Streaming Rebel

Twenty-six years of MYmovies: is this successful project rooted more in a clear vision, an instinct, or pure passion?
MYmovies was born in 2000 out of a convergence of all three. What mattered most, perhaps, was our drive to embrace emerging technologies. That led us to shift film reviews from print to the web. I sensed that as the internet matured, moving images would become its defining expression, translating tech advances into video formats. That realization sparked the idea of building a website entirely dedicated to cinema.

Here at the Venice Film Festival, MYmovies has partnered with La Biennale for 15 years through Sala Web to showcase a curated festival selection. How was such a bold move – streaming titles concurrently with theatrical screenings – received back then?
We were staring at a profound transformation. Moving print reviews to the digital space had been our first major breakthrough. When we began, a single frame took 40 seconds just to load. You had to look far ahead to imagine watching a film straight from a computer screen. Over time, we clearly understood that we would eventually get there. Ten years later, we did, but we were determined to do it through a model that continued to support and champion cinema. That gave rise to releasing films online simultaneously with their theatrical windows. We beat every major international platform to the punch – not to exploit the market, but to promote the films. Our mission has always been to provide visibility and backing to theatrical venues and independent cinema. That remains our core calling today: celebrating the big-screen experience and spotlighting independent voices.

How has the film selection for Sala Web evolved? And how vital is this platform for titles with limited or non-existent distribution?
The genesis of MYmovies ONE, our streaming platform, traces back to Pietro Marcello’s The Mouth of the Wolf (La bocca del lupo). The film had triumphed at the Torino Film Festival yet lacked commercial distribution. Working with the production team, we decided to chart a new path to connect with audiences. In the end, BIM distributed it in Italy, and MYmovies ONE was born from that framework. Finding ourselves with a fully operational platform, we decided to host online premieres. Our goal is to carve out visibility for filmmakers with vital perspectives who struggle to secure distribution. This year’s Sala Web features numerous debut and sophomore features that audiences might never otherwise encounter in theaters. We grant these works the chance to be discovered, discussed, reviewed, and embraced – an indispensable step in any artist’s trajectory.

MeetMYA is the latest frontier launched by MYmovies here in Venice: film reviews penned by human critics, brought to life through artificial intelligence animation. Where did the concept originate?
We are facing another revolutionary transformation with artificial intelligence. MeetMYA stems from our desire to experiment and explore new communicative formats while anchoring everything in our editorial team, our critical perspective, and twenty-six years of archival reviews – covering cinema from 1895 to the present day. The priority is keeping the human element front and center, ensuring readers know who authored the piece. We cannot allow cinematic analysis to turn flat or soulless. Harnessing new technologies serves to adapt our language, not to rewrite how critical thought is formulated. In practice, every text begins with a human critic selecting the words and perspective; AI intervenes only afterward to voice that content, without dictating the critical verdict. At the end of the day, the byline belongs entirely to the writer.

How do you plan to make these reviews accessible to younger generations as well?
The ambition is to make the entire history of cinema accessible again. We asked ourselves how best to convey that legacy to younger audiences: the only way, we realized, is to get as close as possible to their language and, through that bridge, lead them to read further on the web or in print. These mediums do not cannibalize each other; each preserves its distinct identity and purpose. Our mandate is to engage this audience and draw them back to the cinema. Fundamentally, this is a cultural and editorial endeavor that also redefines contemporary film criticism.

What tangible role do you foresee for MYA in the future of film criticism?
MYA will serve as a technical ally, never as a replacement. Its function will be to streamline routine tasks, freeing up the time we would otherwise spend creating a video review through traditional animation. Our real challenge was learning what technology could genuinely deliver without passively submitting to it. We hold an immense written archive: today, producing a polished animated video review takes two or three days; tomorrow, we can feed that curated archive into MYA to generate it in real time. Yet no algorithm can ever replace a distinct voice, a critical vision, or an editorial stance. The future of film criticism will not be an automated aggregator. It will always remain, unequivocally, an editorial voice.