In the Head of a Juror

Today, at 7pm, will the awardee of the Premio Inclusione e Sostenibilità Edipo Re be known. The award is a collateral competition to Biennale Cinema, and is the initiative of social enterprise Edipo Re under the art curatorship of Silvia Jop, in cooperation with MYmovies and the patronage of the Venice Ca’ Foscari University, the University of Padova, and ResInt. The sixth edition of the award assembled a jury of the highest quality, including actors Caterina Guzzanti and Alberto Malanchino and author Carlotta Vagnoli. Starting this year, the jury will be accompanied by a junior jury composed of seven students of the local Ca’ Foscari University, coordinate by Marco Dalla Gassa, who will award the Premio Edipo Re Giovani. The nominees represent different expressive languages, stories, and topics, and have been drawn from all the Venice Film Festival line-ups. From the Venice Days programme, the nominees are Oceans Are the Real Continents by Tommaso Santambrogio, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person by Ariane Louis-Seize, and Melk by Stefanie Kolk. From the Venice International Film Critics’ Week programme, Life Is not a Competition but I’m Winning by Julia Fuhr Mann, Malqueridas by Tana Gilbert, About Last Year by Dunja Lavecchia, Beatrice Surano, Morena Terranova. From the Main Competition, Evil Does not Exist by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Me Captain by Matteo Garrone, Origin by Ava DuVernay. From the Orizzonti programme, Paradiset Brinner by Mika Gustavson, The Red Suitcase by Fidel Devkota, and Yurt by Nehir Tuna. We met the jury, hours before they’ll issue their verdict.

Tell us what you saw in these very intense ten days of Venice Film Festival.
CV We saw films coming from very different places in the world, from Nepal to South America to Japan. We saw a lot, we saw cinema captured from diverse points of view, especially young ones. Compared to the average age of the filmmakers in the Main Competition, our selection’s filmmakers are younger. Grieving for an infant, touristification, end-of-life choices, and complex women’s issues, like housing female inmates with their children. It’s all across the board, and some of these topics are tough, to say the least. It was also quite interesting to see how similar topics, delicate ones, have been developed differently in different films. It wasn’t an easy task for us to pick a winner, because there’s so much great cinema before us. Me Captain captivated us, as did Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person and Evil Does Not Exist. And Pardiset Brinner, too.
CG Yes, a wide array of nominees including different languages, geographies, topics. There’s a bit of everything! We loved so many of the movies, others less so, but we are satisfied overall. We loved how Isola Edipo welcomed us for ten unforgettable days.

Now comes the hard part: picking a winner.
AM It will be very interesting to confront one another’s opinion and converge on a winner that appeals to everyone’s taste. One that vibes with our individual experiences and attitudes. We participated in a veritable ‘film class’ just by observing different filmmakers’ visions and perspectives viz. the topics of inclusivity and sustainability. Different points of view: a Japanese man’s, a Canadian author’s, a Swedish filmmaker’s—all gave something that belonged to them to the topics we focus on. From my point of view, some did so much more effectively. It’s not really about budgets or economics, although of course that helps, but more specifically, of concreteness of writing, of building an aesthetical language that is their own, and above all, which is essential in the scope of the award, the adherence to the principles of inclusion. Some films are just perfect in how precise they are in what they show. Others feel so pressured to show everything that they end up losing their bearings a bit.

Have you fought over the films yet?
CV No, we did not fight. Or at least, I didn’t lock them up yet! No salt in their coffee, nothing… we are getting along great.
CV We asked Silvia Jop if each of us could award a film… it will be funny, anyway, to see how different approaches will come to a conclusion together. I am a writer, Caterina comes from theatre, Alberto from cinema. Each of us saw and noted different things. The responsibility to award a filmmaker who’ll be happy and proud about it might just paralyze me, but since it’s three of us here, I am sure we’ll come to the right choice together.
AM We can tell you that there’s three names that keep coming back…

After all will be said and done, where will you three do next?
CG I will make a movie in October, then go back to writing and directing my upcoming theatre show, which will tour starting spring next year. I have very, busy nights. I wake up suddenly, like a revived vampire, with genius ideas. Then I forget them.
CV I will be a juror again soon, specifically, for the Italian Review award. We’ll be working on it until December. I will be in great company there, too. Once a juror, always a juror! I am also finalizing my novel, which will come out early next year. And then lectures and meetings all over the country.
AM On September 9 and 10, I will be in Andria for the Festival Internazionale Castel dei Mondi with a monologue: Sid – Fin qui tutto bene, a show coming from an idea of Girolamo Lucania and produced by theatre company Cuboteatro. The show recently won the 2023 Premio InBox. It will tour Italy into 2024.