Alberto Barbera

“Cinema necessarily fascinates and violates.
That is how it acts on people. It is something
rather murky, to be seen in the dark, where the
same things are projected as in dreams. In this case,
it is the cliché that is true”.
Jacques Rivette

“I can offer you only perplexities”.
Jorge Luis Borges

In a year in which once again, confusion and instability prevail in world cinema, it is perhaps useful to return to the fundamentals such as those contained in the citations above that serve as the epigraph to this introduction. The confusion arises from the processes of innovation and transformation that ceaselessly affect the entire production and distribution system of an industry that seems to be gasping for air. Instability, however, on the other hand is the consequence of the loss of familiar points of reference that, unpredictably and rather rapidly, are being replaced by others, which seem likely to be short-lived however not to last very long. The reluctant return of audiences to movie theatres, the domination of streaming platforms, the increasing number of films produced every year to the detriment of overall quality – as Artificial Intelligence looms over the entire apparatus of production and distribution with its burden of anxiety and only partially justified concerns – are elements that are too well known to dwell on upon any further.

But then, in the end, what truly counts for us are the films that continue to exert an undeniable appeal and attraction, and to which a growing number of young spectators are responding with a passion. The new generation of festival-goers (destined to replace the complacency of once assiduous regulars), are driven by the same curiosity and attachment that we felt when, decades ago, we set out to discover the few film festivals we could then afford. Despite the many voices proclaiming the death of cinema and the large quantity of products (that can hardly be defined as ‘films’) of little or no interest, there remains a wealth of works that attest to the boundless capacity of the seventh art to endlessly nourish our longing for cinema. The discovery of new talents and the enduring creativity of the old masters go hand in hand with the awareness that the aesthetics and language of contemporary cinema have long since stretched the boundaries of what may be represented – boundaries that until recently were believed to be insurmountable.

This year again, La Biennale di Venezia’s Venice International Film Festival presents a series of world premiere screenings of films that can accompany us on this journey into the unknown that contemplates —  the revelation of a new auteur, or the discovery of a film that can spark unexpected emotions. A journey on the wings of euphoria, in the words of William Friedkin, well aware that there is nothing more exciting than discovering aspects of the human condition that we thought we never knew. But if, as Rivette reminds us, cinema is made of the stuff of dreams, then it is not uncommon for those dreams to take on the form and substance of nightmares, fuelled by the terrible images that rain upon us from all sides during the day. Never as in recent years before has cinema again become a mirror of the present, an invitation to reflect upon the themes of the contemporary era, the litmus test of reality and its unresolved conflicts.

Without claiming to provide answers to problems whose complexity defies the illusion of easy answers, the films in this Festival foster an attitude of discovery, offer articulated and sometimes contradictory points of view, constantly referring to the immeasurable richness of human experience and the opacity of the individual, social and political conditions in which we are immersed. Unlike most of the means of communication we are exposed to every day – whose unspoken aim seems to be to soothe and numb the readers and viewers even when fuelling controversy and stoking conflict – cinema does not offer solutions, it does not provide answers, it does not seek to make our lives easier: in the words of Borges, it offers only perplexities, it sows doubt, it raises questions. In its own way, it is a form of violence (Rivette again) that wrenches us away from our daily routines, forces us to leave the comfort zones we have feverishly built around ourselves, overwhelms us with unsettling images and stories that challenge us. But this is a violence that aspires to a higher form of knowledge, that interprets our need to acquire a greater awareness of things, of ourselves, of the world around us. And to do so without foregoing sacrificing the sense of spectacle, of story-telling, to nurture our dreams and desires. So if cinema is dead, then long live cinema!