64th Venice Film Festival News

My dear photographer friend asked me for La Mostra News and here is a compilation of the latest news.

The Renaissance of (Digital) Cinema starts at the Lido

For the first time in the history of film festivals, the Venice Film Festival will screen an entire film in 3D Stereoscopic Digital Cinema. Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas will be shown with the use of highly advanced technological solutions to assure viewers in the Sala Grande the best possible visual quality, just as the film’s director wished. This has been made possible thanks to the constant work and collaboration of La Biennale di Venezia’s Digital Cinema Team and the Disney Production Team. If better-known and effectively managed, 3D stereoscopic cinema can lead the world’s film industry to new levels of excellence in the world of the digital era.

For this reason too, in collaboration with SMPTE, the international organization setting the standards for the film and television industry, La Biennale di Venezia has organized the 5th International Digital Cinema Forum, to be held in the Sala Volpi within the Palazzo del Cinema on 5th September. This year, the Forum will be dedicated to The Case of 3D Stereoscopic Movies: Production, Distribution and Exhibition, with the participation of international experts who will illustrate the methods and solutions adopted in the examples hitherto seen of 3D Stereoscopic digital cinema.

Following last year’s Venice festival screenings many directors declared that they had never seen their films screened with such a good level of picture and sound quality. The Festival screened 86 digital films in 2006, and this year besides Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, the public will be able to see numerous films in digital quality in the six spaces equipped for screenings of this kind. These include: Blade Runner: The Final Cut by Ridley Scott, Cristovão Colombo – O enigma by Manoel de Oliveira, Man from Plains by Jonathan Demme, Wuyong (Useless) by Jia Zhangke, San (Umbrella) by Du Haibin, Anabazys by Joel Pizzini and Palma Rocha, Xiaoshuo (The Oscure) by Lü Yue, Madri by Barbara Cupisti, Searchers 2.0. by Alex Cox, A Idade de Terra (1980) by Glauber Rocha, The Iron Horse (1924) by John Ford and many others.

A quite interesting International Panel follows.

The Impact of the Mostra on the Circulation of Quality Films

This meeting will see the participation of Mick LaSalle (San Francisco Chronicle), Michel Ciment (France Culture), Derek Malcom (London Evening Standard), Riccardo Tozzi (Cattleya), Christine Vachon (Killer Films), who will discuss the future of a film winning an official prize at the Venice Film Festival and the impact this award may have on the film’s circulation. Do these prizes truly help a film gain a broader distribution in Europe and on other continents? Do the prizes influence viewers in the choice of a film? Do festivals guarantee success for a film? In Ang Lee’s case, on receiving the Leone d’Oro for Brokeback Mountain in 2005, he mentioned the enormous impact in Asia of the Leone d’Oro won by Akira Kurosawa with Rashomon.

Other News

Beautiful Ambra Angiolini that was in Ferzan Ozpetek’s Saturno Contro will open La Mostra on the evenening of 29th August, welcoming Zhang Yimou, other jury members, officials and the public. The screening of Atonement by Joe Wright, in competition -that’s the opening film- will follow the ceremony. I’ll be checking RAI schedule to find the time of the TV broadcast.

Stefania Sandrelli (Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2005) will host the awards ceremony.

Two new titles, shown as world premieres, will complete the programme for the 64th Venice Film Festival. One of the films is Disengagement by the Israeli director Amos Gitai (Out of Competition – Maestri), a story about family sentiments, starring Juliette Binoche and set in 2005, the dramatic year in which Israel left the Gaza strip. Gitai is a director who has been invited to the Venice Film Festival on 11 previous occasions. The other film is Callas Assoluta (Orizzonti Events) by the French documentary filmmaker Philippe Kohly, showing in this year’s Venice Film Festival to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the death of the world famous soprano Maria Callas.

Furthermore, the 64th Venice Film Festival will also screen 3 short films by Michelangelo Antonioni in the Out of Competition Events section: N.U. (Nettezza Urbana) (1948), Vertigine (1950) and Lo sguardo di Michelangelo (2004); a tribute to the Maestro who passed away on 30th July earlier this year. The photo is the Maestro with one of his two Golden Lion's -he also has a Silver Lion, which makes him the most awards winner in La Mostra history.

The last work by Alberto Grifi, the great pioneer of experimental Italian cinema who passed away on 22nd April, will also be shown: Autoritratto Auschwitz/L'occhio è per così dire l'evoluzione biologica di una lagrima (1965-68/2007).

Mission accomplished!!! Have to admit that there are great news here!