details
- Dates: August 29 - September 8, 2012
- Website: www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/index.html
Venice Film Festival
The world's first film festival, founded in 1932, belongs to Venice. Originally dubbed the Esposizione internazionale d'arte cinematografica (International exhibition of cinematographic art), the festival became a world class competition and showcase for international auteur cinema. It all began with Rouben Mamoulian's "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" at 9:15 pm on August 6, 1932, kicking off the modern film festival era. Venice's fest is widely considered to be among the top five in the world in terms of prestige and as an industry event. Its late August/early September slot kicks off the fall festival season and the event is dominated by premieres of anticipated new movies, some of which get a sneak peak at the Telluride Film Festival and many of which then make a trek to the Toronto International Film Festival. European industry types frequent the event, which has weathered considerable leadership turmoil in recent years. Marco Mueller, a veteran of the Rotterdam and Locarno International Film Festivals noted as a strong curator of international cinema, has been atop Venice for a few years now, attempting to give it stability and to raise its stature. Despite this, there were complaints about numerous facets of the event in 2008, including from Indiewire's correspondent - from criticisms about the quality of the Competition titles; expensive passes, accommodations, and restaurants; and a lack of engagement with Hollywood and with the U.S. press. Some also suggested that the Lido had lost its luster in favor of Toronto's increasing importance. The 2009 edition took efforts to address many of these concerns, however, so it remains to be seen if recent troubles were just a hiccup in the storied history of the festival.
