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When is Venice Film Festival 2023 and What Can We Expect?

Emma Stone's Frankenstein-like 'Poor Things' premiers in Venice but she will be absent amid the strike by Hollywood actors and writers. Vincenzo PINTO / AFP
Emma Stone's Frankenstein-like 'Poor Things' premiers in Venice but she will be absent amid the strike by Hollywood actors and writers. Vincenzo PINTO / AFP
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When is Venice Film Festival 2023 and What Can We Expect?

Emma Stone's Frankenstein-like 'Poor Things' premiers in Venice but she will be absent amid the strike by Hollywood actors and writers. Vincenzo PINTO / AFP
Emma Stone's Frankenstein-like 'Poor Things' premiers in Venice but she will be absent amid the strike by Hollywood actors and writers. Vincenzo PINTO / AFP

The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest film festival in the world, with its 80th edition opening this week.
Below are some facts about the festival and the 2023 contenders.
WHEN IS THE VENICE FESTIVAL?
The festival opens on Aug. 30 with the premiere of Italian World War Two film "Comandante", directed by Edoardo De Angelis. The event runs until Sept. 9 and closes with a Spanish-language Netflix drama "Society of the Snow".
WHERE IS IT HELD?
The Festival takes place on the Venice Lido - the so-called beach of Venice -- a thin barrier island in the Venetian Lagoon, which is a short boat trip from the main city of Venice. Unlike Venice itself, cars have access to the Lido.
WHY IS IT SO CLOSELY WATCHED?
The festival marks the start of the awards season and regularly throws up big favorites for the Oscars. Eight of the past 11 best director awards at the Oscars went to films that debuted at Venice.
Movie stars and directors traditionally enjoy traveling to the lagoon city to launch their films. However, this year will offer a bit less sparkle than usual because a Hollywood actors' strike will prevent many stars from promoting their work here.
WHAT MOVIES HAVE BEEN SELECTED FOR THE FESTIVAL?
There are several categories making up the official selection of films shown, the top being those competing for the coveted Golden Lion award.
This year's 23 contenders, in order of their screening, are:
"Comandante" (Italy) Director: Edoardo De Angelis
"El Conde" (Chile) Dir: Pablo Larrain
"Dogman" (Fr) Dir: Luc Besson
"Ferrari" (US) Dir: Michael Mann
"The Promised Land" (Denmark) Dir: Nikolaj Arcel
"Poor Things" (UK) Dir: Yorgos Lanthimos
"Finally Dawn" (It) Dir: Saverio Costanzo
"Maestro" (US) Dir: Bradley Cooper
"Adagio" (It) Dir: Stefano Sollima
"Die Theorie Von Allem" (Ger-Austria-Switz) Dir: Timm Kroger
"The Killer" (US) Dir: David Fincher
"The Beast" (Fr-Canada) Dir: Bertrand Bonello
"Evil Does Not Exist" (Jap) Dir: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
"Priscilla" (US-It) Dir: Sofia Coppola
"Green Border" (Czech-Pol-Bel-France) Dir: Agnieszka Holland
"Enea" (It): Dir. Pietro Castellitto
"Origin" (US) Dir: Ava DuVernay
"Me Captain" (It-Bel) Dir: Matteo Garrone
"Lubo" (It-Switz) Dir: Giorgio Diritti
"Holly" (Bel-Neth-Lux-Fr) Dir: Fien Troch
"Woman Of" (Pol-Swe) Dir: Malgorzata Szumowska, Michal Englert
"Memory" (Mex-US) Dir: Michel Franco
"Hors-Saison" (Fr) Dir: Stephane Brize
ARE ANY BIG FILMS BEING SHOWN OUT OF COMPETITION?
Like other festivals, Venice reserves a number of spots for interesting movies that are shown out of competition. Amongst those on offer this year are "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial" by US director William Friedkin, who died this month; "Coup de Chance", Woody Allen's first French-language picture; "The Palace", by Roman Polanski; "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar", a short feature by Wes Anderson; "Aggro Dr1ft", directed by Harmony Korine and starring rapper Travis Scott.

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Muddy Footprints Suggest 2 Species of Early Humans Were Neighbors in Kenya 1.5 Million Years Ago

An aerial view shows a research team standing alongside the fossil footprint trackway at the excavation site on the eastern side of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya in 2022. AP
An aerial view shows a research team standing alongside the fossil footprint trackway at the excavation site on the eastern side of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya in 2022. AP
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Muddy Footprints Suggest 2 Species of Early Humans Were Neighbors in Kenya 1.5 Million Years Ago

An aerial view shows a research team standing alongside the fossil footprint trackway at the excavation site on the eastern side of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya in 2022. AP
An aerial view shows a research team standing alongside the fossil footprint trackway at the excavation site on the eastern side of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya in 2022. AP

Muddy footprints left on a Kenyan lakeside suggest two of our early human ancestors were nearby neighbors some 1.5 million years ago.
The footprints were left in the mud by two different species “within a matter of hours, or at most days,” said paleontologist Louise Leakey, co-author of the research published Thursday in the journal Science.
Scientists previously knew from fossil remains that these two extinct branches of the human evolutionary tree – called Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei – lived about the same time in the Turkana Basin.
But dating fossils is not exact. “It’s plus or minus a few thousand years,” said paleontologist William Harcourt-Smith of Lehman College and the American Museum of Natural History in New York, who was not involved in the study.
Yet with fossil footprints, “there’s an actual moment in time preserved,” he said. “It’s an amazing discovery.”
The tracks of fossil footprints were uncovered in 2021 in what is today Koobi Fora, Kenya, said Leaky, who is based at New York's Stony Brook University.
Whether the two individuals passed by the eastern side of Lake Turkana at the same time – or a day or two apart – they likely knew of each other’s existence, said study co-author Kevin Hatala, a paleoanthropologist at Chatham University in Pittsburgh.
“They probably saw each other, probably knew each other was there and probably influenced each other in some way,” The Associated Press quoted him as saying.
Scientists were able to distinguish between the two species because of the shape of the footprints, which holds clues to the anatomy of the foot and how it’s being used.
H. erectus appeared to be walking similar to how modern humans walk – striking the ground heel first, then rolling weight over the ball of the foot and toes and pushing off again.
The other species, which was also walking upright, was moving “in a different way from anything else we’ve seen before, anywhere else,” said co-author Erin Marie Williams-Hatala, a human evolutionary anatomist at Chatham.
Among other details, the footprints suggest more mobility in their big toe, compared to H. erectus or modern humans, said Hatala.
Our common primate ancestors probably had hands and feet adapted for grasping branches, but over time the feet of human ancestors evolved to enable walking upright, researchers say.
The new study adds to a growing body of research that implies this transformation to bipedalism – walking on two feet — didn’t happen at a single moment, in a single way.
Rather, there may have been a variety of ways that early humans learned to walk, run, stumble and slide on prehistoric muddy slopes.
“It turns out, there are different gait mechanics – different ways of being bipedal,” said Harcourt-Smith.