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| British director
Mike Leigh poses with the Golden Lion that he received for his
film "Vera Drake," a story about a back-street abortionist in
1950s London, that won best film at the 61th Venice
International Film Festival（Xinhua)
| |
The Venice Film Festival dazzled like never before this year with its
string of Hollywood stars and hot arthouse directors, but the festival's
new chief may find delays and embarrassing blunders are what people
remember.
Marco Muller, a film producer and former director of the Locarno film
festival, was named to organize the world's oldest cinema competition just
months before it was set to kick off.
He wowed critics with his line-up, but producers, publicists and
moviegoers who flocked to the Lido for the 61st edition of the festival
say organizers bit off more than they could
chew.
"We just weren't able to make miracles even if we tried," said Davide
Croff, president of the Venice Biennale.
At the height of the confusion, Al Pacino found himself without a seat
at the premier of his own film, while Johnny Depp's stroll down the red
carpet for the screening of "Finding Neverland" was delayed by two hours
until 2 a.m.
At the awards ceremony on Saturday night, the presenter forgot to award
the prize for best director and had to go back to it just before bestowing
the Golden Lion on "Vera Drake."
Perhaps one of the most diplomatically delicate incidents, however, was
the lengthy delay at the premiere of Malaysia's most expensive film ever.
The crown prince and an entourage of musicians in
traditional costume found a virtually empty theater when the screening
finally began well after midnight. The festival put on a free public show
a week later in amends.
A veteran European publicist called the festival "amateur," but
officials said they are the victims of their own success.
They blamed the problems on bigger than expected crowds, demands by
Hollywood studios to concentrate their films in the first five days,
stars' lengthy autograph sessions on the red carpet and outdated
infrastructure.
Still, speculation has grown that senior jobs may be in jeopardy,
especially after Culture Minister Giuliano Urbani boasted ahead of the
festival that with his hand-picked team in place this would be a year to
remember.
"I don't think we will make the same mistake twice," Muller, who has a
four-year contract, said during the festival.
Organizers already have a long-term solution: the construction of large
cinema to replace the traditional Art
Deco theater which only seats about 1,000, but they have
at least another three festivals before that goal will be achieved.
He might also consider reducing the number of films in the main
competition -- this year there were 22 -- or eliminating the Horizons
section for trend-setting movies.
(Agencies) |
大批好莱坞明星和当红艺术导演的光临使今年的威尼斯电影节比以往任何一届都更加光彩夺目。但是电影节组委会新任主席也许会发现，此次电影节给人们留下印象最深的或许是一些影片放映的延迟和令人尴尬的失误。
就在这个世界上最古老的电影节开幕前几个月，电影制片人、洛迦诺电影节前总监马可·穆勒才被任命为本届电影节的负责人。
穆勒凭着强大的演员阵容赢得了评论家们的好评。但是那些涌入利多岛参加第61届威尼斯电影节的制片人、评论家和影迷们却认为组织者有些不自量力。
威尼斯双年展主席大卫·科洛夫说：“尽管我们尝试了，我们还是没能创造奇迹。”
电影节中出现的最为混乱的场面是：阿尔·帕西诺在自己电影的首映式上竟然没有找到座位；影片《寻找梦幻岛》推迟了两个小时，直到凌晨2点才放映，结果（该片主演）约翰尼·德普不得不沿着红地毯漫无目的的闲逛。
在周六晚举行的颁奖典礼上，主持人居然忘记了颁发最佳导演奖，他不得不在给最佳影片《维拉·德雷克》颁发金狮奖前补发这个奖项。
然而，马来西亚有史以来成本最高的一部电影（《勒当山的公主》）的首映式被拖延了很久，这或许是本届电影节上外交影响最糟糕的事件之一。
午夜过后，这部影片终于开始放映，但当马来西亚皇储和穿着传统服装的随从音乐家们入场时，却发现整个剧场空无一人。一周后，电影节为这部电影举行了一场免费公映作为补偿。
一位资深的欧洲电影评论家称这次电影节是“业余水平的”，但是组织者们表示自己是成功举办这次盛会的牺牲品。
他们把问题归咎于以下几个方面：远远超过预计的庞大的观众群；好莱坞电影制片厂提出将其参展影片集中在前五天放映的要求；明星们在红地毯上长时间拍照；陈旧的基础设施。
尽管如此，人们纷纷猜测电影节主办方的高层面临着危机。尤其是意大利文化部长吉利安诺·尤班尼在电影节开幕前就夸下海口，称此次电影节的班底是他亲自精挑细选的，这将使今年的电影节令人难忘。
“我认为我们不会再犯同样的错误。”穆勒在电影节期间说。他已经（和电影节主办方）签下了四年的合同。
组织者已经制定了一个长期的解决方案：修建一座大型影院来取代只能容纳1000人的传统的艺术装饰剧场。但是在达到这个目标之前至少还要举行三届电影节。
他也考虑到了可以减少参加主要奖项竞争的影片数量（今年有22部影片参加主要奖项的角逐），或者用主流电影来取代（鼓励艺术创新的）“地平线”单元。
（中国日报网站译） |
Updated: 2004-09-14 10:08