'Hole' wins Venice 3-D film prize

Dante horror pic nabs first ever Premio Persol

By NICK VIVARELLI

ROME — Joe Dante's family horror film "The Hole" is the winner of the Venice Film Festival's first Premio Persol to a 3-D feature deemed the most creative among those produced globally between September 2008 and August 2009.

"The Hole," which world-preemed in Venice and is unspooling in Toronto, beat a clutch of hot recent 3-D titles, including "Up," "Coraline" and "My Bloody Valentine."

Produced by indie Bold Films, Dante's tale of a family who moves into a comfy new house with a heavily padlocked trapdoor in the cellar, was praised by the jury for "best representing the exploration of this new frontier of cinematic language."

The three-member jury comprised U.S. critic Scott Foundas, who is film editor of L.A. Weekly and a Variety contributor; fellow Yank esteemed cinephile Dave Kehr, columnist for the New York Times; and Italian experimental 3-D filmmaker Nadia Ranocchi, member of a visual arts collective called Zapruder.