The first 12 projects have been selected for the fifth edition of Biennale College – Cinema 2016/17, submitted by teams composed of directors and producers who will take part in the first 10-day workshop to be held in Venice from October 5th to 14th 2016. The international Call was launched on May 6th 2016.
Biennale College is an innovative and complex experience that engages every sector of the Biennale di Venezia.
Biennale College – Cinema is the project that promotes new talents in cinema by offering them the opportunity to work closely with master filmmakers in the production of micro-budget films. 3 of these 12 projects will receive support in the amount of 150,000 Euro to produce a maximum of 3 feature-length films (debut or second film), one of which must be Italian, to be presented at the 74th Venice International Film Festival in 2016.
The 12 projects were announced during the press conference held on 4 September on the Lido di Venezia (Palazzo del Casinò), at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival (31 August – 10 September 2016), directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by the Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta.
The 12 projects selected for the first phase of Biennale College – Cinema are:
• The Anthill –Hanna van Niekerk (director, The Netherlands) – Maarten Kuit (producer, The Netherlands)
• Clementine – Lara Jean Gallagher (director, USA), Karina Ripper (producer, USA)
• Film di Confine – Giorgio Ferrero (director, Italy), Federico Biasin (producer, Italy)
• Inaccessible – Loran Bonnardot (director, France), Jean des Forêts (producer, France)
• In the Making – Kristoffer Borgli (director, Norway), Riina Zachariassen (producer, Denmark)
• Killer? – David White (director, New Zealand), James Ashcroft (producer, New Zealand)
• Mirny Mining Town – Saverio Pesapane (director, Italy), Costanza Julia Bani (producer, Italy), Fabian Martin Diering (Germany)
• Night/Vision – Eva Weber (director, Germany), Nicole Stott (producer, United Kingdom)
• Voice of Silence – EuiJeong Hong (director, South Korea), Afolabi Kuti (producer, United Kingdom)
The 12 projects were selected by the Director of the Venice Film Festival Alberto Barbera, with the help of the Biennale College – Cinema team, and will be documented on the website http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/collegecinema/.
At the close of the first workshop, which will be held in Venice from October 5th to 14th 2016, 3 teams will be invited to participate in two successive workshops, to be held in Venice from December 2nd to 5th 2016 and January 9th to 13th 2017, after which production will begin on 3 feature-length films (debut or second films), one of which must be Italian, which must be low-cost, will be funded in the amount of 150,000 Euro, and will be presented at the 74th Venice International Film Festival in 2016.
Biennale College – Cinema, organized by the Biennale di Venezia, is supported by the Ministry for the Cultural Heritage and Activities – General Direction Cinema. Biennale College – Cinema relies on the academic collaboration of the IFP in New York and of the TorinoFilmLab, and continues its collaboration with the Busan International Film Festival. The Director is Alberto Barbera, the Head of Programme Savina Neirotti.
• Biennale College – Hybrid
Also, the Biennale di Venezia will further integrate the activities of the Biennale College and the Venice Production Bridge with the launch of the new BIENNALE COLLEGE – HYBRID, a program developed to explore today’s most innovative technology: Virtual Reality. This supports the aim of the Biennale to investigate various facets of the audiovisual creative industries, proposing works of virtual reality and TV series, and presenting projects in the development stage in search of financing.
The Biennale College Hybrid explores the esthetics and the narrative opportunities offered by Virtual Reality, providing filmmakers and creatives all over the world with the proper knowledge for making the most of Virtual Reality. Biennale College – Hybrid, in partnership with Nederlands Filmfonds, will prepare nine teams of directors and producers who will work with Virtual Reality projects in their initial phase, helping them to advance under every aspect: creative, production, audience and the market, and financial.
All projects will be presented as a part of the industry office of the Venice Production Bridge, which this year includes feature films, documentaries, virtual reality projects, TV and web series.
