Yesterday organizers had their press conference where the announcement of this edition lineup was released to press. Directed by Giorgio Gosetti, with Andrea Purgatori as President for the first time this year, Giornate features 11 films in competition and 8 special events, including the Miu Miu Women's Tales; the closing film Les chevaux voyageurs, about the "King of Horses" by the multi-faceted, engrossing Bartabas; and 8 Venetian Nights at the Villa degli Autori, along with a program of talks, tributes and special projects under the aegis of the two Italian filmmakers' associations ANAC and 100autori.The films on the lineup come from 12 different countries. Along with Italy and the United States, the slate ranges from Africa and Asia to South America and Europe, with 6 first films in competition and four women filmmakers at the helm, and attests to a certain rigorousness Giornate has sought to exercise in its choice of titles, favoring a free-wheeling, independent creativity in filmmaking the world over. If any common thread is to be found in this assortment, you could say it's the clash of cultures that reveals just how fragile the contemporary world is, torn as it is between a desire for uniformity and conformity and the vitality of ancestral roots, unbowed by mass culture.
The other distinctive feature of the lineup is an inclination to seek out "pop culture" mediums that pique the curiosity of different kinds of audiences, in our belief that cinema today needs to speak to diverse communities of film-goers, while continuing to pursue common aims: to get its message across, stir emotions, ignite passions, and re-establish a direct connection between artist and audience, however a film is viewed.
As it has every year since 2004, Giornate degli Autori, independent sidebar of the Venice Film Festival, is held on August 28 September 7.
Official Selection
Competition
5 è il numero perfetto (5 Is the Perfect Number), Igort (Igor Tuveri), Italy, Belgium and France
ある船頭の話 Aru Sendō no Hanashi (They Say Nothing Stays The Same), Joe Odagiri, Japan
Barn (Beware of Children), Dag Johan Haugerud, Norway and Sweden
Bor mi vanh chark (The Long Walk), Mattie Do, Laos, Spain and Singapore
Boże Ciało (Corpus Christi), Jan Komasa, Poland and France
La Llorona (The Weeping Woman), Jayro Bustamante, Guatemala and France
Lingua Franca, Isabel Sandoval, USA and Philippines
Seules les bêtes (Only The Animals), Dominik Moll, France and Germany
Un divan à Tunis (Arab Blues), Manele Labidi, France
Un monde plus grand (A Bigger World), Fabienne Berthaud, France
ستموت في العشرين You Will Die at 20, Amjad Abu Alala
Out Of Competition
Closing Film: Les chevaux voyageurs (Time Of The Untamed), Bartabas, France
Special Events
Burning Cane, Phillip Youmans, USA
House of Cardin, P. David Ebersoler and Todd Hughes, USA (documentary)
Il Prigioniero, Federico Olivetti, Italy, 16' (short film)
Mio Fratello rincorre I dinosauri, Stefano Cipiani, Italy
Mondo Sexy, Mario Sesti, Italy (documentary)
Scherza con i fanti, Gianfranco Pannone, Italy (documentary)
Miu Miu Women's Tales
#17 Shako Mako, Hailey Gates
#18 Brigitte, Lynne Ramsay
Venetian Nights
Cercando Valentina, Giancarlo Soldi, Italy (documentary)
Emilio Vedova. Dalla Parte del Naufragio, Tomasso Pessina, Italy (documentary)
La Legge degli spazi biachi, Mauro Caputo, Italy (documentary)
Sufficiente, Maddalena Stornaiuolo and Antonio Ruocco, Italy, 10' (documentary short film)
The Great Green Wall, Jared P. Scott, UK (documentary)
Lux Prize
Cold Case Hammarskjöld, Mads Brügger, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Belgium (documentary)
El Reino (The Realm), Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Spain and France
God Exists, Her Name is Petrunija, Teona Stugar, Macedonia, Belgium, Slovenia, Croatia, and France
To check available info and trailer go @MOC