28/08/2023 - The person responsible for the programme told us about the selection process for the 38th edition, current themes and trends, and discoveries from the section that are now part of cinema history

We spoke to Beatrice Fiorentino, responsible for the programming of Venice International Film Critics’ Week, about the selection of the titles in the 38th edition (taking place from 30 August to 9 September, during the 80th Venice Film Festival), the themes and trends that emerge from them, and the discoveries that have entered the history of cinema.

Cineuropa: During the presentation of the programme, you said that the films from this edition express “a cinema that looks at the present with a political gaze without overlooking entertainment and story, a cinema that tells stories but without losing sight of forms.” What is the magic formula of Venice International Critics’ Week?
Beatrice Fiorentino: Damn, you’ve found out, I have a secret! Joking aside, the answer to that question is also in the presentation. “It’s a question of looking”. The gaze of those who make films, but also of those who look for them. The cliché that a selection is made only according to what already exists is only partially true, in the sense that one cannot have a preconceived idea; obviously research is based on recent productions, but one needs to know what they’re looking for or at least what they’re not looking for. At the International Critics’ Week, we look for interesting and coherent formal propositions that can speak to all, or at least to most people. We like to show that cinema is alive. We’re interested in the present of cinema, and its relation to the present of the world. All we have to do is recognise it. Usually, we begin with a mapping as broad as possible, then we start to sift through the results. We also get a lot of help from funds, producers and sales agents with whom we’ve established a rapport of real trust. 

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What thematic changes have you spotted in the last few years?
We notice different urgent themes every year, even though we don’t chase the “trending topic” at all costs. To some degree, we indulge the most significant tendencies, but without being bound to them. Last year, for example, the theme of sexual identity was dominant. The need to think about this topic was particularly evident and an explicitly queer programme was born from that, but formal propositions were also very varied and interesting. This year, the number of films touching on LGBTQI+ themes isn’t necessarily smaller, but the expressive charge isn’t the same, it seemed to us that it had partially become exhausted or trivialised. The question of identity is still present but in broader, more universal and existential terms; there is also a lot of reflection on the relationship between the individual and the space, and on a dialectical rapport between past and present. The themes this year are more varied, embracing social issues but not in an excessively explicit way, and sometimes filtered through the codes of genre cinema. Rather, an impressive figure we’ve recorded is the rise of documentary, both in quantitative and qualitative terms. Four of the nine titles we’ve selected are documentaries. 

What are the titles that will be most striking to viewers for the originality of their perspective?
Among the most surprising titles we find Hoard [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luna Carmoon
film profile], the powerful debut of a very young director (26 years old, only 24 at the time of filming). It’s a very strong story, tender and unpleasant, partly autobiographical. Luna Carmoon is full of talent and extremely brave. Then, there is also The Vourdalak [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adrien Beau
film profile], a film both ancient and modern, based on a novella by Tolstoj (Aleksey, cousin of the more famous Leo). Adrien Beau recovers the artisanal dimension of filmmaking, recalling masters from the past (Bava, Corman, Rollin, Parajanov) but does not abandon a clear, political vision of the present.  Life Is Not a Competition, But I’m Winning [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Julia Fuhr Mann
film profile], meanwhile, is a kind of alien object, hybrid and difficult to classify. The use of digital cinematography here is a political act and serves to rewrite, at least in part, the story of the Olympics, a story that was partially “made up,” at least when it comes to female athletes. We loved Julia Fuhr Mann’s queer approach and her original perspective within the panorama of German cinema. 

Nine beginnings. Every year, it is a gamble. How many of these “promises” have been kept, how many had a follow-up, how many became success stories over the years?
Last year we showed, as a special event, the restoration of the film O Sangue by Pedro Costa, thirty-three years after its debut in International Critics’ Week. Enrico Magrelli, the general delegate at the time of the film’s discover, wrote in the catalogue that the section plants seeds. Only a few of these seeds germinate and grow, sometimes becoming solid oaks. Just a few days ago, the Locarno Film Festival gave a career Golden Leopard to Harmony Korine, another International Critics Week discovery. But other directors who have been through this section include Olivier Assayas, Mike Leigh, Pablo Trapero, Abdellatif Kechiche, Peter Mullan, Kenneth Lonergan, Bertrand Mandico. Among Italian filmmakers, we have Antonio Capuano, Carlo Mazzacurati, Roberta Torre, Salvatore Mereu, Vincenzo Marra. The International Critics’ Week therefore represents an opportunity. This year, we are planting nine seeds and we hope that they will all grow into solid oak trees.

(Translated from Italian)