The Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta, announces the fifth edition of the Biennale College – Cinema, which begins today, Friday May 6th 2016, with the launch of the international call for participation on the website www.labiennale.org (open until July 1st 2016).
The first four editions were successfully launched in August 2012, and May 2013, 2014 and 2015, bringing in over 1000 applications from all over the world.
Nine feature-length films have already been produced during the firstthree editions of Biennale College – Cinema, directly supported by the Biennale and screened as world premieres at the Venice International Film Festivals in 2013, 2014 and 2015, winning a significant number of awards and critical acclaim around the world.
Four other films, developed during the fourth edition 2016 still underway, are currently in the editing phase and will be screened at the coming 2016 Venice International Film Festival.
Four more films, developed during the workshops of the College, were produced independently, bringing the total number of films produced in 4 years to 17.
Biennale College – Cinema complements and enriches the Venice International Film Festival with a higher-education workshop dedicated to research and experimentation for the development and production of micro-budget audiovisual works, open to a maximum of 12 teams of emerging film directors and producers from around the world.
The goal is to bring to completion – at the end of a year-long series of activities that covers the entire spectrum of ideation, development, production, direction, marketing, audience engagement and distribution of a film – up to three feature-length micro-budget films (150,000 euro), one of which must be Italian, which will subsequently be screened at the Venice Film Festival.
The international call for participation for the fifth edition will be open from May 6th through July 1st 2016. Participation is open to teams of directors making their first or second film, and producers who have produced at least three audio-visual products distributed and/or screened at festivals. The selection of the 12 projects and teams for the micro-budget feature-length films will be announced during the 73rd Venice International Film Festival 2016 (31 August -10 September).
Three of these projects (one of which must be Italian) will then be selected to participate in the subsequent phases, to be developed and produced with a contribution of 150,000 € and then presented at the 2017 Venice Film Festival. They will also be screened online on the Sala Web, the virtualscreening room that complements the traditional screening rooms on the Lido.
The official and complete text of the international call for participationfor the 5th edition of the Biennale College – Cinema is available online starting today May 6th, 2016.
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Biennale College is an innovative, complex experience that engages all the Sectors of the Biennale di Venezia, promoting young talents and offering them the opportunity to work side by side with the masters, to develop “creations”.
Biennale College – Cinema, organized by the Biennale di Venezia, enjoys the support of the Ministry for the Cultural Heritage and Activities – General Direction Cinema, and relies on the academic collaboration of theIFP in New York and the TorinoFilmLab. The Director is Alberto Barbera,the Head of Programme is Savina Neirotti.
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The three feature-length films made during the first edition of theBiennale College – Cinema enjoyed considerable international success, following their world premiere screenings at the 70th Venice International Film Festival and their subsequent presentations at other festivals, winning many awards and significant critical acclaim:
· Memphis (USA) by Tim Sutton (director), produced by John Baker,participated in the Sundance Film Festival, the NEXT <=> competition, the Miami Film Festival, the Irish Film Institute, the Wisconsin Film Festival, the Sarasota Film Festival and the Sundance-London Film and Music Festival. In the US, it was distributed in theatres in the summer of 2014 by Kino Lorber, and in VOD on Vimeo a month after its release in theatres. It was shown on cable TV on the AMC/Sundance Channel Global.
· Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy (Thailand) by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit (director), produced by Aditya Assarat , participated in the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, winning the Netpac Competition for Best Asian Film; the Busan International Film Festival, the Festival Internacional de Cine Valdivia, the Tokyo International Film Festival, the Torino Film Festival, the Rotterdam International Film Festival, the Pan-Asia Film Festival, the Italian Film Festival – Special Venice Edition (Asian Showcase) in Singapore, the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival, the San Francisco International Film Festival. It also won 4 Thailand National Film Awards (out of 10): Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Editing; and 3 Bangkok Critics Assembly Awards (out of 9): Best Actress, Best Editing, Best Art Direction; it won 5 Kom Chad Luek Award nominations: Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress. It was released in theatres in Thailand on November 28th 2013, and in theatres in England and in Ireland in the fall of 2014 (distributed by day-for-night).
· Yuri Esposito (Italy) by Alessio Fava (director), produced by Max Chicco, participated in the Stockholm International Film Festival and the Torino Film Festival, garnering excellent reviews.
