Foreword by Daniel N. Casagrande and colophon for the 2015 edition, news about the sponsors and press releases. In this section, all you need to know
FOREWORD
The ninth edition of Queer Lion, the collateral award of 72. Venice International Film Festival dedicated to movies “with homosexual themes or queer interest”, has this year the patronages of the UNAR (National Department Against Discriminations of the Office of the Italian Prime Minister), MiBACT (Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism of the Italian Republic), Veneto Region, Province of Venice, City of Venice and the National Union of Italian Film Critics.
Heading the jury is American writer Alonso Duralde, Programmer for L.A. Outfest, pre-screener for the Sundance Film Festival, former arts and entertainment editor at the Advocate, film reviews editor for TheWrap; the other jury members are Daniel N. Casagrande, Founder of Queer Lion Award, journalist, member of the National Union of Italian Film Critics, teacher of History of Cinematographic Language and Marco Busato, Founder member and General Delegate of cultural association CinemArte, translator, academic in Cinema history.
Seven movies will be considered for the award: The Danish Girl, directed by Tom Hooper, with Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander; Desde allá, directed by Lorenzo Vigas and flying the flag of Venezuela; Spotlight, directed by Thomas McCarthy and starring Mark Ruffalo and Michael Keaton; Janis, a documentary directed by Amy Berg; La calle de la amargura from helmer Arturo Ripstein; Lama Azavtani, from Israel, directed by Hadar Morag; and last but not least, Arianna, the debut feature film of Italian director Carlo Lavagna.
Worth mentioning are, furthermore, two documentaries of queer interest presented in the Venezia Classici sidebar: The 1000 Eyes of Dr. Maddin directed by Yves Montmayeur, and Helmut Berger, Actor helmed by Andreas Horvath; and in the same sidebar, we must as well remember the 40th anniversary restoration, courtesy of the Cineteca di Bologna, of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s controversial masterpiece Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma.
This year’s cover image, Queer Lion’s personal tribute to gay cowboys in the 10th anniversary of the Golden Lion awarded to Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, was ideated by photographer Marco Visca: “From Tom of Finland to Bob Mizer, from Andy Warhol to Gus Van Sant, there is a very long list of artists who used this proudly masculine icon to literally gun down clichés, conventions and stereotypes of the American culture.” The cover model is Giorgio Ronchini, known for his participation to the tenth edition of Italian’s Big Brother.
This year’s teaser, realized by the young filmmaker Fabio Carpene, wants to be a tribute from Queer Lion to the history of Venetian film industry and to the CineVillaggio that, thanks to Scalera Film studios, was built in the fall of 1943 on the Venetian island of Giudecca. The short film has been shot in low-resolution black and white to revive the language of early cinema.
Enjoy the show!
ORGANIZATION
Organization Associazione Culturale CinemArte General management Daniel N. Casagrande Translations Marco Busato Graphic & website design Francesco Gangemi
Thanks
72. Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica: Alberto Barbera, Luigi Cuciniello, Angela Savoldi, Flavia Lo Mastro, Fiorella Tagliapietra, Elisa Terzi, Elena Mantoan, Paolo Bertolin, Silvia Menegazzi, Nicola Passarotto, Michele Boselli.
12. Giornate degli Autori: Giorgio Gosetti, Giovanni Marco Piemontese, Sylvain Auzou, Renata Santoro, Gaia Furrer, Roberta Ria.
30. Settimana Internazionale della Critica: Franco Montini, Francesco De Pace, Bruno Torri, Eddie Bertozzi.
Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri – Dipartimento per le Pari Opportunità UNAR: Marco De Giorgi, Ada Ferrara. Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e del Turismo: On. Dario Franceschini, Giampaolo D’Andrea. Regione del Veneto: On. Luca Zaia, Daniele Travain. Provincia di Venezia: Cesare Castelli, Mirco Gavagnin. Comune di Venezia: Luigi Brugnaro.
Opening clip: Fabio Carpene (director), Marta Zen (production), Myrna Longo (cinematographer), Gianpiero Aceto, Ennio Mainetti, Sebastiano Spironelli, Davide Montanari (actors).
Cover: Giorgio Ronchini (model), Marco Visca (photographer), Alessio Bortolozzo (lighting).
8. Padova Pride Village: On. Alessandro Zan, Claudio Malfitano, Federico Illesi, Mattia Galdiolo, Surinder Badhan, Giusva Iannitelli.
And: Alberto Doveil, Vincenzo Patanè, Sandro Avanzo, RaiNews24, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Venezia News, Pride, Queever, Adriano Virone, Andrea Curti, The Open Reel, Cosimo Santoro, Franco Grillini.
