Docs at Venezia International Film Festival

August 27 until September 6 it’s time for the 71st edition of the festival in Venice, a festival that in its selection increases its interest in showing documentaries – remember that the winner last year was ”Sacro Gra” by Gianfranco Rosi.

The Line-Up, as it is called on the website of the festival, has an Official Selection and Autonomous Sections. In the main competition you find ”The Look of Silence” by Joshua Oppenheimer, 98 minutes, by the team behind ”The Act of Killing”.

Here is a quote from the newsletter from The Danish Film Institute announcing the film’s Venice participation: “The Look of Silence” revisits the Indonesian genocide, this time telling the story from the victims’ perspective. “The Look of Silence” follows a family whose son was killed in the Indonesian genocide, accused of being a communist. The youngest son in the family, now grown up, vows to confront the people who killed his brother. It is these encounters that make up the core of the film…” (Photo: Lars Skree)

In the “Out of Competition” you find Gabriele Salvatores “Italy in a Day” and Ulrich Seidl’a “Im Keller”, in the International Critics Week I am happy to find Ivan Gergolet’s “Dancing with Maria” that has been pitched at several sessions, I have attended, now an Italian, Argentinian, Slovenian coproduction.

… and then the long awaited film “Messi” by Alex de la Iglesia.

… and a well deserved life achievement to Frederick Wiseman.

http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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