Vita gazette – The 81st edition of the festival will present to the public of avid cinephiles the masterpieces of great professionals who have marked the history of world cinema.

The Venice Classics selection of ’81 has been defined. International Film Festival of the Venice Biennale presents a world premiere of 18 restorations carried out over the last year of masterpieces from film libraries, cultural institutions and productions worldwide. The public will be able to see, for the first time, restored films by Michelangelo Antonioni, Vittorio de Sica, Nanni Moretti, François Truffaut, Fritz Lang, Peter Brooke, Howard Hawks, Lina Wertmüller, Masomura, Ôshima and Santos.

The Venezia Classici program includes the commemoration of some crucial anniversaries: first of all, the centenary of the birth of Marcello Mastroianni, the most loved and celebrated Italian actor in the world who we will see again in ‘The Night’, one of Michelangelo’s most beautiful films Antonioni.

In a world premiere, 18 restorations of masterpieces from film archives, cultural institutions, and productions around the world, such as the Cineteca Nazionale – Centro Sperimentale di cinematografia, the Cineteca di Bologna, and the Martin Scorsese Film Foundation, were carried out over the last year.

In addition to the restorations, the 81st Venice Film Festival’s presentation on 23 July is expected to include a selection of documentaries on cinema and its authors.

Alberto Barbera, the director of the Mostra and curator of the Venezia Classici section, with Federico Gironi’s collaboration, speaks of “a cinematic journey around the world.”

In addition to Antonioni’s La Notte, Venezia Classici also remembers Vittorio De Sica fifty years after his death and does so with the absolute masterpiece L’oro di Napoli from 1954, “homage to the Neapolitan city, through six episodes inspired by the stories of Giovanni Marotta”.

This initiative is part of the Venezia Classici programme, chaired by a jury of film students. The Venezia Classici section, which has been held since 2012, mainly comprises students from the various cinema courses at Italian universities, including the Venetian university Ca’ Foscari. The jury can award the best documentary on cinema presented within the section, just as the director and screenwriter Renato De Maria, who presides over the student jury, will award the ‘Premio Venezia Classici’ for the best-restored film.

THE PROGRAM

THE NIGHT

by MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI (Italy/France, 1961, 125’, B/W)

restoration: Experimental Center of Cinematography – National Film Library

THE MAHABHARATA

by PETER BROOK (France/UK/USA, 1989, 173’, colour)

restoration: Brook Productions

JEUX INTERDITS (PROHIBITED GAMES)

by RENÉ CLÉMENT (France, 1952, 102′, B/W)

restoration: StudioCanal

THE GOLD OF NAPLES – PRE-OPENING FILM

by VITTORIO DE SICA (Italy, 1954, 137′, B/W)

restoration: Cinecittà / Filmauro

HIS GIRL FRIDAY (THE LADY OF FRIDAY)

by HOWARD HAWKS (USA, 1940, 92’, B/W)

restoration: Sony Pictures Entertainment

GHATASHRADDHA (THE RITUAL)

by GIRISH KASARAVALLI (India, 1977, 108′, B/W)

restoration: The Film Foundation World Cinema / Film Heritage Foundation

THE BIG HEAT

by FRITZ LANG (USA, 1953, 90′, B/W)

restoration: Sony Pictures Entertainment

BLOOD AND SAND

by ROUBEN MAMOULIAN (USA, 1941, 125′, colour)

restoration: Walt Disney Studios / The Film Foundation

BEND OF THE RIVER (WHERE THE RIVER GOES DOWN)

by ANTHONY MANN (USA, 1952, 91’, colour)

restoration: Universal Pictures / The Film Foundation

MANJI (THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL LOVES)

by YASUZÔ MASUMURA ​​(Japan, 1964, 90′, colour)

restoration: Kadokawa Corporation

EXCEPT BOMBO

by NANNI MORETTI (Italy, 1978, 104’, colour)

restoration: Experimental Center of Cinematography – National Film Library

TÔKYÔ SENSÔ SENGO HIWA – EIGA DE ISHO WO NOKOSHITE SHINDA (POST-WAR SECRET HISTORY: AFTER THE TOKYO WAR)

by NAGISA ÔSHIMA (Japan, 1970, 94′, B/W)

restoration: Oshima Productions LTD

NOW AND VEZ DE AUGUSTO MATRAGA

by ROBERTO SANTOS (Brazil, 1965, 114′, B/W)

restoration: LC Barreto Produções Cinematográficas

LES FLOCONS D’OR (THE GOLD FLAKES)

by WERNER SCHROETER (Germany/France, 1976, 163’, colour)

restoration: Filmmuseum Düsseldorf / Filmmuseum München

LA PEAU DOUCE (THE WARM LOVER)

by FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT (France, 1964, 117′, B/W)

restoration: mk2 Films

OVERWHELMED BY AN UNUSUAL DESTINY IN THE BLUE SEA OF AUGUST

by LINA WERTMÜLLER (Italy, 1974, 114′, colour)

restoration: Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna / Minerva Pictures

PUSHER

by NICOLAS WINDING REFN (Denmark, 1996, 109’, colour)

restoration: NWR

MODEL

by FREDERICK WISEMAN (USA, 1980, 129’, B/W)

restoration: Zipporah Films