Biennale College Cinema and Biennale College Hybrid 2017/2018
MEDIA – Creative Europe Programme
The 2017 edition of the Biennale College – Cinema project, which will include Virtual Reality, will receive essential financing from the European Commission – Connect Directorate General’s Media – Creative Europe Programme. The educational activities of the 2017-2018 edition will thus be funded by a MEDIA grant. This grant is in addition to the funding which the MEDIA Programme has given to the development of the Market and Venice Production Bridge.
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– The first edition of the 2012/13 Biennale College – Cinema closed at the 70th Venice Film Festival in 2013 with the screening of the three films: Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy, Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit (director, Thailand) and Aditya Assarat (producer, Thailand); Memphis – Tim Sutton (director, USA) and John Baker (producer, USA); Yuri Esposito – Alessio Fava (director, Italy) and Max Chicco (producer, Italy).
– The second edition of Biennale College – Cinema 2013/14 closed at the 71st Venice Film Festival in 2014 with the screening of the three films: Blood Cells by Joseph Bull (director, Great Britain), Luke Seomore (director, Great Britain), Samm Haillay (producer, Great Britain), Ben Young (producer, Great Britain); H. by Rania Attieh (director, Lebanon), Daniel Garcia (director, USA), Shruti Rya Ganguly (producer, India), Pierce Varous (producer, USA); Short Skin by Duccio Chiarini (director, Italy), Babak Jalali (producer, Iran/Great Britain).
– The third edition of Biennale College – Cinema 2014/15 closed at the 72nd Venice Film Festival in 2015 with the screening of the three films: Baby Bump by Kuba Czekaj (director, Poland), Madgadalena Kaminska (producer, Poland); Blanka by Kohki Hasei (director, Japan), Flaminio Zandra (producer, Italy); The Fits by Anna Rose Holmer (director, USA), Lisa Kjerulff (producer, USA).
– The fourth edition of Biennale College – Cinema 2015/16 closed at the 73rd Venice Film Festival in 2016 with the screening of the four films: Mukti Bhawan – Hotel Salvation by Shubhashish Bhutiani (director, India) e Sanjay Bhutiani (producer, India); Orecchie – Ears by Alessandro Aronadio (director, Italy) and Costanza Coldagelli (producer, Italy); La Soledad by Jorge Thielen Armand (director, Venezuela), Adriana Herrera (producer, Venezuela), Rodrigo Michelangeli (producer, Venezuela) and Manon Ardisson (producer, Venezuela); Una Hermana – One Sister di Verena Kuri (director and producer, Argentina) and Sofía Brockenshire (director and producer, Argentina).
I wasn’t disappointed a bit on this one. Quite the opposite. The sanctity of the cinema and the reverence of the Italian audience is a “must experience.”
31/08/2016 13:41: Pre-opening screening – Sala Darsena – Tutti a casa – (Photo credit: Larry Gleeson/HollywoodGlee)
So after I waited in line for nearly two hours (in position number one), I found an aisle seat with an abundance of leg room. I settled in to hear Festival Director Alberto Barbera and Biennale President Paolo Baratta address the near-capacity audience at the Sala Dardene in Italian. As I am not fluent in Italian, I watched intently for cues in tone and body language. Both men seem to have had something important to say and the manner in which they delivered it made me sense there was a bit of philosophy floating through the sound waves.
The final guest speaker, Thierry Fremaux, gave the audience a quick barrage of words in French on the importance of the Lumiere Brothers work and the nedd for it to be preserved. Mr. Barbera translatedMr. Fremeaux’s French into Italian then followed the French gentleman to his front row seat microphone in hand. With adept timing as Barbera took his seat next to the French gentlemen, the lights dimmed and the screen was illuminated with “Lumiere!”
To celebrate this important anniversary, on the Pre-opening night of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival (Tuesday August 30th, at 8:30 pm) in the Sala Darsena on the Lido, the public gathered to celebrate Comencini’s one-hundredth birthday. Prior to the screening of the previously announced restored version of Luigi Comencini’s Tutti a casa, the audience was invited to enjoy the program of nine “views” made in Venice by the operators of the Cinématographe Lumière said the Director Fremaux of the Institut Lumière of Lyon.
