Venice, Mostra d'Arte Cinematografica 2011

"Shame" by Steve McQueen

"Two Years at Sea" by Ben Rivers

Venice 01. When asked the question on whether or not Marco Mueller will stay on as Artistic Director of the Venice Film Festival, now that his eight-year (four plus four) mandate is about to expire, or rather move over to head the Rome Film Festival (which was born during Mueller's tenure in Venice and tried to steal the spotlight from the oldest festival in Italy) he cryptically replied: "I have far reaching plans".
   At the conclusion of the 68th edition of the Mostra del cinema di Venezia, which was especially memorable for its lineup of good movies and glamorous stars (although plagued by a few technical and organizational problems, especially concerning 3D and digital screening), Mueller seems to come out on top, and many are saying he will stay on at the Lido, possibly for a far longer stretch (eight years in a row, with no half-way renewal, they say).
   This, Mueller willing, could be made possible with the support of Italy's newly appointed Minister of Culture, Giancarlo Galan, a longtime admirer of the work of Mueller and Paolo Baratta, Venice Biennale's Ceo, also nearing the end of his tenure. Galan, who used to head the Veneto Region (where Venice is located), has already spoken in support of the Mueller-Baratta ticket, even if during their tenure some unpleasant events occurred: mainly, the failure of Biennale to build a new $170 million Palazzo del cinema, a result of lack of funds, local protests and, last but not least, the discovery of asbestos in the ground where the Palazzo was supposed to be built.
   As it is, the Biennale ended up merely renovating the existing Sala Grande where gala screenings and red carpet parades have taken place since the Mussolini era, and instead of the grandiose construction for which the Biennale administration has already shelled out some $50 million, now sits a giant hole covered with white plastic sheets (some journalist observed that they should have at least transformed the whole thing in a Christo wrap-up, in line with the sensibilities of Biennale's nearby visual arts expo). If he stays on, Baratta has promised to build a smaller construction over the hole, not requiring deep digging for new foundations, and to refurbish the Sala Darsena where the main competition screenings are held.
   The Hole, as it's now familiarly called, was not the only problem the Biennale has had to face: there were also protests from the Lido's inhabitants, who complained too much attention was being given to art and culture and too little to their more practical needs, especially since several real estate projects were tied to the construction of the Palazzo which had nothing to do with public art and much to do with private profit.
   But inside the screening rooms film critics and visitors alike were pleased with a program which included classic names such as David Cronenberg, Roman Polanski, Alexandr Sokurov, William Friedkin, Ermanno Olmi and Steven Soderbergh, as well as edgy newcomers such as British visual artists Steve McQueen and Andrea Arnold, Swedish genre-bender Tomas Alfredson, Iranian and Italian cartoonist Marjane Satrapi and Gipi, and Japan's manga follower Sion Sono. We should have trusted Mueller to conjure up such an eclectic mix, in an edition that rivaled the best of international festivals in this, or any year. (Paola Casella)

Venice 02. Someone has said that the Lido seems to be Alcatraz Turing La Mostra, and this is true. Absolutely. Screenings from 9am to midnight, 23 films in Official Competition, 8 in Critics Week, more than 50 titles in Horizons, and so on. And everything in their first world screening, or almost. But it's fantastic to be here looking at the Venice skyline in the near distance, untouchable.
  Some subjects were frequent in La Mostra: free adaptations or researches of literature works (Carnage, Faust, Wilde Salomé, Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy, etc.), a new powerful image of the woman (generally, but in the Critics Week particularly), and in Italian cinema, the emerging importance of immigration.
  The FIPRESCI Prize in the main Competition went to Shame, a hard and touching portrait of self-destruction through sex and emptiness by English director Steve McQueen. But it's worth mentioning some other works, as Andrea Arnold's peculiar adaptation of Wuthering Heights, an impressionist view with non-professional actors, adding racism to the story. Or two films with problems of absolute actuality, as Sion Sono's Himizu, about the social and psychological consequences of the Fukushima disaster; or Life Without a Principle, Johnnie To's coral film about the financial crisis in Hong Kong, exposing present problems that are similar to the rest of the world. Two Italian movies in Competition focused on the arrival of 'alien' people to Europe: Terraferma, by Emanuele Crialese, shows the moral and human conflict that is aroused in Sicilian people who confront the young people arriving from Africa and struggle between the new political laws that forbid to host them, and of human solidarity. In a more symbolic way, L´ultimo terrestre is Gian Alfonso Patinotti's allegory about the reaction humans have when some aliens arrive from outer space.
  The other jury had to work with the combination of the Critic's Week and Horizons sections. Because of the quantity of titles, it had to be limited to first feature-length fiction movies, and the FIPRESCI Prize in this section went to Two Years at Sea, by Ben Rivers, also from the United Kingdom. A portrait — without dialogue — about a man in the forest, and crossing the border line between fiction and documentary, as was also the case in Lung Neaw Visits his Neighbours, by Rirkrit Tiravanija. (Josefina Sartora)

Venice International Film Festival — Mostra d'Arte Cinematografica, August 31 — September 10, 2011, www.labiennale.org
FIPRESCI Prizes. Shame by Steve McQueen (competition), Two Years at Sea by Ben Rivers (Parallel Sections). Details

Reports

Shame — A tear on Michael Fassbender's face. Frédéric Jaeger looks into the existentialist world of the protagonist of Shame and attempts to extrapolate answers on the place of an individual's body and freedom in Steve McQueen's critics' winner.
Strong Female Leads in Venice's Critic's Week. In a strong section, female leads in films from across the globe took center stage, notices Paola Casella in her text. However, the films only highlight, rather than belie, the struggles of women in different societies and the oppressive situations that they face, from the heartbreaking to the violent.
Is Film Dead? The appreciation of film stock seems to be getting ever smaller as we progress through the second decade of the 21st Century. In this requiem for the 35mm format, Eva af Geijerstam finds solace in a small number of advocates.
Johnnie To and Andrea Arnold fulfill their promise. Two very different and highly regarded directors have added something totally new to their oeuvre. Pierre Pageau praises their latest films, believing they have enough substantial quality to retain their regular audience.
The Troubled Path to Glory. The Russian entry Faust by Alexander Sokurov won this year's main prize, the Golden Lion. Susanna Harutyunyan commends Sokurov's innovative adaptation for its original slant on the Faust legend in what was a triumphant end for the film after a troubled production.
Post-Apocalypse Now. By incorporating abandoned cars and wrecked mechanisms, the landscape of Ben Rivers critics winner seems a post-apocalyptic one, but this only belies the ecologist message that suggests the need to go back to nature, as played out in the mysterious world of the main protagonist.
There Are No Prisons for Creativity of Thought. The world-renowned Iranian director Jafar Panahi was still able to make a poignant documentary film while under house arrest and awaiting conviction. Josefina Sartora looks at the creative restrictions and inevitable sadness involved.
The Venetian Cocktail. Gautaman Bhaskaran argues attempts to explain how an A-list festival that began with some breath-taking cinema this year could not sustain the calibre and class after the first few days.

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