a movie outside the United States. No wonder Hollywood loves the Lido. Once again, some of cinema's biggest stars graced the red carpet in Venice, putting the lagoon city almost on a par with the world's premier cinema competition in Cannes in terms of glitz and glamour. Reuters reports.

IDP, the joint distribution venture by Samuel Goldwyn Films and Roadside Attractions, has announced a number of key changes. Kristi Avram has been named VP of publicity, joining the company from Palm Pictures, while Shani Ankori has been promoted to VP of marketing and promotions. Daniel Feiner has been hired as director of finance and administration.

Avram will head the bi-coastal PR department that includes directors of publicity Nicolette Aizenberg and Tiffany Bair, as well as new addition Lindsey Weidhorn, coordinator for marketing and publicity.

Director John Turturro had the Venice Film Festival singing along on Tuesday with his blue collar musical "Romance & Cigarettes," the off-beat story of a man tempted by his mistress but still in love with his wife. Clara Ferreira-Marques reports for Reuters.

The director of the Oscar-nominated documentary "Spellbound," which followed a spelling bee, is turning his attention to an indie feature about high school debating. "Rocket Science" centers on 15-year-old Hal Hefner (Reece Thompson), who despite his terrible stuttering joins a high school debate team. Tatiana Siegel reports in the Hollywood Reporter.

Critics at a screening booed one of Italy's big hopes to win the top prize at the Venice Film Festival Tuesday. Roberto Faenza's "The Days of Abandonment," about a woman who loses control of her life after she is left by her husband, drew boos as well as laughter in the wrong places, Italian news agencies reported. A.P. reports.

As a Palestinian director, Hany Abu-Assad fully recognized he was stepping into a political minefield. By making a feature film about two young Palestinians who volunteer to become suicide bombers, he risked being accused either of glorifying terrorism or of betraying resistance to the Israeli occupation. The solution he found was to tell the story of "Paradise Now" as realistically as possible, but from a human point of view. Alan Riding profiles the director and "Paradise Now" in the New York Times (free subscription required to view entire article).

The 2006 edition of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival has announced its annual call for entries. Submissions in all categories are now being accepted by the festival and applicants can submit via the festival's website. The early deadline for submissions is November 14, 2005 and the late deadline is December 5, 2005. The 2006 festival will be held March 10-18, 2006 in Austin, TX.

Japanese cult director Takeshi Kitano baffled and enthralled Venice on Friday with the premiere of "Takeshis,"' a surreal send-up of his eclectic career which weaves together the lives of a TV celebrity and his lookalike. The surprise addition to a list of 19 films vying for the Venice Film Festival's top Golden Lion prize is a bewildering jaunt from smoky mah-jong parlors and noodle bars to showdowns between gun-slinging yakuza gangsters. Clara Ferreira-Marques reports for Reuters.

A groundbreaking movie about forbidden love between two cowboys in the American West, "Brokeback Mountain" by Taiwan-born director Ang Lee, has conquered critics at the 62nd Venice international film festival even before its world premiere. Featuring strong performances by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in the leading roles, the film is a sensitive study of the homosexual relationship between two cowboys who meet while working on a ranch in 1963. Agence France Presse reports.

A week before the launch of the Toronto International Film Festival, Fox Searchlight Pictures has acquired the opening-night world premiere, writer-director Deepa Mehta's "Water." Nicole Sperling reports in the Hollywood Reporter.

"March of the Penguins," "Grizzly Man" and the 16 other summer movies may not solve the riddles of existence, but they offer glimpses into the real world. Stephen Holden reports in the New York Times (free subscription required to view full article).

George Clooney brought political controversy to Venice on Thursday with "Good Night. And, Good Luck," a black-and-white tale of broadcasting courage during the McCarthy-era witch hunts of the 1950s. Clooney, who acts in and directs the film, is the first of several A-list Hollywood stars due to walk the red carpet at the sun-soaked Lido, host to days of waterfront parties. Clara Ferreira-Marques reports in Reuters.

Sundance Channel announced today the acquisition of the pay television rights to 12 films (features, documentaries, and shorts) from the 2005 Sundance Film Festival: Gregg Araki's "Mysterious Skin"; Adrienne Weiss' "Love, Ludlow"; Mercedes Moncada Rodríguez' "El Immortal"; Vicente Ferraz's "I am Cuba, the Siberian Mammoth"; David Redmon's "Mardi Gras: Made in China"; Jun Ichikawa's "Toni Takitani"; Stephen Marshall's "This Revolution"; Tim Kirkman's "Loggerheads"; Simone Bitton's "Wall"; plus the short films Susan Kraker and Pi Ware's "The Act" and Miguel Arteta's "Are You the Favorite Person of Anybody?". The films are scheduled to premiere on Sundance Channel in 2006. For more information, visit the Sundance Channel website.