"THE CANYONS" TO PLAY ON THE LIDO!

By Nick Vivarelli

ROME — Paul Schrader will preside over the jury of the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons section for cutting-edge works and also bring his buzzed-about “ The Canyons” to the Lido.

Scripted by Bret Easton Ellis and starring Lindsay Lohan and porn star James Deen, who plays a scheming movie producer in contempo Los Angeles, “The Canyons” will launch internationally from the Lido, out-of-competition, after reportedly world-preeming in a special presentation at Lincoln Center in New York in early summer day-and-date with its digital release via IFC Films.

Micro-budget pic, partly set in Malibu, is a depiction of contempo Los Angeles and young Hollywood in the so-called post-theatrical era.

Produced by Braxton Pope, pic has been financed through a crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter.

“The festival is happy to offer its international public the premiere of a long-awaited film, a lucid reflection on today’s Hollywood and, at the same time, an example of a new way to produce films,” said Venice topper Alberto Barbera in a statement.

The Venice Horizons section is dedicated to films representing the latest aesthetic expressive and production trends in international cinema.

As previously announced Bernardo Bertolucci will preside over the main Venice jury.

Like last year, the Lido fest will be a lean affair, with 18 pics in competish, 18 in Horizons, plus some out-of-competish entries and Venice Classics.

Venice will run Aug. 28-Sept. 7.###