Beautiful cinema at the Festival
Polish Tricks winning the fourth edition.
Festival of Authors.
Federico Raponi, Venice (our news bulletin)
‘I am very happy, it’s a tremendous success.’ The fourth edition of the Festival of Authors abounds in titles and presentations, so the feedback reported by our senior correspondent Fabio Ferzetti is very positive. However, let us begin with the Italians (Zanasi, Guzzanti, Maira, the portrayals of Bianciardi and Lizzani) and their great disappointment, comparing it with the competition at the Show. ‘Our work is autonomous and independent – even though, as explained by Ferzetti – it was supposed to be a simple game of opposing.’ The competition is not always a perfect reflection of the skillfulness of our authors, just like I’m not sure if the Festival is a good starting place for a young author.’
In total, the thirteen titles, ‘in large measure the works which represent both strength, vitality, and different tendencies and languages. But I admit, without unnecessary polemics, that it looks like our newspapers didn’t realize it. We are heading towards the cinema where the author does not stand aside, unchanging, fossilized and inward-looking. He certainly is a great personality, capable of inventive solutions, and, above all, a person who can make contact with the public.’ Anyway, this is the response to the general appeal of not only the journalists, activists and distributors, but of a group of the enthusiasts and persons not so well-known in the business as well. It couldn’t have been better, the rooms were full, and the viewers stayed on to have discussions with the directors. In the first place, what we have here is an evident bonding between the film-makers and spectators, where still there is room for discussions about the cinema and suggestions.
Villa Lido, the venue for get-togethers, meetings, discussions and creative work.
‘The Villa (venue for the Festival) was massively besieged as the venue for numerous get-togethers, meetings, discussions and work on the films.’ It is illustrated, for instance, with the shows of other festivals, two meetings with the directors affiliated to the Ring association, as well as the campaign for the popularization of the classics of our cinema (“100+1,” backed up with manifestos).
Coming back to the selected films, apart from La Zona and Sous les bombes already mentioned in our pages a few days ago, one should also mention Freischwimmer by Andreas Kleinert, a grotesque movie, interwoven with black humor, which presents the norms ruling the average small town in Germany. Finally, the Festival winner, the Polish Tricks by Andrzej Jakimowski, a film that surprises by its joy of a child. The story whose main hero is a little boy (the actors are not professionals), abandoned by his father and raised by his sister. The decision of the connoisseurs of the European Cinema may signal a distribution of the movie in Italy, all the more so because it means screening in 1600 movie houses and guaranteed inclusion in the repertoire for at least two weeks.