Richard Gere starrer “Hachiko” by Lasse Halstrom will kick off the inaugural Aruba Film Festival on June 4.
Fest, which unveiled its line up on Thursday, wraps on June 11 with Fox Searchlight comedy “Cyrus,” helmed by Jay and Mark Duplass and starring John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei and Catherine Keener.
Fest will showcase 25 pics from 16 countries ranging from Hindi musical comedy “Three Idiots” to Dutch drama “Amsterdam” and English horror pic “Black Death” by Christopher Smith. Latter two pics as well as “Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang” will have their international premieres at the fest.
Latino pics include Guillermo Arriaga’s “The Burning Plain,” Diego Luna’s “Abel” and Venezuelan Haik Gazarian’s war drama “Venezzia.”
As previously announced, Gere will receive a Golden Aruba humanitarian award and participate in a panel with helmer Bernardo Bertolucci, who will receive a Golden Aruba for outstanding achievement in film.
Aside from Gere and Bertolucci, other guests making the trek to the Caribbean island, 17 miles off the coast of Venezuela, include Arriaga, Martin Scorcese’s long-time editor Thelma Schoonmaker and thesp Patricia Clarkson.
Fest is backed by government funding and sponsor donations and is organized by Aruba Film Prods.
Italian producer Giuseppe Cioccarelli and local filmmaker Jonathan Vieira are fest producers. Claudio Masenza is artistic director.
Aruba Festival films are:
3 Idiots, Rajkumar Hirani, India
Abel, Diego Luna, U.S.
Amsterdam, Ivo van Hove, Netherlands
A NY Thing, Oliver Lecot, U.S.
Barry Munday, Chris D’Arienzo, U.S.
Black Death, Christopher Smith, U.K.
Boy Ecury, Frans Weisz, Netherlands
Cairo Time, Ruba Nadda, Canada/Ireland/Egypt
Christina, Larry Brand, U.S.
Cyrus, Jay and Mark Duplass, U.S.
Delhi 6, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, India
The Secrets in Their Eyes, Juan Jose Campanella, Argentina/Spain
Hachiko, Lasse Hallstrom, U.S.
Happy Family, Gabriele Salvatores, Italy
Holy Rollers, Kevin Asch, U.S.
I Travel Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You, Karim Ainouz, Brazil
Lucky Country, Kriv Stenders, Australia
Loose Cannons, Ferzan Ozpetek, Italy
My Queen Karo, Dorothee van den Berghe, Netherlands/Belgium
Nanny MacPhee and the Big Bang, Susanna White, U.K./France/U.S.
Penso che un sogno cosi, Marco De Luca, Italy
A Question of the Heart, Francesca Archibugi, Italy
Sell Out, Yeo Joon Han, Malaysia
The Burning Plain, Guillermo Arriaga, U.S./Mexico
Venezzia, Haik Gazarian, Venezuela
