While we wait to see how Darren Aronofsky's jury will divvy up the Lions in Venice this evening, a big batch of autonomous organizations and critics associations such as FIPRESCI have already handed out their awards … Diego Lerer and Neil Young rank the films they've seen in Venice … Gautam Valluri introduces the new, fourth issue of Projectorhead, featuring Adrian Martin on Sergio Leone, Anuj Malhotra on Bong Joon-ho, Kaz Rahman on Emir Kusturica, interviews with Kumar Shahani and cinematographer Martin Ruhe and more … Michel Gondry returns to France for The Foam of Days, with Audrey Tautou, Léa Seydoux, Romain Duris and Jamel Debbouze … Arnaud des Pallières's Michael Kohlhaas will feature Mads Mikkelsen and Bruno Ganz … But the most controversial project in the works has to be Mel Gibson's biopic based on the life of Jewish hero Judah Maccabee — with a screenplay by Joe Eszterhas, no less.
Image: Sergio Leone has a word or two with James Coburn on the set of Duck, You Sucker, aka A Fistful of Dynamite (1971). For news and tips throughout the day every day, follow @thedailyMUBI on Twitter and/or the RSS feed.