We started with “Return to Buenos Aires” by Marco Bechis, a film in Competition at Venice 83. The director returns to Argentina after fifty years and emphasizes that the story is not his, but it comes from a lived wound: the kidnapping in Argentina. “I was also kidnapped during the Argentine dictatorship,” he says – “but the key character in the film is not me, I chose fiction because sometimes it is the only way to get close to the truth. The protagonist is named Mariano, he is a survivor living in the Ministry of Justice housing waiting to testify, but it is not easy. “I tried to tell that moment,” explains Bechis – “when the past comes back to occupy the present.” In the film, among the protagonists, Adriano Giannini and Ana Celentano. Second film in competition “Kami Nour (A bit of Light), by Ali Asgari. It tells the story of an Iranian doctor who, after the closure of his laboratory, loses faith in the future. Dreams and projects go up in smoke, he is disappointed, he thinks he cannot make it. He sees his family for the last time, wants to commit suicide, to end it, but it is the love around him that makes him change his mind. The director, who is one of the most important voices in Iranian cinema: “I often asked myself what gives value to life,” confesses Asgari – “when suffering comes in to separate our existence.” Tomorrow the Festival offers its latest film out of Competition “God Laughs,” by Giovanni Veronesi. “I wanted to close a circle on comedy,” explains the director and screenwriter – “by making a dramatic film.” In cinemas from October 29, it focuses on two key characters: Brother Leopoldo (Favino), who speaks about the Gospel in an exemplary way, and Cardinal Maculani (Silvio Orlando), the inquisitor who arrived from Rome. Tomorrow evening the names of the winners. We have some ideas, also because we have seen all the films. The Best Actor could be John Malkovich for the splendid performance in the film in Competition “Wilde Horse Nine” by Martin McDonagh; Best Film the Italian “The Stranger” by Paolo Trippoli (to watch); A special award I would give to “Bunker,” by Florian Zeller, starring Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz; and “Primetime” by Lance Oppenheim. Then, everything also depends on international relations, we will see. And the lion? It is about to leave the cage, and ready to climb the podium which I hope will also be Italian…
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