The films, which were made over three consecutive years (1896-98), were:
Arrivée en gondole, 1896, N°291
Pigeons sur la place Saint-Marc, N°292
Tramway sur le Grand Canal, 1896, N°293
Grand Canal avec barques, 1896, N°294
Panorama du Grand Canal pris d’un bateau, 1896, N°295
Panorama de la place Saint-Marc pris d’un bateau, N°296
Venise, place Saint-Marc, 1897, N°430
Arrivée en gondole des souveraines d’Allemagne et d’Italie au palais royal de Venise, 1898, N°1058
Départ en gondole, 1898, N°1059
The Biennale di Venezia thanked Thierry Fremaux and the Institut Lumière for their valuable collaboration, as well as the Alliance française and Carlo Montanaro of La Fabbrica del Vedere in Venice.
The screening of the “views” will be followed, for the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of the great director Luigi Comencini (1916 – 2007), by the previously announced screening of Comencini‘s masterpiece Tutti a casa (Everybody Go Home, Italy/France, 1960) starring Alberto Sordi, Serge Reggiani, Carla Gravina and Eduardo De Filippo, produced by Dino De Laurentiis, for the world premiere of the digitallyrestored copy by Filmauro and CSC – Cineteca Nazionale di Roma.
Venetian audiences were invited to the special Pre-opening tribute-night at the Sala Darsena on the Lido, beginning at 8:30 pm, thanks to the collaboration with the daily newspapers “Il Gazzettino”, “La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre” and “Il Corriere del Veneto”.
Tutti a casa by Luigi Comencini is one of the most famous and successful examples of what made the “commedia all’italiana” immortal: the blend of comedy and drama, of real and grotesque, of courage and determination to survive. Comencini, with the autobiographical complicity of the two great screenwriters Age and Scarpelli and the bitter laughs provoked by the remarkable performance of Alberto Sordi, tells the story of the chaos that ensued on September 8th 1943, when Badoglio signed the armistice and the soldiers loyal to the King and Mussolini were abandoned to their own destinies, to face many dangers alone. In the film, Alberto Sordi, on the phone under German gunfire, asks his superiors: “Colonel, Sir, this is Lieutenant Innocenzi, something amazing just happened, the Germans have become allies of the Americans. What are we supposed to do?”
Tutti a casa is a “road movie” across the ruins and confusion reigning in Italy at that time, when the soldiers had no one to give them orders and one after another they decided to head back home: tutti a casa, everybody go home. In the story, Second Lieutenant Alberto Innocenzi (Sordi), who is used to obeying and not answering back, is abandoned by his soldiers and flees from north to south with his sick friend, the Neapolitan military engineer Ceccarelli (Serge Reggiani). He runs into German soldiers eager for retaliation who shoot at them, witnesses the odyssey of a Jewish girl attempting to escape (for whom a young Venetian soldier gives his life), meets an American prisoner hiding in an attic, is united with his father (Eduardo De Filippo) who wants to send him back to the Fascist army, until the final redemption during the 4 days of Naples. At the time Comencini stated: “On the 8th of September, people were abandoned to themselves, and that is what I wanted to describe”. The film was a box office hit, bringing in over a billion lire in ticket sales.
Luigi Comencini (1916-2007) who was awarded a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 1987 by the Biennale di Venezia, is considered one of the greatest masters of Italian-style comedy, as well as “the children’s director“. Among his comedies, his first masterpiece was Pane, amore e fantasia (Bread, Love and Dreams, 1953), with Gina Lollobrigida and Vittorio De Sica, winner of the Silver Bear in Berlin, the prototype for what is known as “neorealismo rosa” and one of the highest-grossing films in the history of Italian cinema, followed over the years by other hit comedies such as Pane, amore e gelosia (Bread, Love and Jealousy, 1954), Mariti in città (Husbands in the City, 1957), Lo scopone scientifico (The Scientific Cardplayer, 1957) and Mio Dio, come sono caduta in basso! (Till Marriage Do Us Part, 1974).
