by Helen Barlow
The Festival was taking hygiene seriously. The room was less than half full of masked journalists and if you didn’t apply for a place online three days in advance, forget it. The room was disinfected between each press conference.
JURY PRESS CONFERENCE
Blanchett was naturally a scene-stealer and as usual came up with some fun, human comments.
After saying it was a pleasure and great honour “a miracolo to be honest” to make it to Venice, she applauded the organisers for “their inventiveness, resilience and collaboration”. She said that she is looking forward to “canvassing opinions and ideas with filmmakers from around the world”.
The jury includes French actress Ludivine Sagnier, English director Joanna Hogg and German director Christian Petzold, while Italian resident and Hollywood star, Matt Dillon is a late addition.
“We are all in solidarity with filmmakers who had to complete films under very difficult conditions,” Blanchett said. “It’s exciting to be here after talking to pigs and chickens for the last six months.” She said that her husband Andrew Upton was supportive as always, even if her kids were less keen on her being there.
She noted that the Berlin Film Festival, where she presented Stateless, had been her last festival outing. “I was in a cinema last week with my family and we saw Tenet, an event film that was enjoyable. At home, she said she’d watched Josephine Decker’s Shirley and Zola, which had premiered in Sundance. “I think a lot of people reverted to watching the likes of Miyazaki’s films at home.”
As politically-inclined as ever, when asked if she could imagine a pandemic closing economies, as in Italy, she took an oblique swipe at the US President.
“Uncle Economy seems to be the most important member of the family. I find it bizarre that the World Health Organisation is not being allowed to lead this global challenge. I think we’re a very strange species that we don’t learn by the painful examples, for example the terrible stress that Italy was under and when it reached other countries they didn’t learn a painful lesson – the way things were handled and the challenges those countries that were first hit and what they faced and what other countries could perhaps prepare for. It’s a very strange thing that I still don’t quite understand; that we behave in quite obtuse, fragmented and destructive ways.”
Blanchett’s first trip to the Venice Festival had been in 1998 with Elizabeth. “The first film I made outside of Australia came here and I had no idea what a film festival was,” she recalled. “It was probably the most terrifying moment of life. I couldn’t be here for the Bob Dylan film (I’m Still Here, 2010) but both films are very dear to my heart. There’s always a surprising array of films and this year is not an exception.”
FESTIVAL DIRECTORS PRESS CONFERENCE
In an unprecedented move, Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera was joined on stage by European counterparts Thierry Frémaux (Cannes), Lili Hinstin (Locarno), Vanja Kaludjercic (Rotterdam), Karel Och (Karlovy Vary) and Jose Luis Rebordinos (San Sebastian). Berlinale artistic director Carlo Chatrian was set to join them on stage that evening, while BFI London Film Festival director Tricia Tuttle had to cancel, but remains a signatory.
At the conference, Barbera convened and dominated, though his Cannes archrival and now seeming bosom buddy, Frémaux, also shared his thoughts.
Famously, the difference between the two festivals last year was that Frémaux had refused Netflix films in Cannes, while Barbera welcomed the likes of Marriage Story and The Laundromat. Now, with Netflix and other streaming services proving vital during the pandemic, Frémaux is more conciliatory.
“Thierry and I have been friends for more than 20 years and I have become friends with other festival directors, so we decided to do something in this extraordinary edition,” Barbera said.
At one point, the Venice and Cannes events had considered a closer collaboration. “The reason it didn’t happen is simple,” Barbera said. “We looked at various hypotheses of how we could work in a constant and precise manner in this extraordinary situation, but everything kept constantly changing in front of our eyes, week by week. Every hypothesis we came up with, quickly became old. But our intention to do something continued until a few weeks ago, so we decided to invite the directors of European film festivals to express our solidarity. Some of our colleagues in Cannes, Locarno and Karlovy Vary have been unable to stage their film festivals, while London will have a physical, though reduced edition. I hope the spirit that has led us to this initiative will continue in the future. What we have learnt is we can overcome crises if we collaborate.”
Frémaux admitted that it made sense for Venice to lead the initiative, given that it’s the world’s oldest festival. “It’s normal, it’s our elder,” he said. “What we are doing today, is a source of inspiration for other festivals. We have felt the terrible loneliness of artists and filmmakers having to stop their work on movies, but the festivals had to exist, nonetheless. Economists say it will be three years for the economy to find some strength and for us to fully know the cost of the pandemic.”
Barbera: “We must support theatres. Venice accepted Netflix when they were considered an enemy. But during the lockdown, the streamers became more important and relevant. The different platforms have been incredible well-watched and they have helped us survive. Still, watching movies on the big screen is in the very nature of the film industry, so we have to fight and support this sector. Many cinemas closed at the end of March, and many will never open again. It’s a battle for civilisation and culture.”
Frémaux says the French government offers great economic support, whereas cinema in countries like Brazil is under threat, because of “the power of the President in particular”.
“It’s the 120th anniversary of the opening of the first cinema. Theatres and streaming platforms must learn to co-exist.”
Main Photo Credit: La Biennale di Venezia, Foto ASAC, by Jacopo Salvi
