Stefano Accorsi: “Always look for your own voice”
Stefano Accorsi won everyone in the Masterclass he held yesterday at the Campari Lounge, joking and dispensing advice to the young actors who came to listen to him. ‘Always look for your voice because it is the only way to be a protagonist,’ stressed the actor, whose resume also includes the screenplay of the trilogy, 1992, 1993, 1994, the Sky series on the Tangentopoli political era. ‘In those years, the projects I wanted to do were not Italian; I was working in France, but I wanted more, so I started to write a subject for a series investigating the Italian political landscape,’ the actor shared with the audience. ‘ It was born as a biopic on Berlusconi, but at the time, he was prime minister, and I was told to change the subject. Then, I included fictional characters next to real ones. He never thought of quitting. ‘I’ve had moments when everyone calls you because you’re a genius and others when they don’t call you because you’re an asshole,’ he joked, ‘but I’ve never thought about quitting’. Reconciling career and love is possible, ‘I always come home every weekend, even when I didn’t have children’. The most important thing in a profession where ‘you mustn’t be afraid of being wrong’ is to ‘always keep one foot in reality’.
NANNI MORETTI RECEIVES THE BIANCHI 2024 AWARD
Nanni Moretti received the 47th Bianchi Award, awarded by the Italian Cinema Journalists Union (SNGCI) in agreement with La Biennale to celebrate the excellence of a personality of Italian cinema. The presentation of the award, in the presence of the Festival’s director Alberto Barbera and SNGCI president Laura Delli Colli, was held in the Sala Corinto, right before the screening of the restoration by the CSC – Cineteca Nazionale of Moretti’s cult Ecce Bombo. The film won the Silver Ribbon for Best Original Story. Moretti, Delli Colli recalled, was defined as ‘the most intelligent and subtle poet, the most affectionate and disenchanted, the most ironic and melancholic of that time. This definition remains, with the commitment, talent, originality, and above all, the consistency of an author who managed, in his very personal style, ‘to recount a generation, with its desires, its stumbles and its fears’. And this is why the film journalists express their affectionate thanks to him this year in Venice‘.
Party for Peter Weir in the Sala Grande
The ceremony for awarding the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to Peter Weir turned into a passionate (and grateful) tribute from the audience of the Sala Grande (with a large majority of young people). The author of Picnic at Hanging Rock, Witness, Dead Poet’s Society, The Truman Show and many other films that are now part of cinema history was repeatedly applauded by those present. Ethan Hawke, one of the protagonists of Dead Poets Society, paid tribute to the Australian director with a speech ending with the famous quote ‘Captain, my Captain’ from the movie that stars Robin Williams. The beautiful montage of the most famous scenes from Weir’s movies gave more goosebumps to the Sala Grande. The Artistic Director of the Venice Film Festival, Alberto Barbera, and the President of the Biennale, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, presented the award in the hands of Mr Weir before the screening of Master and Commander, one of his latest movies. A few hours in the morning before the ceremony, Ethan Hawke was the protagonist of a crowded conversation at the Match Point Arena as part of the Masterclasses organized by La Biennale and Cartier.
Divas & Godmothers exhibition
“Like a dog in church, in the apotheosis of cinema, I talk about theatre. The dramaturgy and the acting ability of the Divas represented here demonstrate their power and beauty, a manifestation of the divine in their name’s very etymon. For this reason, I remember Carmelo Bene here when quoting Shakespeare, he said: ‘Softly, touch her softly because she was a woman”. Biennale President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco opened the exhibition Dive & Madrine, curated by Lucia Borgonzoni and Chiara Sbarigia, on show until 7 September in the hall of the Hotel Excelsior. The author of the photographs, Uli Weber, and the godmothers Sveva Alviti, Sonia Bergamasco, Anna Foglietta, Rocio Morales, Caterina Murino, Vittoria Puccini and Kasia Smutniak were present.
Thanks to this photo exhibition, organised by the Ministry of Culture and the Archivio Luce Cinecittà, we discover the history of our cinema through the images of eight divas of the past in archives shots, alongside eight contemporary actresses, godmothers of past editions of the Venice Film Festival, here called upon to reinterpret them shot at Cinecittà by Uli Weber and dressed by Italian stylists, celebrating Made in Italy across fashion, costume and cinema.
Silvana Mangano is reinterpreted by Kasia Smutniak, Sophia Loren evoked by Caterina Murino, Sonia Bergamasco is Alida Valli, Stefania Sandrelli/Rocio Morales, Claudia Cardinale/Serena Rossi, Virna Lisi/Vittoria Puccini, Mariangela Melato/Anna Foglietta, and Monica Vitti/Sveva Alviti, who says ‘I recognised myself in her incommunicability, as if the camera bothered me’.
Oscar Cosulich
Artificial Intelligence with a Human Heart at Venice 81
The Reply AI Film Festival hosted by Mastercard features a competition of short films made with AI
Over a thousand short films from more than 59 countries, including the USA, UK, Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Brazil, China, India and Korea, have registered for the Reply AI Film Festival, the first international competition devised by Reply open to all creatives who have made a short film using new technologies and Artificial Intelligence tools.
The winners of the competition’s first edition will be awarded today, September 3rd, at the Priceless Lounge hosted by Mastercard at the Hotel Excelsior.
AI artists, directors, writers, animators, VFX artists and passionate amateurs run in the contest. Over 1,000 short films were submitted, and 12 were selected for the competition. The contest theme is Synthetic Stories, Human Hearts, emphasising the encounter between human talent and technology. These 12 finalists are the guests of the event hosted in Venice by Mastercard, one of the festival’s sponsors, always close to the world of cinema to connect fans, performers, and new talents to their passion for the seventh art. During the event, the international jury, composed of Adam Kulick, Caleb & Shelby Ward, Denise Negri, Filippo Rizzante, our director Flavio Natalia, Julien Vallée & Eve Duhamel, Monica Riccioni, Paul Trillo and Rob Minkoff, will announce the three overall winners of the competition.
‘We are thrilled to host the Reply AI Film Festival awards event in Venice, a special occasion dedicated to young film talents who will be able to increase networking opportunities,’ said Luca Fiumarella, Head of Marketing Italy at Mastercard. ‘Mastercard has always been close to the world of cinema with the triple objective of bringing film enthusiasts closer to this art, supporting young talents so that they can express their potential to the best of their ability and continuing to make available innovation and cutting-edge technology in all sectors, whether related to business or to passions, to enable a more inclusive and sustainable society’.
“The Reply AI Film Festival is not only a competition to enhance innovation and creativity but also an opportunity for young talents to immerse themselves in new technologies, acquire advanced skills and bring new narratives to life. Like the Reply Challenges, a programme of technological and creative competitions, the Reply AI Film Festival bears witness to Reply’s commitment to enabling innovative educational models capable of engaging new generations,” commented Filippo Rizzante, CTO of Reply. “The selected finalists exemplify the strong desire not only to tell a story but also to experiment with new technologies in filmmaking. The awards event will showcase innovation and technology’s ability to activate new, more accessible and sustainable creative scenarios’.
Birgit Krueger