Comencini addressed the theme of childhood early on in 1946 with Bambini in città, his first short documentary (which won an award in Venice and a Nastro d’argento), while Proibito rubare (Hey Boy, 1948), set among the street children in Naples, was his first feature-length film. His significant production of films on the theme of “childhood” continued with La finestra sul Luna Park (The Window to Luna Park, 1956), Incompreso (Misunderstood, 1966, in competition at Cannes and winner of a David di Donatello), Voltati Eugenio (1980, presented at the Venice Film Festival), Un ragazzo di Calabria (A Boy from Calabria, 1987, in competition in Venice) and Marcellino pane e vino (1991) his last film directed with his daughter Francesca. Also worthy of note are his versions of two classics of children’s literature, such as Le avventure di Pinocchio (The Adventures of Pinocchio, 1972) and Cuore (1984).
A co-founder in 1935 with Alberto Lattuada and Mario Ferrari of the Cineteca italiana in Milan, Comencini directed a total of forty feature-length films, excluding his documentaries, screenplays, and investigative reports for Rai television. He experimented with many genres other than comedy, such as murder mysteries (La donna della domenica, The Sunday Woman, 1975), melodrama (Incompreso, 1966), literary films (La ragazza di Bube, 1963), period films (Infanzia, vocazione e prime esperienze di Giacomo Casanova veneziano, 1974), film-operas (La Bohème, 1987), but also experimented with more particular films (Cercasi Gesù, 1982, winner of a Nastro d’argento). In an interview he granted in the early 1980s, Comencini declared that he was willing to defend ten of his films, that “would never have seen the light of day if I had not made other flawed films, wholly or in part. But I have never made a film in bad faith”.
9 “views” of Venice and Luigi Comencini’s Tutti a casa (1960)
One hundred twenty years ago – and precisely on the night of July 9th, 1896 – the Cinématographe Lumière made its first appearance in Venice, with the screening of a programme composed of 15 “views”, held just a step away from Piazza San Marco at the Teatro Minerva. It was not until the following August 21st that for the first time the screening also introduced 3 films made in Venice: Arrival of a gondola at Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Vaporetti at Rialto and The Legendary Pigeons of San Marco, which were followed by others in the days to come.
To celebrate this important anniversary, on the Pre-opening night of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival (Tuesday August 30th, at 8:30 pm) in the Sala Darsena on the Lido, the public gathered to celebrate Comencini’s one-hundredth birthday, prior to the screening of the previously announced restored version of Luigi Comencini’s Tutti a casa, is invited to enjoy the programme of nine “views” made in Venice by the operators of the Cinématographe Lumière, commented in the theatre by the Director of the Institut Lumière of Lyon, Thierry Fremaux.
The films, which were made over three consecutive years (1896-98), are:
Arrivée en gondole, 1896, N°291
Pigeons sur la place Saint-Marc, N°292
Tramway sur le Grand Canal, 1896, N°293
Grand Canal avec barques, 1896, N°294
Panorama du Grand Canal pris d’un bateau, 1896, N°295
Panorama de la place Saint-Marc pris d’un bateau, N°296
Venise, place Saint-Marc, 1897, N°430
Arrivée en gondole des souveraines d’Allemagne et d’Italie au palais royal de Venise, 1898, N°1058
Départ en gondole, 1898, N°1059
The Biennale di Venezia wishes to thank Thierry Fremaux and the Institut Lumière for their valuable collaboration, as well as the Alliance française and Carlo Montanaro of La Fabbrica del Vedere in Venice.
