Salvatore Giuliano (1962), il capolavoro di Francesco Rosi (fonte: Wikipedia)

Italian director and screenwriter Francesco Rosi has been awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 69^th Venice International Film Festival of the Biennale di Venezia (29 August – 8 September 2012).

The decision was made by the Board of Directors of the Biennale chaired by Paolo Baratta, upon recommendation by the Director of the Venice Film Festival Alberto Barbera.

Francesco Rosi is considered a symbol and innovator of socially-committed Italian filmmaking, the author of important and meaningful films such as Le mani sulla città (Hands over the City), winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival in 1963, Il caso Mattei (The Mattei Affair), Golden Palm at Cannes in 1972, and Salvatore Giuliano, Silver Bear in Berlin in 1961.

Francesco Rosi, who will turn 90 on November 15th this year, will be given the award on August 31st, on the occasion of the screening of the restored copy of his masterpiece Il caso Mattei (The Mattei Affair, 1972), a restoration completed by Martin Scorsese’s non-profit organization, The Film Foundation, with support from Gucci.

The Director of the Venice Film Festival, Alberto Barbera, has stated: “In his long though not very prolific career, Rosi has left an indelible mark on the history of Italian filmmaking after World War II. His work has influenced generations of filmmakers around the world for its method, style, moral severity and the ability to bring urgent social issues onto the screen. For this reason he has repeatedly been associated with post-war Neorealism and is considered the founding father of the activist film movement that was so important to our national production in the Sixties and Seventies. In comparison with Neo-realism, which was so influential in his cultural education, Rosi’s cinema went much further in its deliberate intent to combine a keen proclivity for narrating real events, people and places with what Fellini defined as “the great crafting heritage of good American cinema”. As for the political filmmaking that came after him, Rosi has an unquestionable merit: to the ideological simplification of many of his followers, he always preferred the incredibly demanding process of research and documentation that provided the basis for his formidable masterpieces such as Salvatore Giuliano, La sfida, Le mani sulla città (Hands over The City), Il caso Mattei (The Mattei Affair), and Lucky Luciano. A precise lesson in history that coincides with a sophisticated lesson in style, which brought vitality and substance to his other unforgettable works, the most significant of which are Cristo si è fermato a Eboli (Christ Stopped at Eboli), Cadaveri eccellenti and Tre fratelli (Three Brothers)”.

Francesco Rosi has stated: “I am honoured and very happy to receive this extremely prestigious acknowledgment, which has been awarded in the past to many great authors whom I love and admire. I wish to thank the President of the Biennale Paolo Baratta and the Director of the Venice Film Festival Alberto Barbera for recalling my contribution to Italian cinema and to the art of filmmaking in general”.

Francesco Rosi (Naples, 1922) established his reputation as an author at the Venice International Film Festival in 1958 with La sfida, which won the Special Jury Prize. In that film, shot in the fruit and vegetable market of Naples, like the subsequent I magliari (1959, winner of an award at San Sebastiàn), set among the fabric and carpet vendors living on the edge of legality, he displays the journalistic approach that, filtered through fictional drama, constitutes the peculiarity of his films. In Salvatore Giuliano (1961), the use of repertory material characterized a remarkably effective style of investigative reporting, inaugurating a new type of political cinema supported by documentation and exposing the most controversial realities, investigating the present on the basis of historical material.

In 1963 Francesco Rosi was definitively consecrated when he won the Golden Lion in Venice for Le mani sulla città (Hands over the City), a film-exposé about the real-estate speculation and scandals that arose during the years of the reconstruction and economic boom. He returned to the Venice Film Festival in 1970 with another politically committed film, Uomini contro (Many Wars Ago), inspired by Un anno sull’altopiano by Lussu, which took a non-rhetorical look at World War I.

Il caso Mattei (The Mattei Affair, 1972) marked his return to a journalistic style with a reconstruction of the case of the president of the ENI oil company (interpreted by Gian Maria Volonté, who won a Special Mention at Cannes), through his death in circumstances that have never been fully explained, casting a shadow over the collusion between political authorities and economic powers. His next film, Lucky Luciano (1975), also starring Gian Maria Volonté, is a reconstruction of the last years of the gangster’s life, spent in Italy deftly fleeing the countless raids by the authorities seeking to capture him.

