EXCLUSIVE: Alberto Barbera is a force of nature. The 76 year-old longtime Venice artistic director is here, there and everywhere, one minute speaking at an A.I. forum in Venice, the next minute jostling and joking with Oasis duo Noel and Liam Gallagher at a raucous premiere on the Lido. We sat down with Barbera as we do every year at the half-way point of the festival to discuss some of the key talking points of the event so far, including A.I., U.S. studio movies, Oscar chances and the late scheduling of movies about the Gaza-Israel war.
DEADLINE: Have you ever seen the Sala Grande like it was last night for the Oasis documentary? It was more like a rock concert…
ALBERTO BARBERA: No, I haven’t. It was special. People were laughing, clapping, singing during the movie.
DEADLINE: A.I. is one of the big talking points this edition. Danny Boyle has said that he used A.I. in the making of the opening movie Ink. For the first time, you have a documentary in official selection that is almost entirely made with A.I. The direction of travel would suggest that we’ll see a lot more movies made with A.I. in the selection in coming years…
BARBERA: We will, yes, definitely. It reminds me of the digital revolution at the end of the ’90s. We had a panel here at that time and people were reluctant to admit that it would be a revolution for the business but within a few years it had completely changed. We’re going through that now. And yet, the impact of A.I. will be far greater. It will have an impact on mankind. There is a lot of fear over the use and consequences of A.I. but it’s here to stay. The debate so far has only been about the negative consequences. We need to think about how to control the technology and also how to use it at the service of creativity, for example. We know that many filmmakers and studios are using A.I. without disclosing it. It’s cheaper, faster and it can be better than CGI. What I’m really interested to understand is whether A.I. tools can help filmmakers when it comes to their expression and creativity? Things are moving very fast. We’ll see.
DEADLINE: Politics is another talking point [the jury press conference was cancelled amid fears of politicization but then reinstated following outcry]. We’ve noticed that hot-button films like Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice Of Hind Rajab last year and this year the talked-about Gaza documentary NAZA were both pushed right to the end of the festival when much of the world’s media has left. They both have women directors so it’s a double shame that they were pushed so late. The Russian film DAU is another politically charged movie that is debuting very late. Why are these movies at the end of the festival?
BARBERA: We had a discussion about that internally. DAU was more about the length and the difficulty of fitting it in early. But with NAZA, which will shock some people, I didn’t want it to screen early and for politics to become the only topic of conversation at the festival, overshadowing the other movies. There will likely be a lot of discussion about it.
DEADLINE: Have you spoken to the Venice4Palestine group that has organized the petition calling for more support for Palestine from the festival? The group wanted a Palestinian flag to be flown over the red carpet as the other countries with movies at the festival have…
BARBERA: We’ve exchanged some emails but we haven’t spoken on the phone. We can’t change the rule regarding the flags. That’s something controlled by the state. I’ve been told by the authorities that we need to respect the protocol and can’t have a Palestinian flag alongside the others because the Italian government doesn’t recognize the state of Palestine. I think that fact is a shame. I hope they will recognize it soon.
DEADLINE: On the subject of female directors, there are only two movies directed by women in Competition (and one of those is a co-director). We seem to be going backwards on the subject of women directors. We know there is a broader structural and systemic problem, but is there really nothing the festival can do to try to improve this? I’m not sure what the answer is, but have you discussed any mechanisms of change whether that be additional sections or more female programmers or something else…
BARBERA: There’s nothing. We can’t create an extra section. It would be like a ghetto for women. It would be the worst thing we could do. I hate this idea…We have a lot of female programmers. Fifty percent of the selection committee are women. We try very hard to find more films by women for the Competition. Last year we had six. In 2012 we had eight or nine. This year happened to be a down year. Next year will probably be different. There’s nothing we can do about it. In our Biennale College Cinema we have 50% of the projects backed by women because we have control of the process. We can’t control which films are submitted to us for official selection.
DEADLINE: We always ask you about movies and performances that could pop with the Academy. What do you see at the festival that could play well with the American Academy?
BARBERA: It’s always a little unpredictable. But for sure the Martin McDonagh film will be in the mix…
BARBERA: Could be, for sure. It’s a bold film. Interesting. Dark…which can be an issue. We’ll see.
DEADLINE: The Lee Chang-dong film Possible Love could end up being the one…
BARBERA: The Lee Chang-dong is very strong. It could be a contender for sure. The Kore-eda film is also very good. There will be some international films that could compete…
DEADLINE: What can you do to convince the American studios to return in greater number to Venice?
BARBERA: They will come back. There’s no question about that. The only reason they’re not here is that the films weren’t ready…
DEADLINE: Is that really all it is? Between Ridley Scott, Fincher, Netflix had other movies, The Social Reckoning etc There were surely some that could have come if they had really wanted to?
BARBERA: The response to Ridley’s movie was not good. They knew that so it wouldn’t have made sense to come. The only one that was really ready and decided not to do the festivals was Digger. The Fincher will be ready in four weeks but it’s not ready. They were still shooting in August. Same with Social Reckoning — they were reshooting in August. There weren’t other films ready.
DEADLINE: Cannes faced a similar challenge in getting studio films, though…
BARBERA: The only one they really couldn’t get was Spielberg and the studio wasn’t sure what the response would be…
DEADLINE: We speak to studios. Some said things weren’t ready. But it’s also true that it’s expensive and a risk to come to the festivals…
BARBERA: Come on. There’s always a risk. In terms of the cost, it’s a joke. You have a film that costs $300M, you spend another $100M on marketing. An extra $1M to go to Venice is nothing. Of course they won’t want to come to a festival if they’re not sure about the reaction a film will get. If they have a film they’re confident about, they’ll come to a festival. I’m sure they’ll be back.
DEADLINE: Movies like Sinners, Backrooms, The Odyssey, Marty Supreme [the film only had a surprise screening in New York], even A Complete Unknown to an extent, have done well at the box office without a festival launch, so some will question whether a festival is needed for a big studio movie…
BARBERA: Most of these weren’t ready for a big festival and they were mostly big and happy surprises at the box office. No one could have predicted quite how well Sinners and Backrooms would do, for example. Audiences are changing. Now we can see that the audiences in cinemas are getting younger and younger. This will change how films are released and what films are made.
DEADLINE: You’re energy is amazing. But this is an exhausting job. How many more years do you have left in you at Venice?
BARBERA: I have two years left on my contract after this year. But two years is a long time. I don’t need to look too far into the future. I need to keep working, but I could also do something else. I have two young kids to think about. But it’s not my decision. It’ll be up to the board and the Biennale.
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