Friday 12 October, 8 p.m.
Teatro alle Tese - Arsenale

Luigi Nono, La fabbrica illuminata for soprano and four-track magnetic tape (1964); texts by workers at the Italsider plant in Genoa, trade union contracts, Giuliano Scabia, and Cesare Pavese (17’)
Luigi Nono, Djamila Boupachà for soprano (1962 - 4’) from Canti di vita e d’amore
Luigi Nono, …sofferte onde serene… for piano and two-track magnetic tape (1976 - 14′)
Luigi Nono, A floresta é jovem e cheja de vida for soprano, three actors’ voices, clarinet in B flat major, magnetic plates and tapes (1965-1966 - 39′); edition curated by Maurizio Pisati and Veniero Rizzardi; texts edited by Giovanni Pirelli

piano Maurizio Pollini

soprano Barbara Hannigan

The great sensibility and attention with which Maurizio Pollini has involved himself in contemporary music projects, personally throwing himself into its spread and promotion, find an emblematic light in the long friendship and intense collaboration that have always drawn him to the Venetian maestro. Increasingly concentrating on whole cycles and projects, Maurizio Pollini accepted the invitation from the Biennale di Venezia to pay homage to the late maestro, arranging an evening that includes some major achievements of Luigi Nono’s (1924-1990) work.

Tuesday 9 October, 8 p.m. - Teatro Piccolo Arsenale
Metropolis (Germany 1927, b/w,140’, o.v.) directed by Fritz Lang
music by Martín Matalon for 16 musicians and electronics (1995 - 140′) Italian premiere

conductor Martín Matalon
musikFabrik

A milestone in the history of cinema and a masterpiece by the German film-maker, Fritz Lang, Metropolis (1927) has become the prototype for many science-fiction films (Blade Runner, Brazil, Star Wars) but its has also inspired theatre, literature, cartoons and rock music… The cinematographic expressionism of Lang finds its acme here in the masterly images of a city of the future – apparently inspired by the skyline of New York – the result of “special effects” that were totally new for their time. Nineteen months of work, 600,000 metres of film (edited, cut and re-assembled several times, to the extent that it has become almost impossible to reconstruct the original)

On the 14th of December 2003 a moved and enthusiastic crowd entered again Venice’s most famous and favourite theatre: the Teatro della Fenice, finally risen up from its ashes. The building had been entirely destroyed (only the bearing walls had survived, with a huge chasm in the middle) by an arson in January 1996 and was rebuilt, in its original style, in 8 years. The tragic night of 29th January 1996 the fire-brigade tried all night to put the fire off as it risked expanding to the surrounding buildings, while a large number of Venetians, desperate and hypnotized by the flames rising high towards the sky, stood in the water raining down from the only helicopter. Unfortunately, nothing was saved (only the side-wall remained): they only managed to prevent the surrounding area from catching fire. Today’s theatre is perfectly identical to the previous one.

More informations about Theatre La Fenice in our Venice Guide.
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 from 4th to 13th October

61 composers from around the world – Jordan, Kuwait, Israel, China, Korea, Japan, the United States and various European countries – with 17 commissions, 25 world premieres and 22 Italian premieres, will be the focus in Venice from 4th to 13th October for the 51st edition, directed by Giorgio Battistelli, of the International Festival of Contemporary Music from the Venice Biennale - chaired by Davide Croff.

The prestigious award for lifetime achievement, symbolised by the Biennale’s Golden Lion, will this year be assigned to Giacomo Manzoni. The prize is attributed “to the composer and intellectual of music who has spanned 50 years of activity, constantly exploring and renewing his language with an experimental approach stimulated by an intimate expressive need”. In homage, the Orchestra di Verona will perform the world premiere of La legge, an early work by the maestro.
An international jury will instead award the Golden Lion for music of the present, chosen from the music and musicians invited to the Festival.

The commissions for Made in Italy are joined by those for Claudio Ambrosini and Michele Dall’Ongaro, well-established

Tim Burton, master of macabre movies like “Corpse Bride” and “Edward Scissorhands”, was honored with a career award at the Venice film festival on Wednesday.

Organizers of the festival called Burton “one of America’s bravest, most visionary and innovative film-makers”.

“I’ve been to this festival a few times, and each time I’ve come here I’ve just had this very special feeling about it,” the 49-year-old, sporting his trademark dark glasses, told “You grow up in Hollywood and that whole scenario and what you feel here is that there is just passion about movies. So that’s what makes it special to me — it’s not about business, it’s not about finance, it’s about just the love of movies.”

Burton was handed a Golden Lion lifetime achievement award by Johnny Depp, star of many of his films, at a glitzy red carpet ceremony.

