65th Mostra Internazionale del Cinema – a Laguna Blues
With their ability to perceive what rules and moves the word, film and art are the seismographs of nowadays culture.
It's their unique strength, which director Martin Scorcese once so clearly postulated, that has the power to change things. And if they won't change instantly they will at least put magnifying glasses upon our contemporary living.
Obviously Venice is following this principle this year, claiming a mission and taking on a political duty. The message: Watch out and recognise your global responsibility!
Reflecting upon humanity in the 3rd millennium the Mostra Internazionale del Cinema screens a crucial yet unpleasant and disgusting image of nowadays, pointing out such a preposterous society by screening what is happening and questioning What comes next?
Wistful, provocative and sarcastic stories are told in a majority of all contributions assembled from twelve different countries. Every section - from Competition till Eventi Collaterali or Specials like Questi Fantasmi - pictures a disgraceful face of greed, a ferocis and hungry Entertainment Media - a savage and humiliating Industry - or a burdened society drenched in melancholy. Formerly a dream factory, cinema has become a sort of lens zooming in where it hurts, rubbing salt into wounds. Cinema gives birth to a NEW REALISM.
A big part of the selected films declares worries about our next generation. Abandoned and almost sacrificed, children populate films like KABULI KID, LOS HEREDEROS by Eugenio Polgovsky, UNA SEMANA SOLOS by Celina Murga or VOY A EXPLOTAR by Gerardo Naranjo.
Other than that films like VEGAS - BASED ON A TRUE STORY by Amir Nadiri, JERICHOW /by Christian Petzold, LA FABBRICA DEI// TEDESCHI by Mimmo Calopresti or THYSSENKRUPP BLUES by Pietro Balla demonstrate in various shades a frantic society and their desperate struggle to earn a living in a world where no job with sufficient payment is available anymore. Thus leaving them forced to surrender and sell their dreams and compromise their values. Main question: How to survive when everything is falling apart?
The cynical Malaysian film Sell out by Yeo Joonhan sums it up perfectly: in this present age dreams are butchered for practical or profit-making reasons.
Adrian Sitaru, a promising Romanian film director who debuted this year with his feature film /ESCUIT SPORTIV (Hooked) at the Giornate degli Autori section put it into his own words: " (...) it seems to me that we are the only species that can destroy itself with pleasure."
Although the striking message of this festival seems a bit educational and instructive sometimes, the world seems to get united cinematographically.
