VENICE 2023 International Film Critics’ Week
The 38th International Film Critics’ Week line-up boasts “films that cast a political eye over the present without compromising on entertainment”
- The independent, parallel section organised by Italian film critics is unfolding within the 80th Venice Film Festival, running 30 August-9 September
“The 38th International Film Critics’ Week places film and the act of watching film back at the heart of things, with a selection of 9 movies flaunting focused, furious and attentive approaches which are all united in their thirst for the new; 9 debuts expressed in a wide variety of ways: intimate and ensemble stories, documentaries, hybrid forms, fiction films, and a significant number of genre films”. These are the words of Beatrice Fiorentino, managing director of International Film Critics’ Week, who presented the line-up for the 38th International Film Critics’ Week - the independent, parallel section organised by the National Association of Italian Film Critics (SNCCI) and unfolding within the 80th Venice Film Festival (running 30 August to 9 September) - via a video posted online this morning.
“Films which cast a political eye over the present without compromising on entertainment or storytelling; films which tells stories without losing sight of form”, the directed added. Gearing up to open the section is God is a Woman [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrés Peyrot
film profile] by Andrès Peyrot, who has taken a lost film about the traditions of the Kuna people and used it to chart a fascinating reflection on the responsibility involved in making cinema; About Last Year [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Beatrice Surano, Dunja Lavecchia and Morena Terranova is an affectionate documentary and a coming-of-age tale homing in on three women at a turning point in their lives; Hoard [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luna Carmoon
film profile] by Luna Carmoon is an unsettling and overwhelming debut by a very young director, while Life Is Not a Competition, But I’m Winning [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Julia Fuhr Mann
film profile] by Julia Fuhr Mann promises to be an alien object which rewrites the official sports narrative which only sees athletes as either winners or losers.
For its part, Love Is a Gun by Lee Hong-chi is a dark, angry and painful neo-noir about a boy with a stormy past who refuses to give up hope; Malqueridas [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tana Gilbert
film profile] by Tana Gilbert is an ensemble film made using footage shot illegally on female prisoners’ mobile phones in a Chilean jail; Sky Peals [+see also:
film review
interview: Moin Hussain
film profile] by Moin Hussain is a part-science fiction, part-political film revolving around a search for a lost father, and The Vourdalak [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adrien Beau
film profile] by Adrien Beau, based on a short story by Tolstoi, is an old but modern film, returning to the artisanal and political side of filmmaking.
The closing movie of the event is Vermin [+see also:
film review
interview: Sébastien Vaniček
film profile] by Sebastien Vanicek, a socially oriented film exploring life in a marginalised suburb which is a far cry from the usual simplifications, polarisations and clichés characterising such offerings. Last but not least, a special screening is set to place out of competition - on the occasion of the SNCCI’s 50th anniversary, in collaboration with the Venice Film Festival and Giornate degli Autori - of Passione critica [+see also:
interview: Franco Montini
film profile] by Simone Isola, Franco Montini and Patrizia Pistagnesi, which is a documentary examining the relationship between critics and authors.
The full selection of the 38th International Film Critics’ Week is as follows:
Competition
About Last Year [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Beatrice Surano, Dunja Lavecchia, Morena Terranova (Italy)
Hoard [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luna Carmoon
film profile] - Luna Carmoon (UK)
Life Is Not a Competition, But I’m Winning [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Julia Fuhr Mann
film profile] - Julia Fuhr Mann (Germany)
Love Is a Gun - Lee Hong-chi (Hong Kong/Taiwan)
Malqueridas [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tana Gilbert
film profile] - Tana Gilbert (Chile/Germany)
Sky Peals [+see also:
film review
interview: Moin Hussain
film profile] - Moin Hussain (UK)
The Vourdalak [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adrien Beau
film profile] - Adrien Beau (France)
Event Screenings Out of Competition
God is a Woman [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrés Peyrot
film profile] - Andrès Peyrot (France/Switzerland/Panama) (opening Film)
Vermin [+see also:
film review
interview: Sébastien Vaniček
film profile] - Sebastien Vanicek (France) (closing Film)
Passione critica [+see also:
interview: Franco Montini
film profile] - Simone Isola, Franco Montini, Patrizia Pistagnesi (Italy) (special screening)
Short Films
Competition
De l’amour perdu - Lorenzo Quagliozzi (Italy)
Foto di gruppo - Tommaso Frangini (Italy)
It Isn’t So - Fabrizio Paterniti Martello (Italy)
La linea del terminatore - Gabriele Biasi (Italy)
Las memorias perdidas de los árboles - Antonio La Camera (Italy/Spain)
Pinoquo - Federico Demattè (Italy)
We Should All Be Futurists - Angela Norelli (Italy)
Out of Competition
Incontro di notte - Liliana Cavani (Italy) (opening short film)
Tilipirche - Francesco Piras (Italy) (closing short film)
(Translated from Italian)
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