The “new” festival presents a light and selective program

by Camillo de Marco

26/07/2012 - Alberto Barbera challenges his predecessor, Marco Muller who is now directing the Rome Film Festival, and presents an extremely selective program for the next Venice Film Festival (29th of August, 8th of September), convinced that he can keep up with the “small emperor” Muller.

Backed by a restructuring of the Lido’s spaces and a brand new 5 day test mini-market with international buyers, the new director returns to head the festival after a decade, with an extremely light program that will not surpass 60 titles. “I envied the 350 films of the director of the Toronto Film Festival,” he jokes. “He only needs to decide which films will be screened at the gala and which won’t. We have chosen a different path, which cost us some white nights, second thoughts, feelings of guilt and discussions. We forgot how difficult it was to call the directors and say no”. Over the last few days a few famous names have been revealed: in Competition and outside the Competition are highly anticipated To the Wonder by Terrence Malick, Passion by Brian De Palma, Pieta by Kim Ki-Duk, Outrage beyond by Takeshi Kitano, Thy Bomb by Brillante Mendoza, Lullaby to My Father by Amos Gitai, The Company You Keep byRobert Redford.

However, Barbera insists on the fact that the real novelties are arriving from countries without a cinematographic tradition such as Nepal and Guatemala, the Old Continent is well represented in the Competition. Apres mai by Olivier Assayas, Paradies: Faith by Ulrich Seidl; Superstar by Xavier Giannoli; Linhas de Wellington, franco-protugese production by the Chilean Valeria Sarmienyo; Izmena by Kirill Serebrennikov. The French are also co-producing De Palma with Germany as well as two of the three Italian films in Competition: Bella addormentata by Marco Bellocchio and E' stato il figlio by Daniele Ciprì. The third one in the running for the Golden Lion is Un giorno special by Francesca Comencini. Barbera has cancelled the Controcampo section, dedicated to Italian films, because he considers it an “Indian reserve”. The eighteenth film in Competition will be revealed over the coming days. The opening film of the Festival will be The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mira Nair, which represents one of the two recurring themes of the selection: the economic crisis, values, behaviours, and social, political and human models; and fundamentalism of every type. Nair’s film will be followed by the unmissable musical documentary by Jonathan Demme on Enzo Avitabile, whilst L'homme qui rit by Jean-Pierre Amèris with Gerard Depardieu will close the festival. 20 directors out of 60 films are women, and the biggest surprises will come from the parallel section New Horizons (Orizzonti) that Barbera chose to be competitive.

Out of the stars that have been announced: Ben Affleck, Pierce Bronsan, Isabelle Huppert, Wynona Ryder, Susan Sarandon, James Franco, Nick Nolte, Toni Servillo, Zac Efron, Dennis Quaid, Naomi Rapace, Selena Gomez, Javier Bardem, John Malkovich, Shia LaBeouf and Stanley Tucci, Michael Shannon, Gerard Depardieu and Kristin Scott Thomas. And a high quality jury with one empty seat, that of Iranian director Jafar Panahi sentenced to six years in prison for his opinions.

COMPETITION

Something In The Air [trailer, film focus] (Après mai) - Olivier Assayas
(France)

At Any Price - Ramin Bahrani
(US/UK)

Dormant Beauty [trailer, film focus, festival scope] - Marco Bellocchio
(Italy -France)

La Cinquième Saison [trailer, film focus] - Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth
(Belgium-Netherlands-France)

Fill The Void (Lemale Et Ha’Chalal) - Rama Burshtein
(Israel)

E Stato il Figlio [trailer] - Daniele Cipri
(Italy-France)

Un Giorno Speciale [trailer] - Francesca Comencini
(Italy)

Passion [trailer] - Brian De Palma
(France-Germany)

Superstar [trailer, film focus] - Xavier Giannoli
(France-Belgium)

Pieta - Kim Ki-duk
(South Korea)