The screening of the “views” will be followed, for the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of the great director Luigi Comencini (1916 – 2007), by the previously announced screening of Comencini‘s masterpiece Tutti a casa (Everybody Go Home, Italy/France, 1960) starring Alberto Sordi, Serge Reggiani, Carla Gravina and Eduardo De Filippo, produced by Dino De Laurentiis, for the world premiere of the digitallyrestored copy by Filmauro and CSC – Cineteca Nazionale di Roma.
Venetian audiences will be invited to the special Pre-opening tribute-night at the Sala Darsena on the Lido, beginning at 8:30 pm, thanks to the collaboration with the daily newspapers “Il Gazzettino”, “La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre” and “Il Corriere del Veneto”.
To attend the screening on the tribute-night in Sala Darsena free of charge, interested viewers can pick up their invitation at Ca’ Giustinian (San Marco 1364/a) or at the Lido (Bar Al Leone d’oro, on the corner of the Palazzo del Cinema on the side of Via Candia) starting on the afternoon of Friday August 26th through Tuesday August 30th (from 10 am – 1 pm and 3 pm to 7 pm) simply by presenting the coupon published from Friday 26th to Monday 29th August on “Il Gazzettino” or “La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre” (or, for online subscribers, by displaying the paid digital edition on their smartphones or tablets) or by following the instructions published on the “Corriere del Veneto” from Friday August 26th through Tuesday August 30th.
· For information on available invitations call +39 041 2726505
· Each coupon is good for one invitation for the free admission of one person to the screening
· Invitations will be distributed on a first come first served basis for the number of seats reserved for each newspaper
________ . ________
The 73rd Venice International Film Festival will be held on the Lido from August 31st to September 10th 2016 directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by the Biennale chaired by Paolo Baratta.
Tutti a casa by Luigi Comencini is one of the most famous and successful examples of what made the “commedia all’italiana” immortal: the blend of comedy and drama, of real and grotesque, of courage and determination to survive. Comencini, with the autobiographical complicity of the two great screenwriters Age and Scarpelli and the bitter laughs provoked by the remarkable performance of Alberto Sordi, tells the story of the chaos that ensued on September 8th 1943, when Badoglio signed the armistice and the soldiers loyal to the King and Mussolini were abandoned to their own destinies, to face many dangers alone. In the film, Alberto Sordi, on the phone under German gunfire, asks his superiors: “Colonel, Sir, this is Lieutenant Innocenzi, something amazing just happened, the Germans have become allies of the Americans. What are we supposed to do?”
Tutti a casa is a “road movie” across the ruins and confusion reigning in Italy at that time, when the soldiers had no one to give them orders and one after another they decided to head back home: tutti a casa, everybody go home. In the story, Second Lieutenant Alberto Innocenzi (Sordi), who is used to obeying and not answering back, is abandoned by his soldiers and flees from north to south with his sick friend, the Neapolitan military engineer Ceccarelli (Serge Reggiani). He runs into German soldiers eager for retaliation who shoot at them, witnesses the odyssey of a Jewish girl attempting to escape (for whom a young Venetian soldier gives his life), meets an American prisoner hiding in an attic, is united with his father (Eduardo De Filippo) who wants to send him back to the Fascist army, until the final redemption during the 4 days of Naples. At the time Comencini stated: “On the 8th of September, people were abandoned to themselves, and that is what I wanted to describe”. The film was a box office hit, bringing in over a billion lire in ticket sales.
Luigi Comencini (1916-2007) who was awarded a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 1987 by the Biennale di Venezia, is considered one of the greatest masters of Italian-style comedy, as well as “the children’s director“. Among his comedies, his first masterpiece was Pane, amore e fantasia (Bread, Love and Dreams, 1953), with Gina Lollobrigida and Vittorio De Sica, winner of the Silver Bear in Berlin, the prototype for what is known as “neorealismo rosa” and one of the highest-grossing films in the history of Italian cinema, followed over the years by other hit comedies such as Pane, amore e gelosia (Bread, Love and Jealousy, 1954), Mariti in città (Husbands in the City, 1957), Lo scopone scientifico (The Scientific Cardplayer, 1957) and Mio Dio, come sono caduta in basso! (Till Marriage Do Us Part, 1974).
