Jim Jarmusch wins the Golden Lion and leaves 'The voice of Hind', the film about the murder of a Palestinian girl, with silver
On Wednesday, September 3, the Venice Festival was departed in two. The projection of Hind's voice, The film by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania about the murder of a five -year -old Gazati girl by the Israeli army, left the lido in a mudden and shocked. Since then everything has revolved between two variables, that the jury chaired by Alexander Payne dared to give the golden lion to the most forceful and politically relevant film of this edition, or that they relegate him to a minor award.
Payne's first day statement, when asked about the request of the Venice4palenine collective so that the good condemn the genocide, did not make it optimistic. The head of films like those who stay said not to feel “prepared” to respond and that he should talk about cinema and movies. It seemed a premonition, because almost two weeks later his jury has rewarded one of the less charged policy films in the entire edition.
The Golden Lion has stopped at the hands of Jim Jarmusch – who carried a sheet in favor of Palestine – one of the most important filmmakers of the last decades, with Father Mother Brother Sister surprised. The film came with the rumor that Cannes had rejected her, and perhaps because of this her while reflection on family ties entered such an exciting way. A film that seemed convicted of a best script award and that has finally won the first important prize of Jarmusch at a festival. Jarmusch stressed that although his cinema cannot seem, it is also a political one: “Art does not have to address politics directly to be a political. It can generate empathy and a connection between us, which is really the first step to solve our problems.”
The jury's decision has some provocative, since he has not only rewarded Hind's voice but has chosen a title distributed by MUBI, platform and distributor financed by the Sequoia Fund, which supports an Israeli arms company. Jarmush himself confessed in the film's reuda of the film to feel “disappointed” of that bond of the company. “My relationship with Mubi started much earlier, and it was fantastic to work with them in the movie. He disappointed me and baffled this relationship. But if you want to talk about it, you have to address Mubi. I am not the spokesman,” he said then.
Finally, Kaouther Ben Hania's film has made up the second prize, the Silver Lion, also called Grand Prix. The director, very excited, dedicated her award to the Red Crescent and those who leave their lives in Gaza. “Hind's voice is the voice of Gaza herself, a scream of rescue. The whole world could hear it, but no one responded. His voice will continue to resonate. His voice will continue to resonate until they give up accounts, until justice is done. We all believe in the strength of the cinema. It is what brings us together tonight and what gives us the courage to tell stories that, otherwise, they would be buried,” of “criminal regime” before sharing the thanks of Hind Rajab's own mother, who agreed by Nelson Mandela to ask for the freedom of the Palestinian people.
In the jury's press conference, Alexander Payne explained his decision by saying that for them the two films are the winners, and that if they had been able to have given two gold lions, but the rules prevent him from giving him ex aequo. He pointed out that both Jarmusch and Ben Hania are two films that deserve that award, and that the difference could be said that it has been 0.0001 percent.
Art does not have to address politics directly to be a politician. It can generate empathy and a connection between us, that is the first step to solve our problems
Jim Jarmusch
– Filmmaker
Seeing the jury elections one has the feeling that they chose the right films, but placed them in the wrong order. That, and who decided to ignore Netflix, who despite bringing three films went empty. The Silver Lion, the second in importance, was for Gianfranco Rosi, the master of the documentary who already has a gold lion for Sacred Gra and that in Sotto Le Nuvole Look in a beautiful black and white everyday routines of the people who live on the shores of Vesuvio. A humanist and beautiful film that did not count for many and convinced the jury.
Most surprising was the award for the best director for Benny Safdie for The Smashing Machine, that seemed convicted to win the award for best actor for Dwayne Johnson (La Roca) and convinced with a topical story about a loser that left the body in wrestling. There is not in this proposal the nerve and fang of the works directed with his brother Joshua, which in a few months will also premiere separately Marty Supremealso by the hand of A24.
The jury has chosen to reward low profile movies, where directors are not placed above their works or make fuss. Betting are very marked by the personalities of their directors, such as No other choicefrom Park Chan Wook; he Frankenstein by Guillermo del Toro; A House of Dynamite, from Kathyn Bigelow; The Testament of Ann Lee, by Mona Fastvold or Silent Friend, of Ildiko Enyedi (to which the Marcello Mastroianni prize for the young talent for Luna Wedler).
In return they recognize filmmakers with more intimate and restrained proposals, as can also be seen in that prize for the best script for Valerie Donzelli and Guilles Marchand, for à pied d'œuvre. It was one of the covers of this edition. A portrait about a photographer who leaves his job to be able to write and discovers the real poverty and precariousness of the world in an exciting portrait about the uberization of the economy. Donzelli, who surprised the world with a declaration of war, returns to his best cinema after a few struggles.
The interpretation awards are impeccable, but they also surprise because they leave out many names that came as favorites. Toni Servillo has achieved its first Volpi Cup for Grazia. He is immeasurable, but he was expected more for Sorrentino's film, a fun and exciting film about a president of the Republic in his last months who talks about political positioning. Servillo, one of the actors signed by the statement in favor of Palestine, wanted to express his “admiration and admiration of Italian cinema for those who have bravely decided to sail to reach Palestine and bring a sign of humanity to a land in which human dignity is cruelly vilified daily.”
Nothing can be said of the Volpi to the best acriz to Xin Zhilei, by the Chinese film The Sun Rises On Us All, a film about the fault that arrived on the last competition day and that is sustained on his shoulders. Both decisions are surprised because Venice was accustomed to a palmarés full of Hollywood stars that begin their career for the Oscar. Last year he saw Nicole Kidman. On this occasion they had to choose from: Dwayne Johnson, Emma Stone, Amanda Seyfried … None of them succeeded, which underlines the decision not to reward Hollywood's great cinema, since although Jarmusch is a US film, her works move in an independent circuit far from other proposals that have been seen in Venice.
A warm record that has lost the opportunity to reward a film with a film like Hind's voice, which has even made Hollywood begin to position (Brad Pitt and Joaquin Phoenix appear as executive producers) and that the Palestinian flags will enter the Grande del Pallazo del Casino. You may not have won, but it is, without a doubt, the most important film in this edition.
