The Venice Classics restored films at the 82nd Venice Film Festival

The line-up has been finalised for the Venice Classics section of the 82^nd Venice International Film Festival of La Biennale di Venezia, which presents the world premiere screenings of 18 film restorations of masterpieces completed over the past year from film libraries, cultural institution and productions around the world. 

Festival’s Artistic Director Alberto Barbera declared: “Year after year, the lineup of Venice Classics seeks to pursue even greater openness, celebrating on the one hand the great masterpieces and indisputable masters in the history of cinema, and striving on the other to discover – or rediscover – films and filmmakers who have been ungenerously relegated to the shadows.

The aim is to recapture part of the richness of great cinema, without neglecting attention to its genres, as testified for example by the four Italian films in our selection: starting with a cornerstone of Neorealism such as Roma ore 11 (Rome 11:00) by Giuseppe De Santis, long since vindicated after being initially underestimated, to a rediscovered gem of Italian genre cinema such as Lo spettro (The Ghost) made by Riccardo Freda under the pseudonym of Robert Hampton, and passing through the two different but equally compelling interpretations of Italian-style comedy: Il magnifico cornuto (The Magnificent Cuckold) by Antonio Pietrangeli, starring a magnificent Ugo Tognazzi, and Ti ho sposato per allegria (I Married You for Fun), the film directed by Luciano Salce who adapted the eponymous novel by Natalia Ginzburg for the screen with Monica Vitti in the lead role. During the restoration process, Cinecittà was able to reintegrate two sequences that had been cut by the censors and were thought to be lost. 

The same variety of genres and tones may be found in the films from the United States: the quintessential American film genre, the western, is represented by one of its most successful expressions, 3:10 to Yuma by Delmer Daves, as well as its most unusual and musical rendition directed and orchestrated by Hugo Fregonese in The Mark of the Renegade. Jerry Lewis’ comic genius explodes irresistibly in one of his lesser known but funniest films, The Delicate Delinquent; finally, the film by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, House of Strangers, deserving of a long-overdue re-evaluation, features a remarkable Edward G. Robinson in the role of an Italian-American banker.

Lolita, a US and British co-production and one of Stanley Kubrick’s masterpieces, was adapted by the brilliant filmmaker from Vladimir Nabokov’s scandalous novel, with the leading roles entrusted to James Mason and Sue Lyon.

European cinema is equally well represented, by Manoel de Oliveira’s first film Aniki-Bóbó, and Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Przypadek (Blind Chance) which heralded his famous Decalogue. The young Pedro Almodóvar comes back to Venice with the cheeky Matador, while the European contingent closes with the return of Marcel Carné’s masterpiece Le Quai des brumes (Port of Shadows) starring Jean Gabin and Michèle Morgan, a prize-winner at the 1938 Venice Film Festival.

Shifting our gaze to the East, we meet Bashú, gharibeh kouchak (Bashu, the Little Stranger), the film directed in 1989 by Bahram Beyzai, which is one of the most beloved Iranian films by viewers in his home country, traveling eastward into India with Do Bigha Zamin (Two Acres of Land) by Bimal Roy, one of the masterpieces of 1950s Indian cinema, with its distinctive Neorealist inspiration.

Finally, the Far East: from Japan come Kagi (Odd Obsession) by Kon Ichikawa, a dark and morbid film adapted from Jun'ichirō Tanizaki,’s The Key, which some years later inspired Tinto Brass for his eponymous film, and the sumptuous Kwaidan by Masaki Kobayashi, which we will see in the uncut version which has never been released before. And lastly, the most recent film in our selection, the extraordinary Vive l’amour by the undisputed master filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang, which returns to Venice after winning the Golden Lion in 1994”.

Director Tommaso Santambrogio (Taxibol, Oceans are the Real Continents) will chair the Jury of Film Students which – for the twelfth year – will award the Venice Classics prizes for the respective competitions for Best Restored Film and for the Best Documentary About Cinema. The Jury chaired will be composed of 24 students, each of them recommended by professors of film studies from various Italian universities, DAMS and from Ca' Foscari University in Venice.