For his later films distinguished by their outstanding social commitment, Rosi often turned to literature. In Cadaveri eccellenti (1976), winner of the David di Donatello prize for Best Film and Best Direction and based on Il contesto by Sciascia, he addressed political compromise during the years of the “strategy of tension”. Based on the book by Carlo Levi he made Cristo si è fermato a Eboli (Christ stopped at Eboli, 1979), winner of the David di Donatello for Best Film and Best Direction, winner of the Moscow Festival, winner of the Best Foreign Film award at the Bafta, the British “Oscars”. Rosi’s next film was Tre fratelli (Three Brothers, 1981), a reflection on the terrorist years (David di Donatello for Best Direction and Best Screenplay with Tonino Guerra, Nastro d’Argento for Best Direction), followed by Carmen (1984) from the opera by Bizet (David di Donatello for Best Film and Best Direction). This was followed by Cronaca di una morte annunciata (Chronicle of a Death Foretold, 1987), based on the novel of the same name by Màrquez (in competition at Cannes), Dimenticare Palermo (1990), written with Tonino Guerra and Gore Vidal, and La tregua (The Truce, 1997) based on the book by Primo Levi, also in competition at Cannes, and winner of the David di Donatello for Best Film and Best Direction.

Close to the exponents of post-war Neapolitan culture as a young man (Patroni Griffi, La Capria, Ghirelli), before La sfida Francesco Rosi trained with Luchino Visconti, serving as his assistant director for La terra trema; he later served as assistant director to Michelangelo Antonioni and Mario Monicelli.

Campo San Polo
From 8th December 2011 to 21st February 2012
Open every day

An oval ice skating track in the centre of Campo San polo. Afternoon is children’s ice-skating time, while music and figure skating will entertain your night. All around, a Christkindlmarkt-like village, offering local food, wine, and crafts.

 Opening timetable from 26th December 2011 to 8th January 2012:

Skates rental on site. Reduced fares for residents, for anyone using his own skates and for purhasers of tickets for 10 admissions.

Source: http://www.invernoveneziano.it/en/mainevents/67-pattinaggio-su-ghiaccio.html

1797 The last Carnival… so was rumored by the Venetian streets when Napoleon, arriving from the sea, entered the city that nobody ever had been able to conquer.

He introduced a new fashion: free women and men without white wigs and crinolines.

The rich Venetians who welcomed him dismissed the large court clothing to follow the new manner, while the faithful to the Old Republic did not abandon the silks, the damasks, and the world famous brocades!

But the year after everybody got together in the square, wearing “Bauta” and celebrating the  crazy party that is Carnival! And so will we!

Mayan predict our last carnival, and with them, Cagliostro, Nostradamus, Cassandra and Circe!

Tarot cards, dandies and comedians will be therefore waiting for you in the splendid halls of Scuola Grande San Giovanni Evangelista by 8 pm on February 16th, for a eighteenth-century party full of change and entertainment!
Incroyable, Mervelleuses? Or defenders of the ancien régime?
Flea or new fashions?
Baroque libertines and serious revolutionaries will be dining at the same table to the sound of music by Mozart, waiting together for the end of the world served by waiters in livery!

Entry with costume € 350.00, includes:
eighteenth-century dress rental, dinner served at the table by waiters in livery, live music after dinner.

Entrance only € 220.00, includes:
dinner served at your table by waiters in livery, live music after dinner.

Dress in theme with the party (second half of the eighteenth century) required.

SATURDAY 11^th FEBRUARY 2012

MOON MASQUERADE AT THE LUNA HOTEL BAGLIONI

Don’t miss this special evening at the Luna Hotel Baglioni to celebrate together the traditional Venice Carnival !

The evening will start at 7.00 pm in the warm atmosphere of the Fireplace Room with our Welcome Cocktail: just in front of the warmlighted-on fireplace you will savour the typical Venetian Canapés created for you by our Chef Cosimo, while sipping exquisite Cocktails.

Starting from 8.00 pm we will escort you to the elegant ambience of the Marco Polo Ballroom, with original frescoes by the Pupils of the Tiepolo School, where you will be part of one of the most renowned Italian Operas, “La Tosca” by G. Puccini revisited in a funny way by top-level artists, prouded boast the stage of the most famous Italian and International Theatres as well asLa Fenice Opera Theatre.

Our Chef Cosimo will amaze you with a refined Carnival Buffet Dinner at the Marco Polo Ballroom: the perfect setting to experience the real Carnival of Venice where you will have the chance to parade your Venetian Carnival costumes and traditional Masks !

We will entertain you with special Artists and make you dance till late with Dance Music of our Disk-Jockey: international covers, rock, group dances, music by ‘70s and ‘80s… At the end don’t miss the exquisite typical Venetian desserts: frittelle and galani, prepared by our Chef.

A sparkling and exciting evening is waiting for you in the elegant ambience of our Luna Hotel Baglioni to celebrate in the most unforgettable way the Carnival of Venice!

Dress Code: Carnival Costume (Costume d’Epoque or elegant dress with Mask and Cloak)

Rate: 290,00 Euro per person (VAT and Wine from Canova Selection included)

Cancellation Policy: by 12.00 p.m. of 3^rd February 2012, with the whole rate as penalty.

