30/07/2009

"Agitated" by film industry professionals who demonstrated against the budget cuts to the FUS Culture Fund by reading the sarcastic and bogus statement by Minister of Culture Sandro Bondi, the press conference of the 66th Venice International Film Festival primarily focused on the future, highly anticipated Palazzo del Cinema, construction on which will begin at the end of the Festival, on September 12. The scheduled date of completion for the hypertech, 2000-seat auditorium in glass and golden mosaics is late summer 2011. Just in time for the 68th Festival.

As for the Festival programme, says artistic director Marco Muller, "Not since 2004 have so many countries been so many countries, and first and second films". There are 75 feature films in the four offical sections, with 71 world premieres, and 40 European titles, 22 of which are Italian (see other article), compared to 17 from the US (most of them indie projects), and 26 from the rest of the world.

The rumours on the Italians in Competition proved true. Apart from opening film Baarìa [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Giuseppe Tornatore, the other titles are Giuseppe Capotondi's La Doppia Ora [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Giuseppe Capotondi
film profile], Francesca Comencini's Lo Spazio Bianco [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Michele Placido's Il Grande Sogno (see news).

As always, France is the most represented of the European countries, with four films in Competition. Patrice Chéreau returns (after coming to Venice in 2005 with Gabrielle [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) with his new film, Persécution [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (see news), starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and Romain Duris. As does Jacques Rivette with the French/Italian co-production 36 Vues du Pic Saint-Loup [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (see news).

Claire Denis will present White Material [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], set on a coffee plantation and featuring Isabelle Huppert, while Belgian director Jaco van Dormael (Toto le Héros) brngs the French/Belgian title Mr Nobody, which he calls his craziest project ever, his "first film for young people", in which a child sees the adult he could become and an old man the child he no longer is.

Of the four German titles, two are in Competition: the acclaimed Fatih Akin finally chose Venice for his new Soul Kitchen (the title of which comes from a Doors song ), which like his previous films is also about immigration and stars Moritz Bleibtreu and Biron Unel, who appeared in Head-On. Also competiting for the Golden Lion is Iranian artist Shirin Neshat, with the co-production Women Without Men, comprising five video installations that make up a single film. Zarte Parasiten by Christian Becker and Oliver Schwabe and Romuald Karmakar's Villalobos are the other German titles, both in Horizons.

Austria is in Competition with Jessica Hausner's third feature film, Lourdes , produced by her company Coop 99, and in Horizons with Peter Schreiner's Totò.

Denmark will be on the Lido with young Nicolas Winding Refn's sixth film ,Valhalla Rising, a journey into the heart of terror of a supernationally powerful warrior. The film starts the internationally renowned Mads Mikkelsen.

Holland will be in Horizons with Frank Scheffer's documentary on French-American composer Edgard Varèse (1883-1965), entitled The One All Alone. The same sidebar section also feature Romania's Bobby Paunescu, producer of The Death of Mister Lazarescu, who directed Francesca, about a young teacher from Bucharest who immigrates to Italy. Switzerland is participating with Stefan Knuchel and his Hugo en Afrique, in Horizons Events, and extraordinary video artist Pipilotti Rist, behind the highly original Pepperminta.

Last, but certainly not least, is Spain. Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza return after two years to once again terrorize Venice audiences with REC 2 (Out of Competition), the sequel to one of the biggest Spanish hits of recent years. And eminent independent director Pere Portabella, in this year's Horizons jury, brings Mudanza, dedicated to poet Federico Garcia Lorca, while will have its premiere at the Festival.

(Translated from Italian)