“He is a rare breed in today’s cinema,” said Depp, wearing a white tuxedo. “Beyond that he is a true original, a true artist, a true auteur. He’s my favorite director and friend.”

from reuters.com

Brad Pitt plays the fabled U.S. outlaw Jesse James in a new film, presented yesterday at 64.Venice Film Festival, based on the days leading to his death at the hands of young protege Robert Ford.

“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” has a long title and, at 155 minutes, is a long movie which is in the main competition at the Venice film festival and has its world premiere on Sunday.

The Hollywood star portrays James — a bandit and heroic Robin Hood figure to many during his life and long after his demise — as a man tired of life on the run, who foresees his end is nigh and appears to hasten his death as a way of escape.

“I saw it … as a guy who sensed impending doom, the inevitable end, who had been trapped in a facade and living an alias for so long and didn’t know a way around it,” Pitt told a news conference after a press screening.

“I find that more interesting, because it’s more human to me than this black and white characterization.”

How far would you go to get rich quick or clear a mountain of debt?That is the question Woody Allen asks in his dark new movie “Cassandra’s Dream“, starring Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell as working class London brothers desperate to get ahead in life.

“It’s simply a story of some very nice young people who get caught up, because of their weaknesses and because of their ambitions, in a tragic situation that they bring upon themselves,” Allen told reporters in Venice, where his picture is being presented at the annual film festival.

The Oscar-winning U.S. director returns to the theme of ruthless ambition and moral ambiguity which he explored in his 2005 film “Match Point”, and said “Cassandra’s Dream” reflected his view of life as a “tremendously tragic event”.

George Clooney has been giving a masterclass in the art of superstardom at the Venice film festival this year. Already a favourite on the Lido, partly because he has a home in Italy, he played the crowds to perfection on Friday evening, signing autographs along a packed red carpet for 30 minutes or so and delaying the world premiere of his latest movie “Michael Clayton”. The film is also a critical hit, tackling the issues of corporate corruption and private greed.

George Clooney plays a burned out “fixer” for a New York law firm in his latest movie, which tackles corporate corruption, personal greed and the moral dilemmas people face at the workplace every day.

But it was not all smooth sailing for the 46-year-old, who said he was not paid for the new film. He was visibly irritated by a question at the press conference about his affiliation to Nestle, for whom he appears in an advertisement that airs regularly on Italian television with the catch phrase “Nespresso…What Else?” (see picture). The question came up because his film explores the ethics of large corporations, suggesting that they are too willing to abandon them for profit. “I’m not going to apologise to you for trying to make a living once in a while,” he said. “I don’t really have an answer for you on that. It’s sort of an irritating question.” After switching off his mike, he continued to mutter angrily, although sadly for us we couldn’t hear him. Even Clooney’s perfectly groomed feathers, it appears, can be ruffled.

The Venice film festival opened on Wednesday with “Atonement”, an adaptation of Ian McEwan’s acclaimed novel about a girl whose fertile imagination leads her to make a false accusation that has tragic consequences.The movie, starring British actress Keira Knightley, is the first of 22 entries in the festival’s main competition, and was screened to the press ahead of the evening red carpet premiere.

For 11 days the Lido waterfront will be home to hundreds of journalists there for the films and to follow the stars as they promote their pictures and party into the early hours.

In “Atonement”, she reunites with up-and-coming British director Joe Wright after they collaborated on “Pride and Prejudice”, in which the actress played Elizabeth Bennet and won an Oscar nomination.

This time the 22 year-old plays Cecilia Tallis, whose life is turned upside down when sister Briony blames her lover Robbie Turner (James McAvoy) for a crime he did not commit.

Briony goes on to becomes a writer and seeks redemption in the real world and through a novel she knows will be her last.

Once again the Venice Film Festival becomes the world capital of technological innovation. This follows the screenings of numerous films in Digital Cinema in recent editions of the Venice Film Festival, including Final Fantasy VII by Tetsuya Nomura, Bobby by Emilio Estevez, Children of Men by Alfonso Cuarón, INLAND EMPIRE by David Lynch, Para entrar a vivir by Jaume Balagueró, The Magic Flute by Kenneth Branagh and Sanxia haoren (Still Life) by Jia Zhangke. The first Film Festival in history continues to demonstrate its focus on Digital Cinema and stresses its ability to guarantee – through systems respecting the international specifications shared and ratified by DCI and SMPTE – screenings offering extraordinary purity of sound and a perfect image, thus offering the viewer films in their original quality, as desired by their directors and production teams.

For the first time in the history of film festivals, the Venice Film Festival will screen an entire film in 3D Stereoscopic Digital Cinema. Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas will be shown with the use of highly advanced technological solutions to assure viewers in the Sala Grande the best possible visual quality, just as the film’s director wished. This has been made possible thanks to the constant work and collaboration of La Biennale di Venezia’s Digital Cinema Team and the Disney Production Team. If better-known and effectively managed, 3D stereoscopic cinema can lead the world’s film industry to new levels of excellence in the world of the digital era.