For more information and reservations please contact:

Luna Hotel Baglioni -  Ph. +39 041 5289840 – Fax +39 041 5287160

E-mail: luna.venezia@baglionihotels.com

FRIDAY 17^th FEBRUARY 2012

GREAT BAGLIONI PARTY

Celebrate the Venice Carnival with us at the Luna Hotel Baglioni: a special evening is waiting for you to experience the traditional Carnival of Venice in the oldest Hotel in town, just a few steps from St. Mark’s Square !

Our Welcome Cocktail will start at 7.00 pm in the warm atmosphere of the Fireplace Room: just in front of the warm lighted-on fireplace you will savour the typical Venetian Canapés while sipping the excellent Venetian Cocktails created for you, by our Barman.

The party will continue in one of the most exclusive Venetian ambience: our marvellous Marco Polo Ballroom, with original frescoes by the School of Tiepolo, this is the perfect setting to experience the real Carnival of Venice while learning and dancing the elegant XVIII c. Minuetto Dance and have fun with our Carnival dance experts and new friends… and to parade your Venetian Carnival Costumes and traditional Masks !

In the elegant atmosphere of our Ballroom will be served the refined Carnival Buffet Dinner: our Chef Cosimo will surprise you with a special menu and with the exquisite Venetian typical desserts: frittelle and galani!

During the evening you will be entertained by funny Artists with their shows and we will make you dance till late with Dance Music of our Disk-Jockey: international covers, rock, group dances, music by ‘70s and ‘80s…

A sparkling and exciting evening is waiting for you in the elegant ambience of our Luna Hotel Baglioni to celebrate in the most unforgettable way, the Carnival of Venice!

Dress Code: Carnival Costume (Costume d’Epoque or elegant dress with Mask and Cloak)

Rate: 290,00 Euro per person (VAT and Wine from Canova Selection included)

Cancellation Policy: by 12.00 p.m. of 10^th February 2012, with the whole rate as penalty.

For more information and reservations please contact:

Luna Hotel Baglioni -  Ph. +39 041 5289840 – Fax +39 041 5287160

E-mail: luna.venezia@baglionihotels.com

Italian director Stefano Incerti will be the new President of the Jury for Controcampo Italiano, after director Roberta Torre’s resignation – due to unexpected personal reasons.

Last year, Stefano Incerti gained much critical and public acclaim with his last film, striking Gorbaciof, at the 67th Venice International Film Festival (where he debuted in 1995 with Il verificatore). Gorbaciof’s success was confirmed at the Toronto International Film Festival and within the international film festival network. The film is about to be released in France, and was sold in several other countries such as Great Britain, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland and Greece.

The Jury of Controcampo Italiano section, as previously announced, also includes screenwriter Aureliano Amadei, winner of the Controcampo Italiano award in 2010 with 20 sigarette (the film also won four David di Donatello and two Nastri d’Argento) and actress Cristiana Capotondi, one of the revelations of Italian cinema in recent years, acclaimed for her performance in La passione by Carlo Mazzacurati, in Competition at the 67th Venice International Film Festival.

Stefano Incerti was born in Naples in 1965.  An author interested in portraying the most controversial aspects of Italian society on film, often screening them through the personal lives of his characters, he gained much critical acclaim since his first feature film Il Verificatore (1995) was released. The film won the Kodak award for a debut film at the Venice International Film Festival, the David di Donatello for best first-time director, the Globo d’Oro and the Grolla d’Oro for best director. His second full-length film is Prima del tramonto (1999), selected for the Lucerne Film Festival Competition, followed by La vita come viene (2003).  L’uomo di vetro (2007), based on the homonymous novel by Salvatore Parlagreco, was inspired by the personal story of Leonardo Vitale, the first mafia repentant to break the code of silence and cooperate with the law, eventually paying a high price for his brave choice. The film was presented at several major international film festivals, including Taormina, Montreal and Goteborg.

Complici del silenzio (2009), tells the story of Maurizio Gallo, an Italian sports journalist corresponding from Buenos Aires during the 1978 football world cup. Among other important projects, Stefano Incerti directed the episode Il diavolo nella bottiglia of the collective film I vesuviani (in Competition at the Venice International Film Festival in 1997), and realized three medium-length films: L’uomo di carta (1996), presented at the Lucerne Film Festival in the Cineast du present section, Ritratti d’autore: Francesco Rosi (1996) and Stessa rabbia, stessa primavera (2003), which was presented at the 60^th  Venice International Film Festival, in the “Nuovi Territori” – medium-length films section.  In 2010, he presented Gorbaciof  Out of Competition at the 67th Venice International Film Festival, to much critical acclaim.

Foto ASAC La Biennale di Venezia

Bernardo Bertolucci will award Marco Bellocchio the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 68th Venice International Film Festival (31 August – 10 September 2011), directed by Marco Mueller and organized by the Venice Biennale chaired by Paolo Baratta.

