Venice film fest part 1

The 65th Venice film festival (Mostra internazionale d'arte cinematografica) landed on Tuesday, meaning that film industry blow-ins, a couple of overpaid ad-men and a lot of jaded paparazzi get to enjoy the venice humidity between their hotel rooms and their restaurants. Did I mention the jaded blow-in residents?

First rule of enjoying the film festival is to remember that this is Italy - in a country dedicated to appearances, you're nobody. So today we went and visited the palazzo del cinema - waste of time. Great to see that the building does actually get used for two weeks of the year, because it's boarded up, closed for the other 50 weeks. Forget about going there to watch a movie (or even a film with subtitles) any other time because it's closed, because you're nobody and the subjects of Loreal ads are elsewhere. On a Sunday, there's not much to do there other than buy a "mostra" logo-ed beach towel or cloth bag or get something from the bar. The usual posters and stands by Loreal and Lancia saying "go away" and plenty of security to reinforce the feeling. The best thing you can do is write a little comment on a piece of paper and have it posted on a marquee - some of them are very apt, like the once that had a group of stickpeople at the entrance of the mostra saying "vaffanculo troppo caro".

So it seems to me that the mostra is the quintissential experience of Italian style over substance. Where Italy once had a groundbreaking, vibrant and truly innovative and meaningful film industry it now has dreadful placement-laden films filled with recycled face-lifted tv stars and mouthless bimbos, in cineplexes that show nothing challenging or inspiring. Perhaps the apex of this disregard to film culture is the dubbed film - why is it so threatening to show films in their original language and add subtitles? Why is it so difficult to show films in english, or with english subtitles, in a city so given over to tourism as Venice? Why is the palazzo del cinema so criminally underused as to be left empty for 50 weeks of the year, when on Thursday night over 700 people turned up to Campo San Polo to see the Coen Brothers' "Burn after reading" in english? For the city that has hosted an international film festival for the past 65 years, isn't it incongruous that there's only one cinema in the town, and no films screened with subtitles? How does the Italian film culture rejuvenate itself if there are so little opportunities for the public to see and enjoy films? Why are the cinemas treated as little more than viewing rooms, lacking couches, information, cafes, events...The stunning contrast between the availability, activity, patronage and enjoyability of cinemas between Australia and Italy mirrors the culture you find in those countries' film culture and filmmaking.

I think Ali has a similar gripe about the swimming pools...it might be argued that if Italy opened its swimming pools for the other 9 business hours of the day, then maybe there would be more Italian swimmers at the top of sport. Maybe if Venice opened its film palazzo for the other 50 weeks of the year, it would be a good start toward making exciting films again.