Nisimazine Venice 28th August- 7th September 2013
Tracks Parkland Paolo Bertolin
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picture of the day
Editorial Mirona Nicola (Romania)
Venice seems to be everybody’s exercise for ‘3 films to take on an island’. Only this particular island is certainly not deserted. The exodus to Lido already began a week ago and not even a good visual memory can really help you remember all the faces you’ve seen in these past days. But what we’re all looking for when coming here is not really for the people, but for the films that stubbornly and masterfully become part of our visual memory. As it should be, many films are profoundly polarizing their audiences. And this means not only the press and the critics, but also the general public that attends the screenings of the festival. Not everybody likes the same thing, and nobody can really like them all. The good part is that there is plenty of time and plenty of crop to choose from. As for those who are not here (much like yourself, reading this), there’s plenty of press coverage to go around. The press room is always busy and in full supply of coffee. And the Nisimazine team is dutifully contributing to the symphony of the laptop keyboards. Today we’re introducing a violin and trumpet duo about Tracks, a film with a strong feminine focus that is likely to boost credibility in Mia Wasikowska’s abilities as an actress. Less convincing, but non the less interesting, is Parkland, which provides a different perspective on the events surrounding the killing of JFK. Furthermore, we get a glimpse in the story of the connection between Venice and Asia through an interview with Paolo Bertolin. Hint: it has to do with geography as much as it has to do with film. Enjoy!
NISIMAZINE VENICE
28th August- 7th September 2013 /# 2 A magazine published by NISI MASA in the framework of a film journalism workshop for young Europeans.
EDITORIAL STAFF
Director Fernando Vasquez Coordinator Mirona Nicola Layout Lucía Ros Photography Valentina Calà
CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE
Mirona Nicola, Tara Karajica, Višnja Pentić,
Fernando Vasquez
NISI MASA
99, rue du Faubourg Saint-Dénis 75010, Paris, France Phone: +33 (0)1 48 01 65 31 europe@nisimasa.com www.nisimasa.com
reviews Tracks
John Curran (Australia) – Official Competition
The 70th Venice Biennale is marked by films with a domination of strong female characters and Tracks, John Curran’s captivating fifth feature, is no exception. Based on Robyn Davidson’s international bestseller Tracks, that in turn is inspired by her true brave and fascinating journey, it recounts her 1,700 miles track across the deserts of West Australia (from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean) with four toughly earned camels and her faithful dog, Diggity. John Curran takes us on the epic journey of a woman’s personal soul searching, self-discovery and self-resignation with her troubled past. Mia Wasikowska authentically and effortlessly portrays Robyn Davidson, a character with a desperate need for solitude, profound disillusion in life, and in the so-called society. All these link with her personal past traumas resulting in this radical and crazy action- as deemed by her entourage. She brilliantly sketched a complete portrait of a brave woman who defies socially rooted conventions and expectations and achieves to make the audience feel for her, care for her, and root for her. The narrative is at times marked by flashbacks of her childhood that eventually reveal the trauma that is responsible for her stubborn withdrawal from the civilized world as well as her close relationship with animals. Despite this, Curran also punctuates his film with the conventional travelogue formalities, showing maps that unveil Robyn’s pace and whereabouts, along with montages of her traveling.
And, oddly enough, it never gets tiresome. With his great directional skills, he achieves to convey a sense of loneliness and sadness that is perfectly balanced with the right dose of monotony. Mandy Walker’s beautiful and documentary style cinematography manages to take us across the Australian Outback with breath-taking shots of desert landscapes, of dry and cracked grounds with dusty orange and red colors dominating the palette. Tracks is a female and more positive Into the Wild and, highly recommendable. by Tara Karajica (Italy/Serbia)
The first time director Peter Landesman, who wrote the script based on the bestseller Four Days in November by Vincent Bugliosi, tries to offer a fresh perspective on the event by building a mosaic composed of the stories of people behind the scenes. Doctors, detectives, agents, journalists and the members of the family of the assassinated president theatrically walk through the film played by first rate actors, such as Marcia Gay Harden, Billy Bob Thornton and Paul Giamatti as well as by some Hollywood newcomers such as Zac Efron and Jeremy Strong. Yet, none get proper space or time for us to remember them as characters of any substance and thus to relate to what they experience and feel. There is no depth in the way Landesman portrays his characters since we only get to see them crying or talking in one-liners.