The award ceremony, which will host the exceptional meeting of the two aforementioned Masters of Italian cinema, will take place on Friday 9 September 2011, at 5 p.m. in the newly restored Sala Grande at the Palazzo del Cinema (Venice Lido).

”I am honoured and moved by the fact Bernardo Bertolucci will award me the Lion –Marco Bellocchio stated- Even though we have followed different paths, there have always been mutual interest and esteem between us. And affection. Two prestigious lifetime achievement awards in the same year (the Lifetime Achievement Golden Palm to Bernardo, and the Golden Lion to me) are not only important artistic acknowledgements, but also stand as an image for new human and artistic ventures which I hope will last a long time”.

It will therefore be an award ceremony full of surprises, which will open with the screening of  homage film Marco Bellocchio, Venezia 2011 (12’), realized especially for this occasion by filmmaker Pietro Marcello (Il passaggio della linea, La bocca del lupo), retracing the work of this great Italian director.

An extraordinary “autobiography through films” (from the audition material for the admission to CSC to his first short film Abbasso il zio used as a main thread), the short film by Pietro Marcello manages to retrace in only 12 minutes the creative itinerary of the Piacentine director, portrayed in his endless research for a transcription of reality, as we interpret it in our dreams. A visual and symphonic poem (featuring guest stars such as Ennio Morricone, Nicola Piovani, Carlo Crivelli), Marco Bellocchio, Venezia 2011 is structured as a continuous round through past and present (the sequences Marcello shot in July in Bobbio: Bellocchio in his permanent workshop, working on relentless projects) – the exceptional portrait of an exceptional director.

The “revisited” version of Nel nome del padre (1971) (re-edited  and remixed) by Marco Bellocchio (80’) will follow. For the first time, not a restored film but a brand new original work, realized by the director with elements taken from the film itself. A unique Director’s Cut which is shorter than its first version: 80’ is the length of this “redux” version of Nel nome del padre, instead of the original 105’ of the 1971’s release.

Bernardo Bertolucci was awarded the Golden Lion of the 75th Edition in 2007, an exceptional award created to celebrate, through his persona, the last 75 years of the history of cinema which the Film Festival embodies.

Bertolucci made his debut as a director in Venice with La commare secca (1962); the previous year he had participated at the Festival as the assistant director on Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Accattone (1961). Subsequently, other important works by Bernardo Bertolucci have been screened as worldwide previews at the Lido: Partner (1968), Strategia del ragno (The Spider’s Stratagem, 1970), La luna (Luna, 1979) and The Dreamers (2003). In 1983 Bertolucci was president of the International Jury for the 40th Venice International Film Festival, which awarded Jean-Luc Godard’s Prénom Carmen the Golden Lion.

Marco Bellocchio first participated at the Venice International Film Festival with his second film La Cina è vicina (China is Near, 1967), winning the Special Jury Prize. He ran with Matti da slegare (Fit to be Untied) in the “Proposte di Nuovi Film” section in 1975, with the medium-length film Vacanze in Valtrebbia (Vacation in Val Tribbia) in the “Officina Veneziana” category in 1980, and with Gli occhi, la bocca (The Eyes, the Mouth) in Competition in 1982. He participated twice in the 1990s with the short film Il sogno della farfalla (1992) and the medium-length film La religione e la storia (1998). In 1997 Bellocchio served as president of the “Corto Cortissimo” section jury, and in 1999 was a member of the Competition jury chaired by Emir Kusturica. Over the past decade, his medium-length film dedicated to Verdi entitled Addio del passato (2002) competed in the New Territories category, Buongiorno, notte (Good Morning, Night, 2003) won a special prize in Competition, and his Sorelle Mai (2010) was screened out of competition.

The Annunciation

Siglo ng pagluluwal (Century of Birthing), the new film by Lav Diaz, the director who has received many awards (in Venezia as well) and is known as the ideological father of the New Philippine Cinema, joins the programme of the Orizzonti section at the 68^th Venice International Film Festival (August 31^st to September 10^th) directed by Marco Mueller and organized by la Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta.

To close the programme of Orizzonti, on Saturday September 10, two works have been chosen which  operate on the fusion of different forms of expression:

• Marian Ilmestys (The Annunciation), a cinematic reworking of the elements of a video installation by the Finnish visual artist and director Eija-Liisa Ahtila (this year member of the Venezia 68 jury)
• Monkey Sandwich,  a fictional backstage rendering of a theatre mise-en-scène which features dance, created by Belgian director, choreographer, performer and photographer Wim Vandekeybus.

Siglo ng pagluluwal (Century of Birthing), which will be presented in its world premiere on Sept. 10 in the Orizzonti Events section, is a grand meditation on the various roles of the artist, and tells two seemingly unrelated tales: one focusing on a filmmaker who has spent years working on his latest opus; the other about a Christian cult leader in a rural region.  

