The 71st
Venice International Film Festival, running on Venice Lido from
27th August to 6th September 2014, comes with numerous world and international premieres. Starting from tomorrow audiences will attend films by Abel Ferrara,
Fatih Akin, Roy Andersson, Alejandro Inarritu, David Gordon Green, Andrei Konchalovsky and Joshua Oppenheimer, to name few.
The aim of the oldest international film festival in the world is to raise awareness and promote the various aspects of international cinema in all its forms: as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and dialogue. The festival also organizes retrospectives and tributes to major figures as a contribution towards a better understanding of the history of cinema.
People, cranes and golden lions in Venice
“Festivals are often expected to provide something they cannot supply. And just as often, we do not demand of festivals what they must necessarily provide: not just a snapshot of the present, but the capacity to see things in a different light, to perceive what sometimes remains invisible or unclear, to come into contact with a different idea of cinema, to sniff out new alternative routes, or others that are simply coming into being” Artistic Director Alberto Barbera says in his 71st edition introduction.
Balkan film and co-productions at the 71st Venice IFF:
Venezia 71 Section
Horizons Section
Venice Classics Section
International Critics’ Week Section
Dancing With Maria by Ivan Gergolet, Italy/Argentina/Slovenia, 72΄
Two American filmmakers, film editor Thelma Schoonmaker and director Frederick Wiseman are the recipients of the Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement of the 71st Venice IFF.
The Sala Web
Streaming films for the third consecutive year, The Sala Web section will make titles available worldwide for an exclusive five-day window beginning on the date of their official presentation at the festival. Ognjen Svilicic’s These Are The Rules is the Balkan film to be streamed along with 10 other features.
Venice Film Market
Venice Film Market, the business platform dedicated to cinema professionals attending the 71st Venice IFF, runs during the first days of the festival, from Thursday 28th August to Tuesday 2nd September. Its aim is to enhance the needs and the expectations of producers, distributors, buyers, sellers, agents and film promotion agencies.
A new service of this year΄s edition is the launch of the first European Gap Financing Co-Production Market, taking place from August 29th and 30th, a co-production market presenting 15 European projects which have secured at least 70% of their financing. One-to-one meetings will be organized between the selected projects producers and international financiers, sales agents, distributors, post-production companies, film funds, film commissions etc.
Out of 15 selected projects 4 come from the Balkans:
Sworn Virgin by Laura Bispuri, Italy/Albania/Germany/Switzerland
Another important event will be the exclusive networking session between the international Sales Agents and Independent Exhibitors from the CICAE on August 31st. This special session includes on August 30th, a special screening during which the Sales Agents’ trailers will be presented to the Independent Exhibitors followed the following day by a 90’ one-to-one meeting session between them.
As in previous years, the Venice Film Market – Industry Office area will host a comprehensive program of seminars dedicated to the film-making industry concerning norms, technology, social and market issues.