Outrage Beyond - Takeshi Kitano
(Japan)

Spring Breakers - Harmony Korine
(US)

To The Wonder - Terrence Malick
(US)

Thy Womb (Sinapupunan) - Brillante Mendoza
(Philippines)

Linhas de Wellington [trailer, film focus] - Valeria Sarmiento
(Portugal-France)

Paradise: Faith [trailer, film focus] (Paradies: Glaube) - Ulrich Seidl
(Austria-France-Germany)

Betrayal (Izmena) - Kirill Serebrennikov
(Russia)

OUT OF COMPETITION

L’homme qui rit - Jean-Pierre Ameris
(France-Czech Republic)

Love Is All You Need [trailer] (Den skaldede frisor) - Susanne Bier

(Denmark-Sweden)
Cherchez Hortense [trailer] - Pascal Bonitzer
(France)

Sur un fil… [trailer, festival scope] - Simon Brook
(France-Italy)

Enzo Avitabile Music Life - Jonathan Demme
(Italy-US)

Tai Chi 0 - Stephen Fung
(China)

Lullaby To My Father [trailer] - Amos Gitai
(Israel-France-Switzerland)

Penance (Shokuzai) - Kiyoshi Kurosawa
(Japan)

Bad 25 - Spike Lee
(US)

The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mira Nair
(India-Pakistan-US)

O Gebo e a Sombra [trailer] - Manoel de Oliveira
(Portugal-France)

The Company You Keep - Robert Redford
(US)

Shark (Bait 3D) - Kimble Rendall
(Australia-Singapore-China)

Disconnect - Henry-Alex Rubin
(US)

The Iceman - Ariel Vromen
(US)

OUT OF COMPETITION-SPECIAL EVENTS
Anton’s Right Here (Anton tut ryadom) - Lyubov Arkus
(Russia)

It Was Better Tomorrow (Ya Man Aach) - Hinde Boujemaa
(Tunisia)

Clarisse - Liliana Cavani
(Italy)
Sfiorando il muro - Silvia Giralucci and Luca Ricciardi
(Italy)

Carmel - Amos Gitai
(Israel-France-Italy)

El impenetrable - Daniele Incalcaterra, Fausta Quattrini
(Argentina-France)

Witness: Libya - Michael Mann
(US)

Medici con l’Africa - Carlo Mazzacurati
(Italy)

La nave dolce - Daniele Vicari
(Italy-Albania)

ORIZZONTI (HORIZONS) FEATURES
Wadjda - Haifaa Al Mansour
(Saudi Arabia-Germany)

The Paternal House (Khaneh Pedari) - Kianoosh Ayari
(Iran)

I Also Want It (Ja Tozhe Hochu) - Alexey Balabanov
(Russia)

Gli Equilibristi - Ivano De Matteo
(Italy-France)

L’intervallo - Leonardo Di Costanzo
(Italy-Switzerland-Germany)

Winter of Discontent (El Sheita Elli Fat) - Ibrahim El Batout
(Egypt)

Tango Libre - Frederic Fonteyne
(Belgium-France-Luxembourg)

The Cutoff Man (Menatek Ha-Maim - Idan Hubel
(Israel)

Fly With The Crane (Gaosu tame, wo cheng baihe qu le) - 0Li Ruijun
(China)

A Hijacking (Kapringen) - Tobias Lindholm
(Denmark)

Leones - Jazmin Lopez
(Argentina-France-Netherlands)

Bellas Mariposas - Salvatore Mereu
(Italy)

Low Tide - Roberto Minervini
(US-Italy-Belgium)

Boxing Day - Bernard Rose
(UK-US)

Yema - Djamila Sahraoui
(Algeria-France)

Araf - Somewhere In Between - Yesim Ustaoglu
(Turkey-France-Germany)

The Millennial Rapture - Koji Wakamatsu
(Japan)

Three Sisters - Wang Bing
(France-Hong Kong-China)

(Translated from Italian)