Siglo ng pagluluwal (Century of Birthing) marks the return of  Lav Diaz at Venice, after having been a member of the Orizzonti jury last year and having been awarded twice in Orizzonti, in 2008 with Melancholia (Gran Premio Orizzonti), and in 2007 with Kagadanan sa banwaan ning mga engkanto (Death in the Land of Encantos, Special Mention).         

In this film Lav Diaz has Homer – the director who is the leading character – saying: “Through cinema, we can reenact our memories. Through cinema, we can even reinvent our memories. Through cinema, we will remember the past, the present and the future… now. Cinema will bring us to the past, the present and the future… now. We will remember the world because of cinema.“ And he added: “Cinema is being.“

Marian Ilmestys (The Annunciation) by Finnish visual-artist and director Eija-Liisa Ahtila is an installation of three projected images and films in which one of the central motifs of Christian iconography (The Annunciation) is constructed and re-enacted through moving imagery. It is based on the narrative in the Gospel of Luke (1:26-38) and on paintings of the Annunciation in which artists have, in various periods, depicted their visions of the Gospel’s events. In this Annunciation the events are set in the present. The work consists of material produced during the preparations for shooting and  an actual reconstruction of the event of the Annunciation. The footage was shot mainly during the frosty winter season of 2010 in the snowy Aulanko nature reserve in southern Finland and on a set depicting an artist’s studio and the scene of the Annunciation. All the human actors except for two are non-professionals. Most of them are clients of the Helsinki Deaconess Institute’s women’s support services. The animal actors are a trained raven, two ordinary donkeys and a group of carrier pigeons from a bird farm. Although based on an existing script, the events, roles and dialogue were adapted during the filming process to the actors’ individual presence.

Eija-Liisa Ahtila says about her work: “For something to get started, one must merely begin and connect with a thing that doesn’t yet exist – as far as one knows, at least – and to write more into it. How does one know what things are, unless they’re already familiar? What does one know of them at that stage? How do such things exist? How to get next to them and engage in dialogue – about what and in whose language? One instinctively approaches such things through the familiar, the known – at times with such precision and force that one can see from a single angle only, in one direction, all things in a clear order – one thing in front, another just behind it, and so on – in perspective. Can something already familiar fulfill the criteria for a miracle? Can one be shaken with surprise by something one knows through and through? What does one see then? Perhaps one encounters a question, which one cannot understand. Or an image of something that begins to puzzle the mind. They are displayed somewhere, where they can be discovered, and then one waits to see who comes to look at them. And how they look at them.”

Choreographer Wim Vandekeybus frequently uses film and video in his stage performances, but a desire to tell stories has drawn him irresistibly towards cinema. The feature-length Monkey Sandwich is his first dialogue-driven project, a stepping-stone to the long-planned film Galloping Mind. Film plays a significant part in Monkey Sandwich. Yet it is utterly characteristic of Vandekeybus: the distinctive energy and visual power splatter off the silver screen. The whole landscape dances. On stage we see the young performer Damien Chapelle. In an ingenious interaction with the film, he flits around, swinging between loneliness and happiness, in the process creating a world of his own. Sometimes it’s manic-euphoric, sometimes vulnerable, helpless and questing, just like the characters projected over his head, with whom he vainly attempts to make contact. Monkey Sandwich is a tangle of stories. From the hilarious opening scenes to the lies of the theatre and the madness of leadership, such universal themes as solitude and loss rise to the surface. Vandekeybus weaves all this masterfully into a captivating trip and succeeds marvelously in his ambitious intention of fusing film and living performance art.

Wim Vandekeybus said about Monkey Sandwich: “It is a film about error, loss and guilt. It praises the art of story telling by weaving various legends into a single story about a catastrophe caused by a human mistake. People tell stories to explain other things. They use a kind of communication in which things are suggested: logical or not, funny and/or creepy, cruel or moralizing, genuine or invented. It’s a kind of post-industrial folklore to respond to universal fears and desires. Like the songs of a troubadour in the past, people tell stories to express what they want to say. Monkey Sandwich is the story of a man coping with the consequences of his actions, not always knowing how to express what he wants to say.”

