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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stars' lengthy autograph sessions on the red carpet and outdated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) |
大批好萊塢明星和當紅藝術導演的光臨使今年的威尼斯電影節比以往任何一屆都更加光彩奪目。但是電影節組委會新任主席也許會發現，此次電影節給人們留下印象最深的或許是一些影片放映的延遲和令人尷尬的失誤。
就在這個世界上最古老的電影節開幕前幾個月，電影制片人、洛迦諾電影節前總監馬可·穆勒才被任命為本屆電影節的負責人。
穆勒憑著強大的演員陣容贏得了評論家們的好評。但是那些涌入利多島參加第61屆威尼斯電影節的制片人、評論家和影迷們卻認為組織者有些不自量力。
威尼斯雙年展主席大衛·科洛夫說：“盡管我們嘗試了，我們還是沒能創造奇跡?！?
電影節中出現的最為混亂的場面是：阿爾·帕西諾在自己電影的首映式上竟然沒有找到座位；影片《尋找夢幻島》推遲了兩個小時，直到凌晨2點才放映，結果（該片主演）約翰尼·德普不得不沿著紅地毯漫無目的的閑逛。
在周六晚舉行的頒獎典禮上，主持人居然忘記了頒發最佳導演獎，他不得不在給最佳影片《維拉·德雷克》頒發金獅獎前補發這個獎項。
然而，馬來西亞有史以來成本最高的一部電影（《勒當山的公主》）的首映式被拖延了很久，這或許是本屆電影節上外交影響最糟糕的事件之一。
午夜過后，這部影片終于開始放映，但當馬來西亞皇儲和穿著傳統服裝的隨從音樂家們入場時，卻發現整個劇場空無一人。一周后，電影節為這部電影舉行了一場免費公映作為補償。
一位資深的歐洲電影評論家稱這次電影節是“業余水平的”，但是組織者們表示自己是成功舉辦這次盛會的犧牲品。
他們把問題歸咎于以下幾個方面：遠遠超過預計的龐大的觀眾群；好萊塢電影制片廠提出將其參展影片集中在前五天放映的要求；明星們在紅地毯上長時間拍照；陳舊的基礎設施。
盡管如此，人們紛紛猜測電影節主辦方的高層面臨著危機。尤其是意大利文化部長吉利安諾·尤班尼在電影節開幕前就夸下?？冢Q此次電影節的班底是他親自精挑細選的，這將使今年的電影節令人難忘。
“我認為我們不會再犯同樣的錯誤?！蹦吕赵陔娪肮澠陂g說。他已經（和電影節主辦方）簽下了四年的合同。
組織者已經制定了一個長期的解決方案：修建一座大型影院來取代只能容納1000人的傳統的藝術裝飾劇場。但是在達到這個目標之前至少還要舉行三屆電影節。
他也考慮到了可以減少參加主要獎項競爭的影片數量（今年有22部影片參加主要獎項的角逐），或者用主流電影來取代（鼓勵藝術創新的）“地平線”單元。
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2004-09-14 10:08