Russian Films At The 69th Venice Film Festival

Three Russian films will be screened at the Venice Film Festival: a psychological drama The Betrayal  by Kirill Serebrennikov (the Main Competition program),  I Also Want It by Alexei Balabanov (the Horizons program) and Anton’s Right Here by Lyubov Arkus (side-bar program).

The 69th edition of Venice International Film Festival held in August 29 – September 8, 2012  presents 60 films from 41 countries, including 18 titles in competition. They were selected by a new Festival’s Artistic Director Alberto Barbera, who claims he was focusing on “quality not quantity”.

The Main Competition Program

The following films will compete in the Main Program for the festival’s principal award, the Golden Lion:

• The Betrayal by Kyrill Serebrennikov (Russia)
• To The Wonder by Terrence Malick (US)
• Pieta by Kim Ki-duk (South Korea)
• Outrage Beyond  by Takeshi Kitano (Japan)
• Something In The Air (Apres Mai) by Olivier Assayas (France)
• At Any Price by Ramin Bahrani (US-UK)
• Dormant Beauty (Bella Addormentata) by Marco Bellocchio (Italy-France)
• La Cinquieme Saison by Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth (Belgium-Netherlands-France)
• Fill The Void (Lemale Et Ha’Chalal) by Rama Burshtein (Israel)
• E Stato il Figlio by Daniele Cipri (Italy-France)
• Un Giorno Speciale  by Francesca Comencini (Italy)
• Passion  by Brian De Palma (France-Germany)
• Superstar by Xavier Giannoli (France-Belgium)
• Spring Breakers by Harmony Korine (US)
• Thy Womb (Sinapupunan) by Brillante Mendoza (Philippines)
• Linhas de Wellington by Valeria Sarmiento (Portugal-France)
• Paradise: Faith (Paradies: Glaube) by Ulrich Seidl (Austria-France-Germany)

The Betrayal by Kirill Serebrennikov

This psychological drama / thriller is a strong love-and-hate, passion-and-sin cocktail. A man meets a woman. Soon they find out that their spouses are lovers. They start a passionate tit-for-tat love-affair, the adultery mainly occurs at the hotel.

Producer Sabina Yeremeyeva: “Our film is about the most destructive power of passion, about our hidden emotions, our secret world, which we want and hate, …which eventually results into a loneliness.”

Director: Kirill Serebrennikov
Script: Natalia Nazarova, Kirill Serebrennikov
D.O.P.: Oleg Lukichev
Starring: Franziska Petri (Germany), Dejan Lilich (Macedonia), Albina Dzhanabaeva, Andrew Shchetinin, Arturs Skrastins (Latvia), Svetlana Mamresheva, Guna Zarina.

Producer: Sabina Yeremeyeva
Production: Elephant Film Studio (with financial support of the Russian Ministry of Culture), Sol’ Film Company (Russia).

The Horizons Program

The Horizons Program includes:

• I Also Want It  by Alexei Balabanov (Russia)
• Wadjda by Haifaa Al Mansour (Saudi Arabia-Germany)
• The Paternal House (Khaneh Pedari) by Kianoosh Ayari (Iran)
• Gli Equilibristi by Ivano De Matteo (Italy-France)
• L’intervallo by Leonardo Di Costanzo (Italy-Switzerland-Germany)
• Winter of Discontent (El Sheita Elli Fat) by Ibrahim El Batout (Egypt)
• Tango Libre by Frederic Fonteyne (Belgium-France-Luxembourg)
• The Cutoff Man (Menatek Ha-Maim) by Idan Hubel (Israel)
• Fly With The Crane (Gaosu tame, wo cheng baihe qu le) by Li Ruijun (China)
• A Hijacking (Kapringen) by Tobias Lindholm (Denmark)
• Leones by Jazmin Lopez (Argentina-France-Netherlands)
• Bellas Mariposas by Salvatore Mereu (Italy)
• Low Tide by Roberto Minervini (US-Italy-Belgium)
• Boxing Day by Bernard Rose (UK-US)
• Yema by Djamila Sahraoui (Algeria-France)
• Araf – Somewhere In Between by Yesim Ustaoglu (Turkey-France-Germany)
• The Millennial Rapture (Sennen no Yuraku) by Koji Wakamatsu (Japan)
• Three Sisters (San Zi Mei) by Wang Bing (France-Hong Kong-China)

I Also Want It  by Alexei Balabanov

Russian mystic drama I Also Want It by Aleksei Balabanov is screened in the Horizons festival program. The film resembles Andrey Tarkovsky’s Stalker. The four main characters are searching for an old desolate church, a miraculous temple in the distant territory close to a nuclear power plant. Some seldom visitors, the chosen-ones, enter the church and find eternal happiness there.

Director and screenwriter: Alexei Balabanov
D.O.P.: Alexander Simonov
Starring: Yuri Matveyev, Alexander Mosin, Oleg Garkusha, Alice Shitikova
Producer: Sergey Selyanov
Production: STB Studio (Russia)

Out of competition

• Anton’s Right Here by Lyubov Arkus (documentary)
• L’Homme Qui Rit by Jean-Pierre Ameris
• Love Is All You Need by Susanne Bier
• Cherchez Hortense by Pascal Bonitzer
• It Was Better Tomorrow dir: Hinde Boujemaa (documentary)
• Sur Un Fil… by Simon Brook (documentary)
• Enzo Avitable Music Life by Jonathan Demme (documentary)
• Tai Chi 0 by Stephen Fung (documentary)
• Carmel (2009) by Amos Gitai
• Lullaby To My Father by Amos Gitai
• El Imenetrable by Daniele Incalcaterra, Fausta Quattrini (documentary)
• Penance by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
• Bad 25 by Spike Lee (documentary)
• Witness: Libya by Michael Mann (documentary)
• Medici Con L’Africa by Carlo Mazzacurati (documentary)
• The Reluctant Fundamentalist  by Mira Nair
• O Gebo E A Sombra by Manoel De Oliveira
• The Company You Keep by Robert Redford
• Shark (Bait 3D) by Kimble Rendall
• Disconnect  by Henry-Alex Rubin
• La Nave Dolce by Daniele Vicari (documentary)
• The Iceman by Ariel Vromen

 Anton’s Right Here by Lyubov Arkus

Russian documentary “Anton’s Right Here” by Lyubov Arkus from St-Petersburg is screened in the out-of-competition slates as a Special Event program entry along with films by Spike Lee, Robert Redford, Liliana Cavani, Manoel de Oliveira and Suzanne Bier.

Plot: Anton Kharitonov is a sick autistic teenager, who lives in a shabby apartment in the outskirts of St.Petersburg and has to attend the asylum for examination now and then.

Director and screenwriter: Lyubov Arkus
Producer: Sergey Selyanov
Production: STB Studio (Russia)

Two Russian directors have won Golden Lions in the past. Andrei Zvyagintsev won two Golden Lions in 2004 for his film debut, The Return. 7 seven years later in 2011 a Golden Lion was granted to Alexander Sokurov for Faust.