Biographical Notes

Lav Diaz 

He was born in 1958 at Datu Paglas, Maguindanao, on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines and is known as the ideological father of the New Philippine Cinema. His monumental trilogy, Batang West Side (West Side Kid, 2002), Ebolusyon ng isang pamilyang pilipino (Evolution of a Filipino Family, 2005) and Ikalawang aklat: ang alamat ng prinsesang bayawak (Heremias, 2006), is the archetype of an uncompromising and aesthetically economic and uniform cinema. The three films are considered modern masterpieces  of  Philippine cinema. Obstinate and independent, the author of a radically anti-Hollywood production, Lav Diaz studied film studies at the Mowelfund Film Institute (Philippines), following studies in economics (Universities of Manila, Davao and Notre Dame). Among his works are Serafin Geronimo: kriminal ng Baryo Concepcion (The Criminal of Barrio Concepcion, 1998), Burger Boys (1999), Hubad sa ilalim ng buwan (Naked Under the Moon, 1999), and Hesus rebolusyunaryo (Jesus Revolutionary, 2002). Lav Diaz, who now lives in Manila and New York, has always sought coherence in style and content in his work, making himself a spokesman for human struggles and of the Philippine population for redemption. He has won numerous international prizes, including those for best film at the Festivals of Brussels and Singapore and the Gawad Urian critics’ prize, with his debut film lasting over 5 hours, Batang West Side (West Side Kid, 2002). His next Ebolusyon ng isang pamilyang pilipino (Evolution of a Filipino Family, 2005) also received the Gawad Urian critics’ prize, while Ikalawang aklat: ang alamat ng prinsesang bayawak (Heremias, 2006) won the special jury prize at the Freiburg festival. The last two of his films have both been screened and won prizes at the Venice Film Festical: Kagadanan sa banwaan ning mga engkanto (Death in the Land of Encantos), 540 minutes of film on the apocalyptic consequences of the Reming typhoon that struck the Philippines on 30th November 2006, won the Orizzonti Special Mention, while the later Melancholia, another titanic work lasting 450 minutes in which Diaz questions the essence of happiness, arriving at the definition of life itself as a means of measuring the suffering of man, won the 2008 Orizzonti Prize.

Eija-Liisa Ahtila

Eija-Liisa Ahtila is a contemporary Finnish visual artist and filmmaker. She has been working in the diverse areas of audiovisual expression since the late eighties. She has studied film and multimedia both in London and Los Angeles and she is currently working mostly on film and video. Within her works she has explored experimental narrative storytelling techniques and e.g. the connection between short films and commercials, split-screen techniques and the possibilities of narration in multiscreen installations. Her films have been shown in international film festivals such as Rotterdam, Miami, Hong Kong, Helsinki and the Sundance Film Festival, and on several different TV-Channels in Europe and Australia. She explores and experiments with narrative storytelling in her films and cinematic installations. In her earlier works she has dealt with the unsettling human dramas at the centre of personal relationships, dealing e.g. with teenage sexuality, family relations, mental disintegration and death. Her later works, however, deal with more profound and basic artistic questions where she investigates the processes of perception and attribution of meaning, at times in the light of a larger cultural and existential thematic like colonialism, faith and post humanism. Her skillfully crafted narratives and touching portrayal of characters have captured the public’s interest and won critical acclaim worldwide. The films and installations attain an air of contemporary familiarity combined with intense oddness, giving Ahtila’s work its distinctive style. Eija-Liisa Ahtila’s films have won several international film awards. A retrospective of her time-based installation works has been shown in some of the most prominent contemporary art museums worldwide. Tate Modern in London dedicated a monographic exhibition to her work in 2002, and the MoMA presented in 2006 her video installation The Wind. In 2008, the Jeu de Paume cultural exhibition centre in Paris dedicated a retrospective to her work entitled Eija-Liisa Ahtila: A Retrospective. British Film Institute has published The Cinematic Works of Eija-Liisa Ahtila, exposing her work to a wider audience on home DVD. The Finnish artist has participated twice in the International Art Exhibition of the Biennale di Venezia. In 1999, her video-projection Lohdutusseremonia (Consolation Service) won an honorable mention. She returned to the Biennale in 2005, where she projected The Hour of Prayer, an exploration on four screens of the sense of loss and pain that followed the death of a dog. Her works include Plato’s Son (1990), a philosophical short road movie about a female alien who arrives to the earth, The Trial (1993), Me/We, Okay, Gray (1993), If 6 was 9 (1995/96), a split screen film about teenage girls and sex, Today (1996/1997), a three episode short film about the relations between fathers and daughters, Love is a Treasure (2002) and Where is Where (2009), a video-installation on multiple screens that addresses the theme of war and the trauma it provokes among civilians. Eija-Liisa Ahtila has won a series of important acknowledgments throughout her career, including the Young Artist of the Year Award in Finland (1990), the AVEK award for important achievements in the field of audio-visual culture (1997), the Edstrand Art Prize (1998) and the Vincent Van Gogh Bi-annual Award for Contemporary Art in Europe (2000). She also earned the Artes Mundi Prize in Cardiff (2006) and the Prince Eugen Medal for outstanding artistic achievement in Sweden (2008).

