I love this move some film festivals have taken (and continue to take), to ensure that their films are seen as widely as possible, as the festival itself happens.
After all, we all can't afford to travel cross-country, or continent, or even when right in our own backyards, to attend film festivals. And as many of these films likely won't be seen by much of the world, even after they leave the festivals, making them available on a platform that's available to much of the world, is a good thing.
I'm sure it is (or can be) a profitable expansion for the festival as well.
For the first time in the history, the Venice Film Festival, one of the most presitigious in the world, is going online! Specifically, each film from the Horizons section will also be available on the web at a cost of 4 Euros (about $5) per screening. BUT here's the catch… there will ony be 500 *seats* per film online. I'm guessing that it keeps costs down (bandwidth), and also ensures that there's still enough of an audience for the film when it leaves the festival circuit.
That means only 500 people can watch each film that's made available for screening on the web; meaning, you have to act now if any of the films tickle your fancy.
There are 10 feature films and 13 shorts in the Horizons section, which will screen at the same time as they do during the festival, and will be available for the next 24 hours.
Each non-English film will be screened with English subtitles.
Digital tickets were available for purchase as of yesterday, Monday, August 20, so you may want to look over the list of films below and act now by CLICKING HERE.
The 2012 Venice International Film Festival runs from August 29-September 8, 2012.
The full list of feature films and shorts in the Horizons section (a section aiming to provide a picture of new trends in cinema), along with their descriptions, and available dates, follow below. For ticket purchase, CLICK HERE:
FEATURE FILMS
· Thursday, August 30
THE tightrope of Ivan De Matteo (Italy, France, 100 ')
A rented house, a steady job, a car purchased in installments, a rebellious daughter but nice and sweet and dreamy child, a wife who loves and betrays. Julius is discovered and left, and his story suddenly collapses. With Valerio Mastandrea and Barbara Bobulova. Ivan De Matteo èregista, actor and documentary ranging from theater to film to television. In 2009 he directed The beautiful people who won the Grand Prix at the Annecy Festival . The balancing act is his third feature film.
· Saturday, September 1
EL Sheita ELLI FAT (WINTER of discontent) Ibrahim El Batout (Egypt, 94 ')
Story of three characters cross in the background of the Egyptian rebellion winter: a man after police torture did not dare to leave the house, a TV host forced to give distorted information, a cop who has tortured. Ibrahim El-Batout received as a documentary many international awards. His third film Hawi (2010, The Juggler) is statopresentato in Rotterdam and the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, where it won the Best Arab Film Award. Winter of Discontent is his fourth feature film.
· Sunday, September 2
BOXING DAY by Bernard Rose (Britain, USA, 91 ')
The dramatic experience of Basil and Nicky (Danny Huston and Matthew Jacobs) en route to Denver. The two must deal with adverse weather conditions, the cold and the fight for survival. British director Bernard Rose (author of one of the most interesting horror of the 90s, Candyman , 1992) transposes here a short story by Tolstoy, The master and the worker , having in the past already brought to the screen, always by Russian writer, even Anna Karenina , The Kreutzer Sonata and The Death of Ivan Illic .
LOW TIDE Roberto Minervini (USA, Italy, Belgium, 92 ')
A boy of 12 years old and a single mother living parallel lives. The boy spends his days alone while the mother works and goes out with her friends. The loneliness of the boy is both a source of freedom and pain. His experience alone makes him aware of the contrast between the rules of society and of nature. In a short time his delicate inner world is shattered by an unexpected event. Born in Italy, Roberto Minervini is a writer, director and professor of American adoption.
· Monday, September 3
LEONES Jazmin Lopez (Argentina, France, the Netherlands, 80 ')
Felix, Sofia, Arturo, Niki and Isabel wandering in a forest. They seem to be on vacation, but something is very wrong. They find themselves lost in a maze, Leones, working under different laws, the kids need to understand if they want to get out. Jazmin Lopez has directed the short films that were presented at several international film festivals including Rotterdam and the Huesca Film Festival, where he won the first prize. Leones got support dell'Hubert Bals Fund for its production and has been chosen by CineMart and Turin FilmLab.
