FESTIVALS AND EVENTS
Venice Invites Hollywood — The 55th Venice Mostra
A review of the events and a commentary
on the program of the 55th Mostra.
Eastern European films generated the greatest interest
at the Venice festival this year with the awarded films Black Cat, White Cat (Emir
Kusturica, The Silver Lion for Directing) and The Last Paradise (Luciano
Pintilie, The Main Jury Award), as well as distinguished
films by Radu Mihaelanu (Train
de vie), Goran Paskaljeviæ (Bure baruta) and
Vera Chytilova (Zamke).
Out of the remaining European films, interest was sparked
by Eric Rohmer’s film Autumn
Stories, which was, in the opinion of the authors
present, the best film of this year’s Mostra. The British
selection was weaker than last year’s and the Italian
production was severely criticized for having a privileged
place at the festival. But in spite of this, one Italian
film did triumph. Gianni Amelio’s Cosi
ridevano, along with the Taviani brother’s Tu ridi,
was judged the best film in the Italian program.
Independent American film were the most represented at
the festival. The greatest interest was awakened by Abel
Ferrara’s latest film New Rose Hotel, based
on a short story be cyberpunk guru William Gibson. In comparison
to the festival at Cannes, the author observes that the
Venetian festival seems much poorer, but that a certain
amount of glimmer returned with a supplementary program
(Night and the Stars) that screened expensive Hollywood
productions from Steven Speilberg’s Saving
Private Ryan and John Frankenheimer’s Ronin to
Peter Weir’s The
Truman Show, Andrew Davis’ A Perfect Murder and
Warren Beatty’s excellent Bulworth.
Dragan Rubeša |