Venice Classics is the section that since 2012 has presented at the Venice Film Festival a selection of the best restorations of film classics. Curated by Alberto Barbera with the collaboration of Federico Gironi, Venice Classics also presents a selection of documentaries about cinema or its practitioners.

MATADOR
by PEDRO ALMODÓVAR (Spain, 1986, 102’, Colour)
restored by: Video Mercury Films

BASHÚ, GHARIBEH KOUCHAK (BASHU, THE LITTLE STRANGER)
by BAHRAM BEYZAI (Iran, 1986, 120’, Colour)
restored by: Roashana Studios with the support of the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (KANOON) - presented by mk2 Films

LE QUAI DES BRUMES (PORT OF SHADOWS)
by MARCEL CARNÉ (France, 1938, 92’, B/W)
restored by: Studiocanal and la Cinémathèque française with the support of the Centre national du Cinéma et de l’image animée and CHANEL

3:10 TO YUMA
by DELMER DAVES (USA, 1957, 92’, B/W)
restored by: Sony Pictures Entertainment

ANIKI-BÓBÓ
by MANOEL DE OLIVEIRA (Portugal, 1942, 72’, B/W)
restored by: Cinemateca Portuguesa - Museu do Cinema

ROMA ORE 11 (ROME 11:00)
by GIUSEPPE DE SANTIS (Italy, 1952, 105’, B/W)
restored by: Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia – Cineteca Nazionale

LO SPETTRO (THE GHOST)
by RICCARDO FREDA (Italy, 1963, 95’, Colour)
restored by: Severin Films

MARK OF THE RENEGADE
by HUGO FREGONESE (USA, 1951, 81’, Colour)
restored by: Universal Pictures

KAGI (ODD OBSESSION)
by KON ICHIKAWA (Japan, 1959, 107’, Colour)
restored by: Kadokawa Corporation

PRZYPADEK (BLIND CHANCE)
by KRZYSZTOF KIEŚLOWSKI (Poland, 1981, 123’, Colour)
restored by: DI Factory

KAIDAN (KWAIDAN)
by MASAKI KOBAYASHI (Japan, 1965, 183’, Colour)
restored by: Toho

LOLITA
by STANLEY KUBRICK (USA, 1962, 153’, B/N)
restored by: The Criterion Collection, Warner Bros.

HOUSE OF STRANGERS
by JOSEPH L. MANKIEWICZ (USA, 1949, 101’, B/W)
restored by: Walt Disney Studios, The Film Foundation

THE DELICATE DELINQUENT
by DON MCGUIRE (USA, 1957, 101’, B/W)
restored by: Paramount

IL MAGNIFICO CORNUTO (THE MAGNIFICENT CUCKOLD)
by ANTONIO PIETRANGELI (Italy, France, 1964, 124’, B/W)
restored by: Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna in collaboration with Compass Film

DO BIGHA ZAMIN (TWO ACRES OF LAND)
by BIMAL ROY (India, 1953, 120’, B/W)
restored by: Film Heritage Foundation – India, The Criterion Collection

TI HO SPOSATO PER ALLEGRIA (I MARRIED YOU FOR FUN)
by LUCIANO SALCE (Italy, 1967, 102’, Colour)
restored by: Cinecittà S.p.A.

AIQING WANSUI (VIVE L’AMOUR)
by TSAI MING-LIANG (Taipei, 1994, 119’, Colour)
restored by: Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute

Completing the Venice Classics section will be a selection of documentaries about cinema and its practitioners, with a line-up to be announced at the press conference on July 22nd.

Tommaso Santambrogio is a filmmaker with a distinctly international outlook. He made his debut in cinema with a series of short films and worked with globally renowned directors such as Werner Herzog and Lav Diaz. His most recent works include Taxibol, a film that was previewed at Visions du Réel and the Telluride Film Festival, and Gli oceani sono i veri continenti (Oceans are the Real Continents), his debut feature-length film. The latter premiered at Giornate degli Autori as part of the 80th Venice International Film Festival, and was later shown in some of the most prestigious theatres and festivals at the international level. The film was later released on MUBI, which defined it as one of the best Italian debut films of the past ten years.