My Second Day at the Lido

On my second day at the Festival, I had my usual early morning  and arrived at the Lido at 9 am for a walk, and to have time to read Ciak, latest gossips,  and films’ plots sitting in front of the Excelsior hotel.

At 11 I went to see Gravity, which I thought has been realized with the accuracy of a master, in technical terms, but that lacked a little bit in the screenplay, it keeps your attention alive, but, in the end, it left me disappointed. Good film overall, but it certainly isn't 2001: A Space Odyssey or Solaris. 

After a quick lunch I went queueing to see The Art of Happiness (Italian animated film) by Alessandro Rak, of which I had read very good reviews. The standing ovation for the whole crew attending the screening does not need any explanation. It was emotional, great on all levels, modern, actual, and real, the music was original, the screenplay was at a high level, and the filmmaking has nothing to envy to non-animated films.

But the moment I was looking forward to was the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement ceremony prizing William Friedkin, a unique director, in my opinion, who really changed the logic of horror films, and please remember he did not only direct The Exorcist!!

The screening before the ceremony was the restoration of Sorcerer, one of his bests, but often forgotten, films. The emotion started very early once the director and his wife entered the room, and sat a few seats ahead of mine. I just think it is amazing to watch the artists who put heart and mind in a film rewatching themselves or their work.  The characters were so well constructed in this simple, but complex story of the human binomial: good and evil. 

I had never seen someone receiving such an important prize, plus it was Mr Friedkin’s Birthday and he couldn’t be happier.

Follow this link to read Friedkin's acceptance speech: 

http://artbookscinema.blogspot.it/2013/09/william-friedkin-golden-lion-for.html

Right after the ceremony I went out and waited in front of the red carpet to see who was about to come: I had the pleasure to see Mr Friedkin again, the Italian singer Edoardo Bennato, the actor Riccardo Scamarcio, the actress Francesca Cavallin, the Festival’s godmother and model Eva Riccobono, and the amazing Mia Wasikowska, protagonist of Tracks which I was going to see on the following day.

William Friedkin - Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement Ceremony

I'm sorry to upload my posts about the Festival so late, but lately I have been having the busiest days ever, and I only have some time today to write.

One of the best experiences I had in Venice was to attend the ceremony for William Friedkin receiving the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.

First of all, we had the chance to see a restoration of one of his best films: Sorcerer, which I found amazing, for the way in which he manages to play with the four protagonists and make them hit by Fate especially through the use of the camera.
Here's the director's comment on the film:

"The Exorcist was a story about the Mystery of Faith. Its impact had a profound and unexpected effect on me. I felt compelled after three years of working on all the foreign versions of that film, to direct a film about the Mystery of Fate, about men of no faith trapped in a landscape devoid of morality. The ideal scenario was George Arnaud's novel and H.G. Clouzot's The Wages of Fear. I approached my film, not as a remake, but as a newly conceived version, much as a new production of any classic, such as Hamlet or Rigoletto is not a remake. The main characters are flawed men, condemned to a life of hell on earth, though they desperately cling to existence. Their fate is not in their own hands, but in the hands of an unseen evil wizard, the Sorcerer of the title. If I was able to choose one of my films by which to be remembered, it would be Sorcerer."

The emotion was even bigger because Mr Friedkin was sitting just a few rows ahead of me.

Here is the director's speech which I recorded live in the Sala Grande. 

Due to some technical problems in uploading the video, here is the speech:

"An interviewer asked me today, how important is it to me to win the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Venice Film Festival, several interviewers asked me that, I told them what I'll say to you, it's the most important award I could possibly get, with one exception that I'll tell about it at the end of my little acceptance speech. It's important to me because of the great list of filmmakers who have preceded me, and who received this award for works that, I think, will live forever. To be on a list with Charles Chaplin, Akira Kurosawa, Orson Welles, in fact Orson Welles won the first Life Achievement Award in 1970 when they first gave the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and it was Orson Welles who inspired me to make movies. In 1949, the Golden Lion was won by H.G. Clouzot, for another film he made Manon, and H.G. Clouzot first inspired this film (Sorcerer). Bertolt Brecht said that "art is not a mirror to be held up to society, art is a hammer with which to shape society." About 45 years ago a very prominent French film critic, André Bazin, asked the question: "What is cinema?". I believe that for 70 years the Venice Film Festival has defined what is cinema, with the choice of films from every country that premiere here every year. The Venice Film Festival even proved that there is life after death, as with this Sorcerer. If it was not for Alberto Barbera, the artistic director of the Festival and my dear friend, I would say my old friend, but he is younger than me, and he looks very young, still handsome as when I first met him, and his wonderful colleague, who was such an inspiration to me, and a friend over the years, Giulia Ballà, and, of course, signor Paolo Baratta, the President of the Venice Festival. I thank you all for giving me this award."