Cinema

Venice 2018 Welcomes Netflix as Alfonso Cuarón Brings Roma

Venice embraces the streaming films Cannes excluded. Alfonso Cuarón explains why Roma went to Netflix, amid a festival of Hollywood stars, Arab films and virtual reality.

Husam Sam Asi 3 September 2018

Alfonso Cuarón speaking with Husam Sam Asi during promotion for Gravity in September 2013. — Alfonso Cuarón with Husam Sam Asi during promotion for Gravity, September 2013. ASI Photos.

The 75th Venice Film Festival opened last Wednesday with the premiere of First Man, the story of American astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon in 1969.

The film follows him from his work as a test pilot in 1960, through his selection for NASA’s astronaut programme, to the moment he sets foot on the lunar surface. Ryan Gosling plays Armstrong, while British actress Claire Foy plays his wife.

It is directed by Damien Chazelle, who came to Venice two years ago with La La Land. That film went on to win six Oscars, including best director. Critics are already considering another Oscar for First Man, praising the film and particularly Gosling’s and Foy’s performances.

Besides being the oldest film festival, Venice is an important indicator of the Oscar race. In recent years, films launched here have gone on to win major Academy Awards, including The Shape of Water, Birdman, Gravity and Spotlight.

This year, Venice has become an especially important international showcase by attracting films from streaming companies Netflix and Amazon. Netflix’s films were excluded from competition at the latest Cannes festival after opposition from French cinema owners.

Cuarón on bringing Roma to Netflix

One of the films absent from Cannes and shown in Venice is Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón’s masterpiece Roma. He returns to Mexico City to tell a story inspired by his childhood, about a domestic worker in a prosperous household. Through her story, he explores Mexico’s social and political realities in the early 1970s and tensions between classes, ethnic groups and the sexes.

Cuarón told me he preferred releasing his films on the big screen but had to take account of a changing reality.

“There is no doubt that the big screen gives viewers greater clarity of sound and image. But in recent years, releasing films in cinemas has shortened a film’s life, while its life on film platforms continues forever.”

Roma has magnificent, striking visual beauty. Cuarón shot it himself in black and white, without using colour. It contrasts with his previous film, Gravity, for which he developed new filming technology. He also launched Gravity at Venice in 2013; it later won seven Oscars.

“Shooting Roma in black and white is an integral part of telling the story,” Cuarón explained. “I didn’t use classical black-and-white photography. I used a modern version through digital photography, which is clearer. So there is a split: we have a contemporary palette to express the past.”

Alongside Roma, Netflix arrived with several other films directed by and starring international names. They lit up the red carpet with camera flashes that had been less plentiful at Cannes amid a shortage of stars.

They included the Coen brothers with their Western anthology The Ballad of Buster Scruggs; Britain’s Paul Greengrass with 22 July, exploring the aftermath of the killing of 77 people in Norway in 2011 by a far-right extremist; and the late Orson Welles’s The Other Side of the Wind.

Emma Stone returns with The Favourite

Among the stars returning to Venice was Emma Stone, who won the festival’s best actress prize two years ago for La La Land and later collected an Oscar for the same performance.

This year, she arrived with Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite, set in the early 18th century. She plays a servant who wins the trust and affection of Queen Anne, played by Olivia Colman, and displaces the queen’s closest friend and adviser, played by Rachel Weisz.

Unlike Stone, Colman and Weisz had worked with the surrealist filmmaker before, on The Lobster. Discussing that experience, they described the freedom his approach offered.

“I really enjoyed working with him because he doesn’t ask you to stick to a realistic character. He encourages you to use your imagination in building the character, and that was very liberating for me as an actress.”

The Favourite brings Lanthimos, known for eccentric films such as The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer, into period drama. But he insists that its cinematic approach is consistent with his earlier work.

“My aim in making this film was to experiment with applying my cinematic approach to this kind of historical film.”

A Star Is Born outside competition

The film drawing the greatest attention among festivalgoers was A Star Is Born, shown outside competition, thanks to its star Lady Gaga. Fans erupted when she arrived on the red carpet with its director and co-star, Bradley Cooper.

It tells the story of a young woman who dreams of becoming a professional singer. Her ambition becomes reality when she meets a famous musician who invites her to sing with him on stage and later marries her. Her career rises rapidly while his fades because of alcoholism.

The film delighted the festival audience, who applauded enthusiastically for 15 minutes after the premiere and chanted Gaga’s name. She responded with kisses and thanks.

Documentaries confront the aftermath of ISIS

The festival is also screening 12 documentaries outside the official competition. Among them is Isis, Tomorrow. The Lost Souls of Mosul, in which Italian directors Francesca Mannocchi and Alessio Romenzi portray the tragic circumstances of families of members of the so-called Islamic State and their victims in Mosul after Iraqi forces and their allies retook the city.

The directors told me they made the film after hearing that the Iraqi government planned to eliminate the children and wives of ISIS members.

Although some of the children and women they interview say their dream is to kill Europeans, the filmmakers insist they are victims.

“They haven’t committed crimes like their fathers,” Mannocchi said. “The government has to integrate them into society. Otherwise, they will become like their fathers and return in a terrorist organisation that may be even more dangerous.”

Arab films across the festival

Arab films are absent from the 21-film official competition, but seven are participating in other sections.

Two are in the Horizons competition: Tel Aviv on Fire by Palestinian director Sameh Zoabi and The Day I Lost My Shadow by Syrian director Soudade Kaadan. Palestinian director Bassam Jarbawi’s Screwdriver appears in Venice Days.

Still Recording, by Syrian filmmakers Saeed Al Batal and Ghiath Ayoub; the Tunisian film Dachra, by Abdelhamid Bouchnak; and the Sudanese aKasha, by Hajooj Kuka, are in Critics’ Week. Saudi director Haifaa Al-Mansour’s The Wedding Singer’s Daughter is also being shown in a special presentation.

The first of these to screen was Zoabi’s Tel Aviv on Fire. It follows a Palestinian screenwriter who collaborates with an Israeli border officer on the script of a popular television series after the officer stops him at a checkpoint, hoping to avoid further harassment.

The film impressed festivalgoers and received critical praise. It also stirred controversy among Arab audiences because it is an Israeli co-production with Luxembourg, Belgium and France. Zoabi insists he is entitled to the funding because the Israeli government taxes Palestinian citizens of Israel.

“We have no other choice. This is our tax money, and we have a right to receive it.”

Virtual reality and the road to the Oscars

Like other major festivals, Venice has a section for virtual-reality films. These are experienced in a dedicated space rather than conventional auditoriums, using special headsets that let viewers look around the environment.

Among them is Make Noise, directed by May Abdalla, about British women’s demand for the vote in the early 20th century.

The festival continues until 8 September, when its prizes, led by the Golden Lion, will be announced. More significant than the prizes themselves, however, is Venice’s role as the launchpad for the film awards season, which ends with the Oscars early next year.