Conall O Duibhir, a member of the Young Cinephiles Jury, reports from the Venice Film Festival
I am here on the Lido in Venice and it is nothing like I thought it would be. It's crazy!… in the best way possible. The island is completely overtaken by the glamourous festivities surrounding the festival. Red carpets, huge golden lions, Scorsese, and lots and lots of films of course. The scale of the festival is enormous. And here I am in the middle of this mad world. Where else can you meet Michael Cera and have a casual chat about film (which he knows little about), befriend your new favourite actor, and discuss films with their directors?
I am participating in '27 Times Cinema', which is an initiative to engage with young filmgoers in Europe. There are 27 young people, one from each EU state here. 14 women and 13 men. An 'ideal' audience profile, if that's possible. Our days are filled with watching all the films in 'Venice Days' (which is a sidebar to the main festival that focuses on art-house and provocative films), attending discussions and fitting in as many other films as we can. The films are varying in strength. I can't stay awake for all because the long days of cinema and little sleep are so draining! While Aronofsky's 'The Black Swan' (which I didn't see) has been well received over all, Sophie Coppola's 'Somewhere' felt like a tired 'Lost in Translation 2'
I will post again with more details on some of the films I'm seeing, until then I'm off to debate what's happened to American independent films.
Conall O Duibhir
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