There were no submarines disgorging Hollywood stars this time round, but the Venice International Film Festival started on an upbeat note last night with a mini Anglo-American invasion for the gala screening of Sleepers. Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman were both in attendance, as was director Barry Levinson.
Outside the famous occasion in 1955 when the buxom Diana Dors appeared in a gondola wearing a mink bikini, the British have struggled to make a splash in Venice, but they too turned up in numbers yesterday evening. Roger Taylor and Brian May, from the rock group Queen, were in town to promote Made in Heaven The Films, the eight shorts inspired by their final album.
Outgoing festival supremo Gillo Pontecorvo has long expressed his exasperation with the fact that American cinema invades our screens with mediocre films. Venice's ambivalent relationship with Hollywood stretches back to the first Mostra in 1932 when, fittingly enough, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was among the attractions. Various high-profile studio films are screening in the Venice Nights Section, already established as an autumn showcase for the Majors. In Los Angeles, Pontecorvo remarks, they tell me the section brings good luck. The greatest successes in Europe and the world pass through the Venice Nights.
Pontecorvo's deputy Giorgio Gosetti points out that there is also another side of American filmmaking on display. The US films in competition can hardly be described as mainstream, while The Beat Goes On retrospective showcases the work of underground filmmakers like Shirley Clarke and Jonas Mekas.
With Pontecorvo's replacement still to be named and the Minister of Culture due on the Lido today to announce the overhaul of the Biennale, there is inevitably an air of flux about this year's festival, but the selection of films is as strong as ever. If anything, the main focus has shifted back to Europe. We trust in European cinema, Gosetti observed, and the programme this year is very useful for presenting their work. Godard, Lelouch, Loach and Schlöndorff are among the big-name auteurs with films in competition. Despite the late withdrawal of Iranian competition entry, Journey Into The Dawn, Gosetti points out, We also have a lot of films from Africa, Asia and South America.
Geoffrey Macnab
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