Rutelli: "Venice and Rome join forces to defend culture"
"We are the champions of the world – in culture," declared Italian Minister of Culture Francesco Rutelli, taking advantage of the moments of magic following the country’s victory in the Football World Cup to express as a quip the additional attention the new government plans to give to cinema and to entertainment in general.
"The government has added a chapter on culture and its ability to generate employment and promote development to the economic and financial policy planning document (DPEF)," Rutelli announced at a press conference jointly organised by the Venice Film Festival and by the Rome Film Festival.
The Rome Film Festival is currently accused of “cannibalising" the historic Venetian event with heavy financial measures (its €10m budget) and its dates (October 13-21, 2006), which are very close to those of the Venice Festival (August 30-September 9). "Rome will not encroach upon Venice’s territory," said Rutelli, who thinks "the creation of the Rome Film Festival should only give further motivation to the Venice Biennale. Together, the two festivals will put Italy at the centre of an international crossroads and contribute to the growth of the country".
The operative words are "constructive competition and collaboration". This is what the Biennale’s president Davide Croff is also in favour of, with the announcement of common initiatives, which include a costume exhibition from Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor to take place in the Arsenal. The event is organised by the Venice Biennale and Maurizio Scaparro.
The two festivals will also jointly celebrate the hundred-year anniversary of three masters in Italian cinema: Roberto Rossellini, Mario Soldati and Luchino Visconti. Croff has also suggested creating an extensive film database from the Biennale archives in co-operation with the Rome Film Festival.
Meanwhile, Venice still has to solve the problem of lack of infrastructure and the new cinema palace. According to Croff, one project has been selected, but it is still necessary to find funding on a local level and integrate it in public funding.” The minister is confident that the government is quite willing "to find means of financial integration" and revealed that a meeting is to take place in Venice with local authorities.
(Translated from Italian)
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