Parkland
Peter Landesman (USA) - Official Competition For a film about one of the most intriguing events in the American history Parkland manages to be incredibly uninteresting. If it were not focused on JFK’s assassination, which marks its 50th anniversary this November, the film could pass for a typical episode of the TV series 24. The constant usage of handheld camera, extremely dynamic editing, tons of sweaty close-ups and hectic cross-cutting do make Parkland look like a thriller. Yet when things slow down we have to face banal dialogues about the forever lost American innocence and the nation’s endangered pride, packed with a tacky melodramatic score which makes things look even more overdramatized.
The film’s visuals may be flashy and effective but its story is as thin as air. It is a film about a crucial historical event that ends up being about nothing thanks to its rather trite script and histrionic performances marred by the overall lack of focus. Disturbingly devoid of meaning and substance Parkland’s most ambitious scenes show Jackie crying over her dead husband’s body, Lee Harvey Oswald’s poorly attended funeral and good hearted Americans worrying sick while watching the news. Thus, all the film has to offer, story wise, are overdramatized clichéd slices of life. There must have been some better stories behind the scenes of history in the making. Unfortunately these are still waiting to be told.
by Višnja Pentić (Croatia)
interview It’s an interesting question that I don’t know the answer to. I think the people that work here had a particular interest and the people who scout and correspond have been able to find works that were relevant. Then I also think because, historically, Venice has been less connected to market logics, compared to Cannes for instance. Yet this is just a conjecture, I am not so sure about it. I like to think that there is a more obvious reason which is the history of this city. Venice has always been a gateway to the east. First projected itself towards the Middle-East, and then further away. Marco Polo for instance- who else but a Venetian would be able to build the bridge between the West and the East? In an Italian context, Venice is also one of the only two cities that features faculties of Eastern Asian language studies. This connection has been always there.
Paolo Bertolín
Scout of Southeast Asia Cinema at Venice Film Festival Paolo Bertolin has played a vital role in the Diaspora of Asian-Pacific cinema in Europe, being the adviser and correspondent in those territories for festivals and organizations such as the Venice Film Festival and Cannes’ Critics Week. We caught up with him to find out more about Venice´s healthy obsession for Asian cinema. How did you get into the world of film programming? I originally started as a film critic, collaborating with several media, both print and online, such as Il Manifesto. My focus, because of my own personal interest, was on East Asian films, from China, Korea, and from the mid 2000´s onwards Southeastern films as well. Then some people knowing of what I was doing asked me to join some small size film festivals as an advisor and consultant for those territories. Before joining Venice in 2008 I also worked for a couple of years for the Critics Week in Cannes. It was literally an email, I was in Malaysia and got an email to join the Venice film Festival team. It was a dream
come true because I was born in this region and grew up with the myth of the Venice Film Festival. Later the territories covered by myself expanded to the Pacific area as well. Why is Venice so open to Asian cinema? True, from the 3 big competitive European film festivals Venice has always been the one more open and friendly to Asian films and also the one that brought to fame great Asian directors. Kurosawa and others won very important landmark Golden Lions and in more recent years all major Asian filmmakers have won awards here.
How difficult is for an European to work in the Asian film market? It is very difficult and people are not aware of this. Every industry has its own specificities and you must be very well aware of them. If you look at the programming teams of the big Asian festivals you’ll realize they are all locals. You have both attitudes. On the one hand you have people that are very respectful because they think: “look this is a westerner who has taken the time to learn our culture, our cinema, or languages.” In some other cases there is also the post colonial burden. I am confronted sometimes with the attitude that says: “Why is it always westerners judging our films. Why don’t we voice our own views?” But this happens everywhere in the world. You have privilege access to the Asia-Pacific scene. What young filmmakers should we be looking out for? It is a difficult question because we are talking about a huge region and there are several cases. Narrowing down to what Venice has this year I am personally a strong believer in the talent of this young Australian director, Amiel Courtin-Wilson. I am really happy and proud that Venice has been showcasing his work. It was really special to have his first feature Hail here two years ago, as it was not a premiere and a huge exception was made. Now he is here with Ruin at Orizzonti and also present in the Venice Reloaded program with a short. I know Ruin is a film that divides audiences and critics alike. I know some people walked out but I also know of people that were blown away and positively disturbed by it. He is someone to follow and hope he is an example of the kind of cinema Venice can continue to support.
Interview by Fernando Vasquez (Portugal)