Alberto Barbera in Best Picture Hopefuls & Awards season of the “madness”

EXCLUSIVE: The head of the Venice Film Festival, Alberto Barbera, has attracted another talent alignment from list A and aspiring aspiring offers. Deadline sat down with the festival head at Midway Point for a great conversation, during which we asked him about the reception of the films so far, which makes the ‘industry’ of the awards, the health of US study films and their thoughts on the march of Gaza yesterday. Look our chat below.

DEADLINE: Thanks for taking time. How do you feel about the festival so far?

Alberto Barbera: I am happy because there seems to be happiness about the alignment and quality of the films. We have not had big problems to solve so far. There are many people here. Most projections are exhausted. I think it has been a success until now.

DEADLINE: What should be excited about people for going to the second week?

Barbera: We have many good movies. Maybe less great names and talent, but we still have Bigelow, Ozon, some excellent films. I don’t think attention decreases.

DEADLINE: I am interested in how movies are often framed and judged instantly today about whether they are contenders of the academy awards or not. Some can say that it is reductive. There may be financial reasons why that happens. But do you feel for you as the United States awards season is even more important than ever, for festivals, international industry and the United States industry?

Barbera: I would say yes, it is certainly more relevant, especially for Americans. I think Europeans are less involved in this madness and expectations around Oscars …

DEADLINE: And yet, with international films that fly so high in the Oscars in recent times and with many good international films amplified in recent years, the movie Park Chan-Wook could be the best reviewed film here so far, it seems that the US awards may also have become more important for the international business. There is a lot of competition …

Barbera: Yes, and the way the academy has expanded, you can see how much they are investing in international dissemination …

DEADLINE: On the contrary, do you think there has been a dip in the quality of American study films in the last decade more or less?

Barbera: That is a problem, of course. The industry has gone through a lot of transformation. The identity crisis among the main studies is one of the main problems. The dependence on the franchise material, the repetition … have moved away from doing what they did in the past: investing in new types of creation, creating new ways to involve the audience and that is a big problem. You can’t repeat incessantly, and these films are so expensive …

DEADLINE: Netflix, who has had an important presence in the Lido for years, has been chasing an Oscar of the best film for some time. What do you think are your possibilities this year?

Barbera: Who knows. It has become very unpredictable. There are many things that enter that, not just the quality of the film. The campaign lasts months and months: marketing, the audience’s response, the amount spent, everything is reproduced in …

DEADLINE: One of his three playing here [Frankenstein, Jay Kelly, A House Of Dynamite] Do you suppose you as more likely that the material of the best film?

Barbera: I’m not sure. The three films have been largely well received. [A House Of Dynamite launches next week]. There are many potential contenders. Some films that we will not even know until later in the year. Some are playing at other festivals now …

DEADLINE: Hamnet and the ballad of a small player have apparently dropped well in Telluride …

Barbera: I saw them all. However, I can’t talk about those who are not here …

DEADLINE: You have attracted many films that appear in the Oscar race. There was a period in which Midas Touch also had with the best winners. However, five of the last six winners of the best film have not debuted at any autumn festival. Why do you think that is?

Barbera: I’m not sure. It depends on the launch dates, whether the movies were ready, if they worked for Venice … last year Anora cattle. I tried to get Anora For Venice and until the last minute he was in the air, but they decided to go to Cannes. It depends on different elements …

DEADLINE: Do you think Sorrentino will be Oscar’s entrance to Italy?

Barbera: It can’t because it is not thrown in Italy until January …

DEADLINE: Oh strange. It is at the autumn festivals this year. I loved the movie. I found it very moving …

Barbera: Yes, it is a very good movie, one of the best … In terms of launch, it is strange. I’m not sure why they did so …

DEADLINE: We have recently talked to the Middle East filmmakers who have said that the festival has a poor history of taking Palestinian films and that you have not selected any competition during your mandate. What would you say to that?

Barbera: There are very few Palestinian films every year, this year even less, due to war. I only saw a movie that could have had the profile of a competition movie. It was not good enough for us, from my point of view, so we reject and I think the film will be screened at another festival.

DEADLINE: Was it the right decision that yesterday’s Gaza march could not enter the festival land?

Barbera: They didn’t want to enter. I think about 30 people tried. I asked the organizers of the protest if they wanted to send a delegation to the red carpet and said they were not interested in doing that and did not want to interfere with the festival.

DEADLINE: I thought they had said they wanted to march to the center of the festival.…

Barbera: No, I don’t think so. I offered them a place on the carpet and said no.

DEADLINE: Do you feel morally forced to make a stronger statement about the murder and displacement of Israel in Gaza, something that the organizers of the march were asking for?

Barbera: We made an initial statement and then, in the pre-opening of the festival, the president of the Biennial made a very strong statement against the war in Gaza. There was a priest along with which he had denied entry to Israel in recent weeks and has supported Palestine a lot …

Deadline: Would you like to personally make a stronger statement?

Barbera: I would do it, but the biennial does not make political statements. That is why I don’t have until now.

Deadline: If I obtained another mandate as head of the Festival, what would you like to build?

Barbera: In these 14 years we have finished all the projects we had in mind in those early years: to improve infrastructure, organization, festival profile, relationships with the elderly, biennial school, immersive cinema, etc., took a long time. I would say that 90% of our plan has been achieved …

Deadline: So your work is done largely?

Barbera: [Laughs] No, the cinema changes very fast. Every year there are new things to think about. The new border is ai. This is something we have to face. It will be a deeper and more important revolution than the change from analogous to digital. This will change all the way of conceiving, writing, producing, directing and distributing films. We still don’t know what the real impact on cinema will be …

DEADLINE: You have achieved so much here. My only advice could be a stronger market, a a little stronger horizzonti (which is already good) and more bathrooms for projection rooms, there are always such long tails!

Barbera: [Laughs] We have built many bathrooms! It is difficult due to lack of space. It is much better than it was 15 years ago. It used to be a nightmare. In terms of the market, it is difficult to build and build. We are strengthening ourselves and the numbers are good. We have added an extra day.

Deadline: next year, Toronto will have a larger and better financed market than previous years …

Barbera: Yes I know. We will have to see …