Wim Vandekeybus

Director, choreographer, actor and photographer Wim Vandekeybus was born in 1963 in Lier (Belgium). Brought up in a rural environment as a son of a veterinarian, Vandekeybus was often in contact with animals in their natural environment. These experiences had a great emotional impact on him. Animals, their movements, their instinctive reactions and their trust in their own physical power are often integrated into his performances. He began his studies in psychology in Leuven, but did not complete them, irritated, as he says himself, by the surplus of ‘objective science’. His interest in the complex relationship between body and spirit remained. A workshop with the Flemish theatre director and playwright Paul Peyskens brought him into contact with theatre. He followed some dance courses (classic, modern, tango) and took up film and photography. In 1985 he auditioned for Jan Fabre. Vandekeybus was taken and during two years he travelled the world with the The Power of Theatrical Madness, playing one of the two naked kings. While touring with Jan Fabre he met painter/photographer Octavio Iturbe in Madrid, who later became an important artistic collaborator. In 1986 he withdrew for several months in Madrid with a group of young, inexperienced dancers to work on his first production and founds his company Ultima Vez (Spanish for ‘last time’). In June 1987 What the Body Does Not Remember premièred at the Toneelschuur in Haarlem (the Netherlands). The dancing in What the Body… was powered by the music of Thierry De Mey and Peter Vermeersch. With tempestuous energy and strength the performers made daring leaps, launched themselves into the air and smartly intercepted each other’s falls. Bricks were thrown above each other’s heads. Every gesture had to stick to an absolutely precise timing; the performers put their trust in and surrendered to their instincts. Although the première was received with scepticism, the performance was soon being presented on international stages. In 1988, Wim Vandekeybus received the Bessie Award in New York for this production, which was credited “a brutal confrontation of dance and music: the dangerous, combative landscape of What the Body Does Not Remember.” Since What the Body… Wim Vandekeybus has created nearly twenty performances with changing international casts and has made nearly as many film and video productions. From his very first performance music has been an important stimulus for his productions. He has commissioned works from, among others, Peter Vermeersch, Thierry De Mey, David Byrne, Marc Ribot, Charo Calvo, Eavesdropper and David Eugene Edwards. In 1989, after a residency at the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine d’Angers, he created Les porteuses de mauvaises nouvelles, for which he received his second Bessie Award. From 1993 until 1999 Wim Vandekeybus is artist in residence at the KVS (Royal Flemish Theatre) in Brussels. He created sixteen performances with Ultima Vez, among which Blush (2002) and Sonic Boom (2005). His work is a fusion of music, dance, theatre and film.

Life Without Principle

Life Without Principle (Dyut Ming Gam), the new film by the contemporary maestro of  Hong Kongese action cinema Johnnie To, will be presented in its world premiere in Competition at the upcoming 68^th Venice International Film Festival (August 31^st to September 10^th) directed by Marco Mueller and organized by la Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta.

Life Without Principle is the 22^nd film announced in the Competition section Venezia 68, to which a surprise film will be added. 

Life Without Principle marks Johnnie To’s return in Competition at Venice four years after The Mad Detective (2007) and the earlier Exiled (2006, in Competition at the 63^rd Mostra), and Throw Down (2004, Out of Competition at the 61^st Mostra), among his most important and personal thrillers for which he is internationally acclaimed, and with which he has profoundly revitalized Hong Kong cinema.

Johnnie To has declared about this new highly anticipated film:

“This is a turbulent world. In order to survive, people have no choice but play the game.

No matter how hard you try to follow the rules, sooner or later, a part of you will be lost.”

Life Without Principle tells the story of three characters: an ordinary bank teller turned financial analyst is forced to sell high risk securities to her customers in order to meet her sales target; a small-time thug delves into the futures index hoping to earn easy money to post bail for a buddy in trouble with the law; a straight-arrow Police inspector, who has always enjoyed his middle income lifestyle, is suddenly desperate for money when his wife puts a down payment on a luxury flat she can’t afford and his dying father wants him to look after a young half-sister he never knew he had.

Three little people who are in dire need of money for the predicaments in their respective lives have nothing in common until a bag of stolen money worth $5m pops up and lands them in an intricate situation that forces them into making soul searching decisions about right and wrong and everything in between on the morality scale.

Life Without Principle, produced and directed by Johnnie To, stars Lau Ching Wan, Richie Jen, Denise Ho, with guest star Terence Yin. The director of photography is Cheng Siu Keung (HKSC), with production and costume design by Sukie Yip, edited by David Richardson, with a screenplay written by Au Kin Yee, Wong King Fai, and Milkyway Creative Team. Life Without Principle is presented by Media Asia Films, produced by Milkyway Image and distributed by Media Asia Distribution.

