06/09/2002

The Governor of Carinzia in Austria,Jorg Haider was one of the guests at the gala reception that Cinecittà organised in honour of Michelangelo Antonioni yesterday evening. That did not go down too well with Australian director Rolf De Heer who left early. Haider was seated at one of the tables set out in the unusual setting of the Sorlini hangar at the Nicelli airport at the Lido, as the special guest of Venetian art collector, Adriano Berengo. Berengo kindly lent the glass sculpture that decorated the party. “Berenger is a friend of mine,” said the controversial Austrian politician who is working closely with the Italian collector on a series of cultural initiatives to be staged in Carinzia. De Heer’s latest film The Tracker is about the exploitation of Aboriginal Australians by the white population and did not feel comfortable in the company of Haider. The Antonioni party continued regardless in the enveloping atmosphere of the vast hangar, illuminated by numerous candles and a picturesque fountain. The guests included writer and now director, Luis Sepulveda, producer Marco Muller and a large contingent of Italians headed by Michele Placido.
De Heer explained why he left. “It was something I had to do. That is what I felt. I did not want to show disrespect for this special celebration of Antonioni but I left because I had to: David Gulpill, the star of The Tracker is a Native Australian Aborigene who rebels against the white man’s dominion.”
Haider’s surprise visit was not a welcome one. Felice Laudadio, the president of Cinecittà Holding and host of this party said he was surprised to see the leader of Austria’s National Liberal Party. “I thought it was Haider’s double because he seemed twenty years younger. I think Haider came as somebody else’s guest because he certainly wasn’t on the guest list. Antonioni does not know about this, not least because he couldn’t have cared less.”

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