Alberto Barbera, 75, is already the longest-serving artistic director in the history of the Venice Film Festival.
Late in the afternoon on the day he announced the programme for the 82nd edition (August 27-September 9), after hours of talking to the press, he is a mix of enthusiasm and weariness. For this year he has again attempted his usual delicate balancing act, securing a mix of high-profile US films and potential Oscar contenders with big-name stars, while also finding space for the most adventurous auteur-driven, global arthouse cinema.
The 21 films in Venice competition includes everything from Guillermo del Toro’s big-budget Frankenstein to Gianfranco Rosi’s black-and-white Naples documentary Below The Clouds; from Kathryn Bigelow’s political thriller A House Of Dynamite (the Oscar winner’s first film in eight years) to Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi’s Silent Friend, in which one of the main characters is a tree in a botanical garden.
Screen spoke to Barbera about his approach to selecting films, his future at the festival, and whether he is concerned about political protests this year.
You’ve been at the helm of the festival for many years. Does the job get any easier?
It is getting more difficult because I am getting old! At the same time, it is easier because I have built a stronger relationship with most of the producers, most of the filmmakers and sales agents. It is easier to get access to the most important films of the season. It is easier to discuss with them and to explain why I like or don’t like a film. I can be very direct and frank.
What do you see as the key themes in this year’s lineup? Are there many titles reflecting the current social and political turbulence around the world?
The ’fil rouge’ of the festival is monsters. From literal monsters, from Frankenstein by del Toro, to the real monsters of the last century, from Mussolini to Ceaușescu, from Gaddafi to Putin. Or the monstrosity of war in Ukraine and Gaza. Or the menace of the atomic bomb which is becoming a real issue. But it doesn’t mean the festival is based only on tragedies and drama. Luckily enough, there will be other films that are lighter. [But] the festival is not disconnected from the real world.
Is that why you have more documentaries than usual with new films from Werner Herzog, Laura Poitras, etc?
There are 15 very strong documentaries plus four music documentaries this year. It’s a trend. There are more and more very good documentaries that are produced all over the world. Most of them are dealing with contemporary problems and issues. They are made by great filmmakers and there is growing interest from the audience for this kind of production. I am very happy about the entire documentary selection.
Are you prepared for protests around Gaza? You have Israeli star Gal Gadot in Julian Schnabel’s Hand Of Dante and when she was filming recently in London, production was disrupted by pro-Palestinian activists.
Let’s say I won’t be surprised if there will be some protests against some films dealing with Gaza [The Voice Of Hind Rajab by Kaouther Ben Hania] or the film about Putin [Olivier Assayas’s The Wizard Of The Kremlin starring Jude Law], for example. But I don’t think there will be protests during the screenings. There could be some polemics in the press the day after when they have seen the film. It’s impossible to avoid polemics. I hope we can contain the polemics [to] discussion about the film, with it not becoming a political use of the films against the filmmakers, festival or a political side.
Are there any films you wanted and couldn’t get?
We succeeded in getting most of the films we wanted. The only one that we are really missing you can say easily is the Paul Thomas Anderson film [One Battle After Another]. I consider Paul Thomas Anderson one of the most important American filmmakers of the moment but it seems he doesn’t like to go to festivals anymore. I have to confess I couldn’t get a clear response either from him or from Warner Bros about the fact that I was wishing to see the film. This is the only missing film that I regret not being able to show.
Is it correct there are no films from Black filmmakers in official selection?
Actually, we didn’t get any submissions from Black filmmakers from the US. It doesn’t mean we didn’t select them or didn’t want to invite them, simply there were no Black films submitted to us this year. I don’t know why.
You suggested in your press conference that films in competition are becoming too long. Is there an ideal length?
Last year, we already had a number of longer films than usual. This year, most of the films submitted for the main competition are definitely longer than two hours. It looks like it is becoming a trend of film production at least in major markets like the US, France, UK and so on. I don’t know why. It is difficult to explain. Maybe it is a consequence of the influence of the series on filmmakers. Maybe it’s a way to make a film an event, bigger than usual, to convince people to go to the theatre instead of staying home to watch a movie on a platform.
Who will you have on the red carpet? Julia Roberts for Guadagnino’s After The Hunt? Dwayne Johnson for Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine?
I still don’t know who will come. We’ll see in the next few days. We’ll contact the production companies to discuss the dates and the talents they will bring. When they have a strong film to offer to a festival, they promise to bring the talent because it’s important for the promotion of the film. When the talent cannot come, usually the production company refuses to give the film to the festival. I was surprised watching The Smashing Machine. I was expecting a spectacular film [for] out of competition but when we saw the film, we realised it was an excellent movie for the main competition, a very strong film with very strong characters. Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt deliver outstanding performances.
You mentioned former Venice winner Julian Schnabel’s new movie, Hand Of Dante, had some issues with the financiers. What happened there?
The film was almost finished one year ago and they had trouble with the financiers because of the length of the film. The film is very long, two hours and a half, partly shot in black and white and partly in colour. I think he [Schnabel] had some troubles to convince the financiers to accept his final version of the movie. The film was stuck for many months. But the version we will screen is his own version without any cuts. I think he is very happy about that.
Again, you’ve got Netflix films in the competition, from Kathryn Bigelow, Noah Baumbach and Guillermo del Toro. How would you describe your relationship with the streamer today?
We have a very strong relationship with Netflix because Venice was the first festival ever to accept films produced by Netflix in the main competition. Netflix had this issue with Cannes. Cannes is not able to invite films in competition from Netflix because of the position of the French distributors and exhibitors. Venice [therefore] became the normal candidate to screen the major films in competition. We have been extremely lucky because Netflix keeps on investing a huge amount of money producing author films from some of the most interesting filmmakers of the moment who are not able to get financed by the studios anymore.
We didn’t get any backlash from the fact that we keep on showing Netflix films in the main competition. We don’t have this kind of problem in Italy. Most of them now are getting a release in theatres even if it is a short release.
Were you disappointed Luca Guadagnino’s film After The Hunt wasn’t offered for competition by Amazon?
When they showed us the film, they told me they believed a lot in the film and that it would be their candidate for the campaign for the Oscars. They loved the movie. They didn’t care about the film getting an award [in Venice] or not. I respected the request from Amazon. It’s a very strong film. It could have been in competition of course, but the most important thing is having the film in the festival.
You are opening with Paolo Sorrentino’s Grace. You’ve got a new film from Gianfranco Rosi and the series from Marco Bellocchio as well as a couple of other titles. Is this a good moment for Italian cinema?
Probably the Italian movies in the festival are the strongest in years. It’s a good moment for auteur films. In general, the situation with Italian films is much more complicated and difficult. Too many films are produced every year. Half of them don’t get commercial releases. The average quality of the films is not so high but there are some very strong and very good films like the ones we selected for Venice this year.
Your contract was renewed for two more editions, this year and 2026. Would you like to stay longer?
We have to wait and see. It’s beautiful spending time watching movies and good movies as well. I am still in love with cinema. It’s the best possible work – and the only work actually I am able to do.