Venice devotes a day to Ray

Nicholas Ray, left, is interviewed at the 16th International Venice Film Festival in 1957. The Venice Film Festival will honor "Rebel Without a Cause" helmer Nicholas Ray with a day dedicated to his work, including the world preem of a new version of his cult 1976 pic, "We Can't Go Home Again," on Sept. 4.The Lido announced the tribute, which also includes a new documentary and a panel discussion, on Sunday -- the centennial of the Hollywood maverick's birth."We Can't Go Home Again," Ray's final work, will be presented by his widow, Susan Ray, and director-thesp James Franco, whose Sal Mineo biopic "Sal" is unspooling in the Venice Horizons section.Restoration and reconstruction of the experimental pic was supervised by Susan Ray and the Nicholas Ray Foundation, with assistance from the Eye Film Institute Netherlands, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Film Archive, and with the support of Gucci, Martin Scorsese's The Film Foundation, the Cinmathque Franaise and Italy's RAI Cinema.Susan Ray's tribute docu "Don't Expect Too Much," about the making of the pic, will world preem.Spanish helmer Victor Erice, author of a book about Ray, U.S. artist-helmer Douglas Gordon and Henry Hopper, whose father, Dennis Hopper, starred in "Rebel Without a Cause," will be among members of a panel discussion dedicated to the helmer.Venice runs Aug. 31 to Sept. 10. Contact Nick Vivarelli at nvivarelli@gmail.com