Johnnie To Kei-Fung started his career when he joined Television Broadcast Ltd. (TVB) in 1974 as a producer’s assistant. In 1977, he became a producer and director in the company’s drama division.  Among his numerous television works, two of them won the New York International TV Festival Gold Award in year 1986, and 1989.

The Enigmatic Case (1979) was To’s directorial debut. In the ‘80s and the ‘90s he directed and produced over thirty feature films, which made him a reputable name in Hong Kong.  International audience has been familiar with his style since his post-modern martial arts flick, The Heroic Trio (1993).

In 1993 To created Milkyway Image, where he Director and Producer a series of daring and innovative films such as The Longest Night(1998), Expect The Unexpected (1998), A Hero Never Dies (1998), Where A Good Man Goes (1999), Running Out Of Time (1999) and The Mission (1999).

After decades of dedicated filmmaking, To is versatile to produce an impressive back catalogue including a variety of genres, while internationally he is best known for his action and crime movies, such as The Mad Detective (2007), and Vengeance (2009), which have earned him acceptance in the cult circle and eventual critical respect in major film festivals. Sometimes described as “multifaceted and chameleonic” for his versatility of tones and genres between movies. In Sparrow (2008), To has demonstrated yet and again his ability of maintaining a consistent style, with a signature uncompromising high standard of narration, drama, and stylistic visual elements. 

L'arrivo di Wang - photo by Barbara Oizmud

L’arrivo di Wang, a psychological-science fiction story written, directed and produced by the Manetti Bros., with Ennio Fantastichini and Francesca Cuttica, is the seventh feature film announced for Controcampo italiano, and in competition for the Controcampo Award (for narrative feature-length films).

L’arrivo di Wang is a production of Manetti Bros. Film, in collaboration with Rai Cinema, and will be distributed in Italy and abroad by Dania Film, Pepito Produzioni, Surf Film.

L’arrivo di Wang stars Ennio Fantastichini, Francesca Cuttica, Li Yong, Juliet Esay Joseph, Antonello Morroni, and Jader Giraldo.

It is the story of Gaia, an interpreter of Chinese, who has been summoned for an urgent and very secret translation assignment. She is greeted by Curti, an unscrupulous agent, who must interrogate the mysterious Mister Wang. But for reasons of secrecy, the interrogation takes place in the dark and Gaia is unable to translate properly… When the light comes back on, Gaia discovers why the identity of Mister Wang was kept secret. This discovery will change her life forever… and not just hers.

The Manetti Bros. are known in Italian cinema for their love of genre films. They have directed feature-length films, including DeGenerazione (1995), Torino Boys (1997), Zora vampira (Zora the Vampire, 2000); Piano 17 (2005), and L’arrivo di Wang (2011).  They also directed L’ispettore Coliandro (2006-2010), several episodes of the television series Crimini (2006), and many video clips for famous Italian singers such as Max Pezzali, Alex Britti, Piotta, Flaminia Maphia, and Assalti Frontali.

The other, previously announced, films in competition for the Controcampo Award (for narrative feature-length films) are:

Scialla! by Francesco Bruni (debut film)

with Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Barbora Bobulova, Filippo Scicchitano, Vinicio Marchioni, Giuseppe Guarino, and Prince Manujibeya.

Maternity Blues by Fabrizio Cattani (second film)

with Andrea Osvart, Monica Birladeanu, Chiara Martegiani, Marina Pennafina, Daniele Pecci, and Pascal Zullino.

Cose dell’altro mondo by Francesco Patierno

with Diego Abatantuono,Valerio Mastandrea, Valentina Lodovini, Sandra Collodel, Grazia Schiavo, and Maurizio Donadoni.

Qualche Nuvola by Saverio Di Biagio (debut film)

with Greta Scarano, Michele Alhaique, Primo Reggiani, Giorgio Colangeli, Aylin Prandi, and Elio Germano.

Cavalli by Michele Rho (debut film)

with Vinicio Marchioni, Michele Alhaique, Giulia Michelini, Asia Argento, and Andrea Occhipinti.

Tutta colpa della musica by Ricky Tognazzi

with Stefania Sandrelli, Ricky Tognazzi, Marco Messeri, Elena Sofia Ricci, Debora Villa, and Monica Scattini.

  The Jury of Controcampo italiano, chaired by director Roberta Torre (who opened Controcampo italiano at the 2010 Venice Film Festival with the international hit I baci mai dati [Lost Kisses]), also includes the director and screenwriter Aureliano Amadei, winner of the Controcampo italiano Award 2010 with 20 sigarette (the film also won four David di Donatello and two Nastri d’Argento) and actress Cristiana Capotondi, one of the revelations of Italian cinema in recent years, acclaimed last year in La passione by Carlo Mazzacurati, in Competition at the 67^th Venice International Film Festival.

The winning director for narrative feature-length films will be awarded negative film to a value of 30,000 Euro, offered by Kodak.