Evening suits and metal detectors
It is strictly forbidden to access the Palazzo del Cinema, the Palagalileo and the Casino, where the films will be screened during the Mostra. The Venice International Film Festival is well and truly open tonight. The Lido has provided itself with numerous metal detectors, parking prohibited signs, professional divers concealed in the canals, police dogs in the various screening rooms, hundreds of police officers in uniform and out of uniform responsible for the stars, VIP and the public’s security on duty around the clock at the most sensitive spots of the Lido. All those security measures are necessary to face the terrorist threat we all try to cope with.
Besides the evening suit, people will have to produce proof of identity in order to attend the Chinese film Seven Swords which will open the 62nd edition of the Festival and will be later celebrated during the gala dinner on the Excelsior beach transformed into an oriental night.
The Mostra will truly begin tomorrow and if we still have to divide the cinema in geographical areas, at a time when cultural exchange and mixing are at their most, one can say that this year the Festival is equally shared between Europe, the East and the USA.
The President Marco Mueller is insisting on a "contradictory pluralist selection, at the sign of a subjugated but not pacified schizophrenia". We would like to create a dynamis between the selected films’ artistic interest and market value.
The European cinema is represented by the great master of the Portuguese cinema Manoel de Oliveira (another Portuguese is also present, Joao Botelho), the Polish master Krzysztof Zanussi, the Russian Aleskey German jr. The three French men Laurent Cantet, Patrice Chérau and Philippe Garrel are highly anticipated. Three British productions will also be screened: Terry Gilliam, John Madden and the Brasilian Fernando Meirelles.
On the brink of the Festival opening, the Italian press is wondering if we are not witnessing the Italian cinema’s revival. Three intense women portraits directed by Cristina Comencini, Pupi Avati and Roberto Faenza are competing, whereas in the most anti-conformist section, the "Orizzonti", Italy is represented by Texas, a film inspired by some Tchekhov’s short stories , directed by Fausto Paravidino (much praised by Marco Mueller), and by the musician Franco Battiato’s second opera, Musikanten, on the last years of Beethoven’s life.
As far as the East is concerned, people will attend the third opus of the "revenge trilogy" by the Korean Park Chan-wook, and the Chinaman Stanley Kwan will also represent Asia. To everyone’s surprise, Takeshi Kitano’s new film could be awarded the twentieth title in the Competition seelction.
Last but not least, the Americans who are counting on Venice with three large premieres : George Clooney, with his second feature Good Night and Good Luck, Tim Burton and Steven Soderbergh. Besides Clooney, in competition, John Turturro (another actor behind the cameras) and the Taiwanian/American Ang Lee are also competing.
(Translated from Italian)
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