7 new titles complete the competition

Baby Bump by Kuba Czekaj

As in the previous editions, the jury of Queer Lion Award 2015, upon seeing them, will add further movies with LGBT contents to the ones already announced in competition. Here are the movies that entered the competition:

Marguerite
Marguerite

Marguerite by Xavier Giannoli (France/Czech Republic/Belgium, 127’) Venezia 72

1921, the beginning of the Roaring Twenties. Not far from Paris. It is party day at Marguerite Dumont’s castle. Like every year, an array of music lovers gathers around a great cause at the owner’s place. Nobody knows much about this woman except that she is rich and that her whole life is devoted to her passion: music. Marguerite sings. She sings wholeheartedly, but she sings terribly out of tune. Blackmailed for a sex scandal, a famous homosexual opera singer will be forced to become her teacher and mentor, but it will not be enough.

4 September 22:00 Sala Grande (official screening)

In Jackson Heights
In Jackson Heights

In Jackson Heights by Frederick Wiseman (Usa, 190’) Fuori Concorso

Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City is one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse communities in the United States and the world. The people who live in Jackson Heights, in their cultural, racial, sexual and ethnic diversity, are representative of the new wave of immigrants to America. Some of the issues the film raises – assimilation, integration, immigration, cultural and religious differences – are common to all the major cities of the Western world.

4 September 13:30 Sala Grande (official screening)

Human
Human

Human by Yann Arthus-Bertrand (France, 188’) Fuori Concorso

Human, a diptych of narrations and images of our world, offers us the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the deepest reaches of a human being. Through testimonies full of love and happiness, as well as hatred and violence, Human brings us face to face with the Other and takes us back to our own lives. Yann Arthus-Bertrand: “I dreamed of a film in which the power of words would resonate with the beauty of the world. Putting the ills of humanity at the heart of my work—poverty, war, immigration, homophobia—I made certain choices. Committed, political choices. But people talked to me about everything: their difficulty in growing as well as their love and happiness. This richness of the human word lies at the heart of human. The movie relates the voices of all those, men and women, who entrusted me with their stories. And it becomes their messenger..”

12 September 14:30 Sala Darsena (official screening)

Na ri xiawu (Afternoon)
Na ri xiawu (Afternoon)

Na ri xiawu (Afternoon) by Tsai Ming-liang (Chinese Taipei, 137’) Fuori Concorso

At the ruins, in the afternoon. The conversation between a dying man and his most beloved person: director Tsai Ming-liang and his partner for the last 20 years, actor Lee Kang Sheng.

10 September 16:30 Sala Pasinetti

11 September 19:30 Sala Volpi

12 September 14:00 Sala Volpi

Helmut Berger, Actor
Helmut Berger, Actor

Helmut Berger, Actor by Andreas Horvath (Austria, 89’) Venezia Classici

The film is an intimate portrait of the aged Helmut Berger, exposing the brusqueness of his character for what it really is: a cry for attention, closeness and intimacy. The radicality and ruthlessness with which he lays bare his emotions and exhibits his body bear resemblance to the Viennese Actionism movement. And much like the Actionists Berger uses performance art as a means of articulating his discomfort.

9 September 17:00 Sala Casinò

10 September 22:00 Sala Casinò

The 1000 Eyes of Dr Maddin
The 1000 Eyes of Dr Maddin

The 1000 Eyes of Dr Maddin by Yves Montmayeur (France, 65’) Venezia Classici

Daniel N. Casagrande: “Guy Maddin’s cinema is intrinsecally surreal, happily anarchic, intellectually compelling, drastically poetic, fierce, cinephile; many of his works are a visually elaborate tribute, among others, to Jean Genet and Kenneth Anger; “Sissy Boy Slap Party” is probably the best example of how the queer aesthetics is Maddin’s cinematic grammar.” The documentary shows, among thers, interviews to John Waters and Kenneth Anger.

8 September 15:30 Sala Casinò

10 September 20:15 Sala Casinò

Baby Bump
Baby Bump

Baby Bump by Kuba Czekaj (Poland, 89’) Biennale College – Cinema

Kuba Czekaj: “My intention was to create an unrealistic movie. A comic-book style film about physical adolescence—about the body that changes, grows and turns into a monster. The story is focused on the corporeality of an 11-year-old boy and the frustration it causes—the kid doesn’t want to be noticed and belittled. He doesn’t know what is happening with him. He rejects the fact that his transformation has begun. He escapes into his fantasy world—a cruel fairy tale where his contacts with his community and his mother— unable to accept that her son changes—assume final proportions. Baby Bump is a portrait of a child trapped in adolescence—few say it out loud, but growing up really isn’t for kids.”

3 September 17:00 Sala Casinò