International success also rewarded the three feature-length films made during the second edition of the Biennale College – Cinema, which had their world premiere screenings at the 71st Venice International Film Festival in 2014 and were later presented at other festivals, winning many awards and excellent critical acclaim:
· Blood Cells by Joseph Bull (director, Great Britain), Luke Seomore(director, Great Britain), Samm Haillay (producer, Great Britain) participated in the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2015, and was distributed in theatres and/or by VOD around the world;
· H. by Rania Attieh (director, Lebanon), Daniel Garcia (director,USA), Shruti Rya Ganguly (producer, India), Pierce Varous(producer, USA), won the Kiehl’s Someone to Watch Award at the Independent Spirit Awards 2015, and the nomination for Best Supporting Actress in the 2016 edition. It participated in the 2015 Sundance Film Festival in the NEXT <=> competition. It also participated in the 2015 Berlin Film Festival in the Forum section. And finally, it was presented at other festivals such as the International Istanbul Film Festival, the Sarasota Film Festival, the Independent Film Festival of Boston, the Nashville Film Festival, the Jeonju International Film Festival, the San Francisco International Film Festival and the Little Rock Film Festival.
· Short Skin by Duccio Chiarini (director, Italy), Babak Jalali(producer, Iran/Great Britain), participated in the Generation 14plus competition of the Berlinale Generation section at the Berlin Film Festival 2015. It was released in Italian movie theatres on April 23rd, 2015 by Good Films, confirming the critical acclaim it had received at the festivals. It also participated in the Istanbul Film Festival, the Stockholm International Film Festival, and won the Festival Il Cinema Italiano Visto da Milano. It was distributed in theatres in other European countries.
The three projects from the third edition of Biennale College – Cinema, presented at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival (2 September – 12 September 2015) also won many acknowledgments, including:
· Baby Bump by Kuba Czekaj (director, Poland), Magdalena Kaminska (producer, Poland) (debut film) was selected for the Visions section of the prestigious American film festival South by Southwest (SXSW) 2016;
· Blanka by Kohki Hasei (director, Japan), Flaminio Zadra (producer,Italy) (debut film) won the Lanterna Magica award in Venice as well as Best Film with the NETPAC Award at the Kolkata International Film Festival (India), and instantly found a film distributor in France and Spain;
· The Fits by Anna Rose Holmer (director, USA), Lisa Kjerulff(producer, USA) (debut film). The film earned enthusiastic reviews in Venice from, among others, “The Hollywood Reporter” (“A rough diamond discovery”) and the “Cahiers du Cinéma” (“the most exciting debut film at the festival”). The rights to The Fits for distribution in the United States were bought by Oscilloscope Laboratories, which will release the film on June 3rd 2016 with a premier screening at the new Metrograph in New York City. During the Venice Film Festival it was then bought by the Sundance Channel, which will broadcast it exclusively at the end of the summer in Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, the Spanish peninsula, South America, the Middle East and North Africa. It has always earned positive reviews (“Variety”), and it was screened in New York for the series New Directors/New Films.
And finally, the four projects from the fourth edition of the Biennale College – Cinema, currently in production and to be presented as feature-length films at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival (31 August – 10 September 2016), featuring three debut films and one second film (specifically the Italian film), are as follows:
· Mukti Bhawan – Hotel Salvation (India) – Shubhashish Bhutiani (director), Sanjay Bhutiani (producer)
· Orecchie – Ears (Italy) – Alessandro Aronadio (director), Costanza Coldagelli (producer)
· Una Hermana – One Sister (Argentina) – Sofia Brockenshire (director), Verena Kuri (director, producer)
· La Soledad (Venezuela) – Jorge Thielen Armand (director), Adriana Herrera (producer), Manon Ardisson (producer)
Among the projects not selected for the final phases of the earlier editions, the following films have been completed and had their world premiere screenings:
2013/14 edition
- The Death of J.P. Cuenca (by João Paulo Cuenca) – Official selection CHP:DOX 2015
- Tramontane (by Vatche Boulghourjian) – World premiere Semaine de la Critique 2016
2014/15 edition
- La Mujer de los Perros (by Laura Citarella, Verónica Llinás) – Official selection New Directors/New Films 2015
- River of Exploding Durians (by Edmund Yeo) – World premiere screening Tokyo Film Festival 2014