So remember my post about the guy with the thing in the place?  Well, turns out veteran Ethiopian filmmaker (and friend of my dad’s) Haile Gerima won not only one, but two awards at Venice for his new film Teza: Special Jury Prize and Best Screenplay.

Now I’m more curious than ever to check it out, not to mention Darren Aronofsky’s (not a friend of my dad’s) latest, The Wrestler, which took home the Golden Lion.

This year’s fest is just getting started, and news already has us looking to next year.

Venice Film Festival artistic director Marco Mueller said Wednesday that next year’s festival will start a week later, on September 2 … about the same time that Toronto is due to begin. This could force some filmmakers, who are unlikely to try to be in two places at the same time, to make a choice between screening their films at Venice or Toronto.

Meanwhile, USA Today observed that even without the direct competition from Venice, Toronto’s festival “isn’t quite its bellwether self this year. Factors such as rising travel costs, delays caused by the writers’ strike and weakened art-house divisions have kept the most likely best-picture candidates out of the lineup.”

My father was born in Ethiopia.  He’s friends with an Ethiopian filmmaker named Haile Gerima.  I met Gerima many years ago but hadn’t really thought about him in a while.  Then I was reading about Teza, a new film about Marxist violence in 80’s Ethiopia that’s making the rounds at Venice and had a mix of surprise upon seeing that Gerima was the director, and then a total lack of surprise when I remembered that he’s been making movies about Africa since 1971 (his best known is probably 1993’s Sankofa).

Given that Gerima often has to self-distribute, an unlikely route to recognition, it’s nice to see him at such a high profile festival.  I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a good reception.

Man, it’s slow out there.

Tropic Thunder rules over a meager box-office weekend.

Instead of buzz, Venice seems to be producing yawns.

And the Toronto Star has a comprehensive Toronto International Film Festival preview, complete with capsule reviews. Top critic Peter Howell calls Soderbergh’s four-plus-hour Che “Havana’s Gate.” Ouch.

Speaking of TIFF, I’ll be up there starting Wednesday, and running through the weekend. Looking forward to Ed Harris’ Appaloosa, Spike Lee’s Miracle at St. Anna, and The Brothers Bloom — the follow up from Brick director Rian Johnson. Anyone else going? Care to meet up? Shoot me a message.

What the heck is The Wrestler?

Darren Aronofsky’s follow-up to The Fountain was supposed to be a boxing picture with Brad Pitt and Mark Wahlberg.

Now he’s bringing The Wrestler (an unrelated film) to Venice. It stars Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood in the story of a retired pro wrestler making his way through the independent circuit. BadTaste.it has photos. Here’s my favorite:

Rourke-a-mania!

Intrigued? You HAVE to be! Now, get me more details!