The Italian illustrator and author Lorenzo Mattotti signs for the sixth year the image of the official poster, and for the fifth year the theme song, of the Venice Biennale International Film Festival, now in its 80th edition (30 August - 9 September 2023).
Venezia 80
The image chosen for the poster for Venice 80 “is inspired by seeds of cinema on the road – explains Lorenzo Mattotti – and in this way wants to express feelings of freedom, adventure, discovery of new territories. I played with graphics – underlines the artist – to represent new worlds to be explored through cinema. We are convinced that there is a great future for cinema that looks far ahead and ventures into new paths.
Furthermore, this year the Exhibition celebrates its 80th editionee we wanted to remember it in the number that appears on the license plate of a fictional car. Of course there are many films that can be evoked by looking at this image, for example Overtaking, Easy Rider or Thelma and Louise. Everyone finds his film on the road. It is a wish for cinema, that it goes far and runs towards the future. A future made of explorations, in search of new frontiers: a bright and colorful cinema”.
The Italian films in competition
As anticipated on the eve, there are six Italian films in the main competition of the Venice Film Festival, officially announced by the director Alberto Barbera in the traditional press conference on the illustration of the bill. As for the invited films, there are 82 feature films and 14 short films. The Italian films in competition are: 'Comandante' by Edoardo De Angelis, which is also the opening film instead of 'Challengers' by Luca Guadagnino, withdrawn after the postponement of the release to next year. 'Enea', second work by Pietro Castellitto; 'Finally the dawn' by Saverio Costanzo; 'Lubo' by Giorgio Rights; 'I Captain' by Matteo Garrone; 'Adagio' by Stefano Sollima. Among foreign films, there is also great anticipation for the film Michael Mann's Ferrari which narrates a particular phase in the life of Enzo Ferrari, the Drake of Maranello. The film will be released in theaters next Christmas.
“These are six films of which we are unanimously convinced. Leaving someone out would have been a very difficult and painful choice. They are very different films, which dare, from many points of view”. Thus Barbera who adds: “Costanzo's film has a budget of 28 million euros, De Angelis's 'Comandante' between 16 and 17, Garrone's more than eight million. This is not a sign of madness on the part of the producers, it is the conscious risk taken by the Italian producers. It is the desire to consolidate the production structures of our cinema.
So far – underlines the artistic director – our recent cinema had difficulty getting out of the national borders. To deal with international realities because it was a cinema made up of small production realities. Weak and with limited financial resources that affected the final product. Now we are in a completely different context. Each of these films dares to do something: from the point of view of the stories told, of formal research, of stylistic research. And they all signal a willingness to get out of the traditional canons that have marked the last 20 years of our cinema and to compete with different ambitions”.
(Images official page La Biennale di Venezia)
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