Comencini addressed the theme of childhood early on in 1946 with Bambini in città, his first short documentary (which won an award in Venice and a Nastro d’argento), while Proibito rubare (Hey Boy, 1948), set among the street children in Naples, was his first feature-length film. His significant production of films on the theme of “childhood” continued with La finestra sul Luna Park (The Window to Luna Park, 1956), Incompreso (Misunderstood, 1966, in competition at Cannes and winner of a David di Donatello), Voltati Eugenio (1980, presented at the Venice Film Festival), Un ragazzo di Calabria (A Boy from Calabria, 1987, in competition in Venice) and Marcellino pane e vino (1991) his last film directed with his daughter Francesca. Also worthy of note are his versions of two classics of children’s literature, such as Le avventure di Pinocchio (The Adventures of Pinocchio, 1972) and Cuore (1984).
A co-founder in 1935 with Alberto Lattuada and Mario Ferrari of the Cineteca italiana in Milan, Comencini directed a total of forty feature-length films, excluding his documentaries, screenplays, and investigative reports for Rai television. He experimented with many genres other than comedy, such as murder mysteries (La donna della domenica, The Sunday Woman, 1975), melodrama (Incompreso, 1966), literary films (La ragazza di Bube, 1963), period films (Infanzia, vocazione e prime esperienze di Giacomo Casanova veneziano, 1974), film-operas (La Bohème, 1987), but also experimented with more particular films (Cercasi Gesù, 1982, winner of a Nastro d’argento). In an interview he granted in the early 1980s, Comencini declared that he was willing to defend ten of his films, that “would never have seen the light of day if I had not made other flawed films, wholly or in part. But I have never made a film in bad faith”.
Sonia Bergamasco will open the 73rd Venice Film Festival on the evening of Wednesday August 31st, on the stage of the Sala Grande (Palazzo del Cinema on the Lido) for the opening ceremony, and on September 10th the actress will host the closing ceremony during which the winners of the Lions and the other official awards of the 73rd Venice Film Festival will be announced.
The 73rd Venice Film Festival will be held on the Lido from August 31st to September 10th 2016, directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by the Biennale di Venezia chaired by Paolo Baratta.
Sonia Bergamasco is one of Italy’s most versatile actresses. She was born in Milan, where she graduated in piano from the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi, and in acting from the Scuola del Piccolo Teatro. She made her debut in Arlecchino servitore di due padroni with Giorgio Strehler, and was the Blue Fairy in Carmelo Bene’s last version of Pinocchio for theatre and television. In theatre, she has also worked with Theodoros Terzopoulos, Massimo Castri and Glauco Mauri. Since 2001 she has starred in or directed productions in which the experience of music is more deeply entwined with the theatre. Winner of the Premio Duse 2014 for her work as an actress, in 2015 she directed and starred in the production Il ballo (from the short story by Irène Nemirovsky).
She made her cinema debut in 2001 in L’amore probabilmente by Giuseppe Bertolucci, presented at the Venice Film Festival. Winner of the Nastro d’argento 2004 for Best Actress in La meglio gioventù by Marco Tullio Giordana, she also worked with Bernardo Bertolucci in Io e te (2012), with Giuseppe Piccioni in Giulia non esce la sera (2009), with Silvio Soldini in the short film D’estate (1994), with Franco Battiato in Musikanten (2006). She won the Premio Flaiano award as best actress in the film for television De Gasperi, l’uomo della speranza (2005) by Liliana Cavani; also in television, she won great acclaim for the hit series Tutti pazzi per amore (2008-2010) and Una grande famiglia (2012-2015) by Riccardo Milani.
Her most recent accomplishments include her roles in the film Quo vado? with Checco Zalone, directed by Gennaro Nunziante, for which she won the Alida Valli Prize at the Bari Film Festival, and the new episodes of Commissario Montalbano, with Luca Zingaretti.