Showbiz411

The great Mira Nair, one of my favorite people, will open the Venice Film Festival with her new film, “The Reluctant Fundamentalist.” Mira’s great past films include “The Namesake” and “Monsoon Wedding.” The new film stars Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland, Liev Schreiber, Martin Donovan, Riz Ahmed, Om Puri and Shabana Azmi. I’s described as an “international political thriller that follows the story of a young Pakistani man, chasing corporate success on Wall Street, who ultimately finds himself embroiled in a conflict between his American Dream, a hostage crisis, and the enduring call of his family’s homeland.”

The rest of the Venice lineup will be announced on Thursday in between announcements about the Jackson family.

Roger Friedman

Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News. Friedman previously wrote the Intelligencer column at New York Magazine, He writes for Parade magazine and has written for Details, Vogue, the New York Times, Post, and Daily News and many other publications. He is the writer and co-producer of a film about R&B Music called “Only the Strong Survive,” which was released by Miramax in 2003 and was a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals.