While its often the world premieres that get the most buzz out of any major film festival, look to their restorations lineup (if they are smart enough to have one), and a treasure trove of classics sure to be better than most premieres await. Ahead of their official lineup being unveiled on July 23, the Venice Classics slate is here, featuring films by Michelangelo Antonioni, Fritz Lang, Frederick Wiseman, Howard Hawks, Nagisa Ōshima, Anthony Mann, Lina Wertmüller, and many more.
“The programme of Venice Classics includes the commemoration of several important anniversaries.” said Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera. “First and foremost, the centennial of the birth of Marcello Mastroianni, the most beloved and celebrated Italian actor in the world, whom we will see in The Night (La notte), one of Michelangelo Antonioni’s finest films. It has been fifty years since the death of Vittorio De Sica, who in The Gold of Naples (L’oro di Napoli) in 1954 directed a remarkable tribute to Naples, in six episodes inspired by six short stories by Giovanni Marotta. One hundred years have gone by since Columbia Pictures was founded: The Big Heath by Fritz Lang and His Girl’s Friday by Howard Hawks are two of the masterpieces restored by Sony Pictures Entertainment, selected by Venice among the many films of the Majors that have contributed to making the history of American cinema so great. And it was thirty-five years ago that Peter Brook enthralled the audiences and critics gathered in Venice for the Venice Film Festival with his fascinating film version of the eponymous Indian epic poem The Mahabharata.“
He adds, “The contingent of restored Italian films is completed by Nanni Moretti’s Ecce Bombo, which inaugurated the director’s first participation in the 1978 Cannes Film Festival, and helped to bring him international recognition, and Swept Away (Travolti da un insolito destino in un azzurro mare d’agosto) by Lina Wertmüller, which was one of the highest-grossing box-office hits in Italy during the 1974-75 movie season. In addition to the two mentioned above, three other films will complete the contingent of American film restorations: Bend of the River, rightly considered one of Anthony Mann’s masterpiece westerns, the luxuriant Technicolour of Blood and Sand by Rouben Mamoulian, and Model by Fred Wiseman, whom the New York Times did not hesitate to call ‘one of the most important and original filmmakers working today.'”
He continues, “The cinematic geography of Venice Classics is as usual quite varied. France provides two undaunted classics, such as Jeux interdits by René Clement (Golden Lion at the 1952 Venice Film Festival) and La peau douce by François Truffaut, greeted with some reservations when it was released but worthy of being considered one of his greatest films. From Japan comes The Man Who Left His Will on Film, one of Nagisa Oshima’s masterpieces, and All Mixed Up (also known under the title of Swastika) by the prolific director Yasuzô Masumura, who studied at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, and was a student of Fellini, Visconti and Antonioni. It is possible that the name of Girish Kasaravalli is not very well known in Italy, even if he was one of the founders of the Parallel Cinema movement, inspired by the principles of Italian Neorealism. His debut film, Ghatashraddha, earned him immediate renown and three of the most important awards in Indian cinema that year (1977). Next we move on to South America, which brings us one of the major classics of new Brazilian cinema, The Time and the Change of Augusto Matraga by Roberto Santos.
“Our brief tour of the world with restored classics ends with a return to Europe,” he concludes. “From Denmark comes Nicolas Winding Refn’s debut film, Pusher, the first chapter in an influential trilogy that was highly successful at the box office, and which also had the merit of introducing the great actor Mads Mikkelsen, in his debut screen role. An authentic rarity, finally, is the restoration of the uncut version of Flocons d’or by Werner Schroeter, presented in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs section at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival and then distributed with one of its finest episodes edited out, which the restoration by the Filmmuseum Düsseldorf has made it possible to reintegrate.”
See the lineup below.
LA NOTTE (THE NIGHT)
by MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI (Italy / France, 1961, 125’, B/W)
restored by: Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia – Cineteca Nazionale
THE MAHABHARATA
by PETER BROOK (France / UK / USA, 1989, 173’, Colour)
restored by: Brook Productions
JEUX INTERDITS (FORBIDDEN GAMES)
by RENÉ CLÉMENT (France, 1952, 102’, B/W)
restored by: StudioCanal
L’ORO DI NAPOLI (THE GOLD OF NAPLES)
by VITTORIO DE SICA (Italy, 1954, 137’, B/W)
restored by: Cinecittà / Filmauro
HIS GIRL FRIDAY
by HOWARD HAWKS (USA, 1940, 92’, B/W)
restored by: Sony Pictures Entertainment
GHATASHRADDHA (THE RITUAL)
by GIRISH KASARAVALLI (India, 1977, 108’, B/W)
restored by: The Film Foundation World Cinema / Film Heritage Foundation
THE BIG HEAT
by FRITZ LANG (USA, 1953, 90’, B/W)
restored by: Sony Pictures Entertainment
BLOOD AND SAND
by ROUBEN MAMOULIAN (USA, 1941, 125’, Colour)
restored by: Walt Disney Studios / The Film Foundation
BEND OF THE RIVER
by ANTHONY MANN (USA, 1952, 91’, Colour)
restored by: Universal Pictures / The Film Foundation
MANJI (ALL MIXED UP)
by YASUZÔ MASUMURA (Japan, 1964, 90’, Colour)
restored by: Kadokawa Corporation
ECCE BOMBO
by NANNI MORETTI (Italy, 1978, 104’, Colour)
restored by: Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia – Cineteca Nazionale
TÔKYÔ SENSÔ SENGO HIWA – EIGA DE ISHO WO NOKOSHITE SHINDA (THE MAN WHO LEFT HIS WILL ON FILM)
by NAGISA ÔSHIMA (Japan, 1970, 94’, B/W)
restored by: Oshima Productions LTD
A HORA E VEZ DE AUGUSTO MATRAGA (THE TIME AND THE CHANGE OF AUGUSTO MATRAGA)
by ROBERTO SANTOS (Brazil, 1965, 114’, B/W)
restored by: LC Barreto Produções Cinematográficas
LES FLOCONS D’OR (GOLDFLAKES)
by WERNER SCHROETER (Germany / France, 1976, 163’, Colour)
restored by: Filmmuseum Düsseldorf / Filmmuseum München
LA PEAU DOUCE (SOFT SKIN)
by FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT (France, 1964, 117’, B/W)
restored by: mk2 Films
TRAVOLTI DA UN INSOLITO DESTINO NELL’AZZURRO MARE D’AGOSTO (SWEPT AWAY BY AN UNUSUAL DESTINY IN THE BLUE SEA OF AUGUST)
by LINA WERTMÜLLER (Italy, 1974, 114’, Colour)
restored by: Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna / Minerva Pictures
PUSHER
by NICOLAS WINDING REFN (Denmark, 1996, 109’, Colour)
restored by: byNWR
MODEL
by FREDERICK WISEMAN (USA, 1980, 129’, B/W)
restored by: Zipporah Films