· Tuesday, September 4
MENATEK HA-Maim (THE CUTOFF MAN) Idan Hubel (Israel, 76 ')
Gabi plays a thankless job, cut the water supply to people who do not pay the bills. Like a thief roams in courtyards where there are water meters. When people see him, curse him and humiliate him, the blame for the situation in which they find themselves. Gabi has a family to support. But as resist? Idan Hubel wrote and directed two short student that have been presented at festivals around the world and have won numerous awards. The Cutoff Man is his first feature film.
· Wednesday, September 5
INTERVAL Leonardo Di Costanzo (Italy, Switzerland, Germany, 86 ')
Veronica has a snub to the head of the Camorra district and is locked up awaiting punishment. Salvatore is forced to watch her. She is 16 years old, is self-confident, almost brash, everyone likes. Salvatore is awkward, tall and heavy, shy. Between the two begin a relationship, hostility goes to the complicity and friendship. Leonardo Di Costanzo has followed courses in France at the Ateliers Varan. This experience led him to open a center for documentary in Cambodia. His films include tests of State (1999), which addresses the issue of inaction of the State in the town of Herculaneum, and at school (2003), cross-section of school life in an institution of the lower middle of Naples, presented at the Venice Film Festival and winner of Filmmaker/doc8.
· Thursday, September 6
BELLAS MARIPOSAS by Salvatore Mereu (Italy, 100 ')
Taken from the book of the same name by Sergio Atzeni, Bellas mariposas is the story of two teenage girls set in a popular district of Cagliari. Around these two "butterflies", the "mariposas" in the title, takes place between dreams and difficulties the story of the friendship between two teenagers in the suburbs who are confronted with the dangers of a marginal life. The first feature film by Salvatore Mereu is Ballo in three steps ( 2003), characterized by a particular structure into four parts, each corresponding to a season of the year. Ballo in three steps was awarded the Critics' Week at the 60th Venice Film Festival. With three dance steps , Mereu also won the David di Donatello as best director.
· YEMA of Djamila Sahraoui (Algeria, France, 90 ')
Yema tells the story of Ouardia, played by the director herself, a mother who, following the death of his son Tarik, military probably killed by his brother Ali, tries to resume a normal life in an abandoned house of the Algerian peasantry. Born in Algeria in 1950, Djamila Sahraoui studied directing and editing IDHEC. After having made two documentaries awarded at international festivals, with his debut film Barakat! (2009) won the prize for debut at the Pan-African Festival of Ouagadougou. Yema is his second feature film.
· Friday, September 7
JA TOZHE Hochu (ME TOO) by Alexey Balabanov (Russia, 83 ')
Four passengers, Bandit, his elderly father and friend Matvei musician Matvei with the young and beautiful girlfriend, traveling in a black jeep along a deserted road in search of the bell tower of happiness, according to the legends hidden somewhere between St. Petersburg and the town of Uglich. Aleksei Balabanov is one of the most important contemporary Russian directors. It is known all over the world with the film Brother 1997, presented in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival. The next film, Brother 2 (2000), is another blockbuster. In 2002 he participated in the Venice Film Festival with the film The River . In 2007 he returned to Venice in Venice Days with Cargo 200.
SHORT FILMS
· Thursday, September 6
MIRACLE BOY Jake Mahaffy (USA, 17 ')
CHO-DE (INVITATION) of Min-young YOO (South Korea, 16 ')
RESISTANT Renate Costa , Salla Sorri (Denmark, Finland, Paraguay, 20 ')
I'M THE ONE by Paola Morabito (Australia, 14 ')
O AFINADOR Fernando Camargo , Matheus Parizi ( Brazil, 15 ')
LIVING LIFE STILL Bertrand Mandico (France, Belgium, Germany, 15 ')
CARGO Carlo Sironi ( Italy, 15 ')
· Friday, September 7
FRANK-ÉTIENNE VERS LA beatitude of Constance Meyer (France, 12 ')
TITLOI TELOUS (OUT OF FRAME) Yorgos Zois (Greece, 11 ')
LUISA NO ESTÁ EN CASA Celia Rico Clavellino ( Spain, 19 ')
BANSULLI (THE FLUTE) Min Bham ( Nepal , 15 ')
LAS MANOS LIMPIAS Carlos Armella (Mexico, 11 ')
THE ROOM Alessio Giannone (Italy, 16 ')
