INTERVIEW: Nima Javidi, director of Melbourne, Opening Film of Venice71 Critics Week  Director Nima Javidi opened this year's Critics Week at the 71st Venice Film Festival with his debut feature Melbourne, telling the story of a couple in contemporary Iran whose planned migration to Melbourne is prevented by an unfortunate event few hours before departure. Javidi is the director of six short films and two documentaries. He is mainly known in Iran for his work on televisioncomm...

Numerous plastic bags filled with clothes and personal objects are drained until the very last airdrop is lost and their entire content appears withered, even more soulless than in its actual state. As the opening credits roll down, this stylistic symbol unpacks an array of thoughts and interpretations.  We are transferred to a simple, but modern apartment in Tehran. A couple is packing. Amir (Payman Maadi) and Sara’s (Negar Javaherian) belongings, their lives and future are about ...

  Hungry hearts, dir. Saverio Costanzo, Italy 2014 Venezia71  An Italian girl and an American boy meet accidentally in a Chinese restaurant in New York. The amusement of the first conversation is a corny, lighthearted lead to their upcoming future as a couple. Giving you a plain dose of a typical love story, Hungry hearts tricks you with its misleading rom-com opening, giving an under the belt punch with what's about to follow.      Jude (Adam Driver) and Mina...