20 Films from the 2020 Venice International Film Festival - Quick Recaps

Cate Blanchett, President of Jury - Image courtesy of La Biennale ASAC - Photo: Andre Avezzù

 

(Venice, Italy) Many people expressed concern about the dangers of attending a film festival during a pandemic. For me, it was worth taking a chance. I have worked with La Biennale di Venezia for more than two decades, and trust the institution to do everything in its power to maintain high standards. Cinema is such a crucial art form that it was imperative to demonstrate how a film festival could be held safely, with reasonable precautions, and still be entertaining, enlightening and enjoyable. That two-time Academy Award-winning actor Cate Blanchett was the President of the Jury gave it an extra kick. 

 

In case you missed it, I wrote about the experience in a separate post:

How does it Feel to Attend the Venice Film Festival during a Global Pandemic?

 

Here are some quick recaps of the films I saw in the order in which I saw them, what language they were in, and links to the reviews I agree with the most, which will give you a fuller description. Some of the films have since screened at TIFF, so I am also including some reviews from there. I was so starved to see movies in a theater that I became a little obsessed, and saw 20 films. 

What a full house at the Venice Film Festival looked like during the pandemic - Photo: Cat Bauer

 

1. MOLECOLE (Venetian Molecules) - Italian

Andrea Segre's masterful love letter to Venice and to his deceased Venetian father, filmed in the lagoon during quarantine. I gave it its own post: The Haunting Film “Venetian Molecules” (Molecole) shot in Venice during Quarantine pre-opens the Venice Film Festival. Review from Film Inquiry. Grade: A

2. LACCI (The Ties) - Italian

Lots of Italian critics liked this movie, which was the first Italian film to open the Venice Film Festival in 11 years, but I thought the leaps back and forth in time were confusing. The film was about a thoroughly dysfunctional marriage and the offspring it spawned. I couldn't keep track of who was who, especially when the characters aged and a completely new set of actors took over the roles. Review from Indie Wire. Grade: C-

3. MILA (Apples) - Greek

Apples is Christos Nikou's debut film set (coincidentally) during a pandemic where people are losing their memories and sent into a dystopian rehabilitation program. Nikou is an original, talented director and Apples is an impressive debut. Review from The Hollywood Reporter. Grade: A-

4. FINAL ACCOUNT - German

The late Luke Holland, who died in June just three months before Final Account premiered in Venice, interviewed elderly Germans from various walks of life who were alive during the Holocaust in yet another attempt to understand why human beings commit genocide. Review from Variety. Grade: B

5. THE DISCIPLE - Marathi, Hindi, English

Chaitanya Tamhane won the award for best screenplay, which, to me was puzzling. I was really looking forward to this film because I love classical Indian music, but I thought the movie was too long and repetitive, and needed a good dose of editing. Review from Screen Daily. Grade: C

6. THE DUKE - English (UK)

Based on a true story, The Duke is a very British film that will delight those who remember the escapade back in 1961, but did not click emotionally with this American. Review from Screen Daily: "The Duke pairs national treasures Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren in a by-the-Brit-playbook film about a well-meaning Newcastle cabbie who steals a Goya painting from the National Gallery in 1961 in a half-baked attempt to get free TV licenses for pensioners." Grade: B

Greta (I am Greta) - Official still

 

7. GRETA (I am Greta) - Swedish, English

I went to see Greta planning to leave early to catch a press conference, and ended up staying for the entire film. Like most of us, I am concerned about climate change, but was only aware of Greta Thunberg by the glimpses I caught of her on the news. The documentary changed my entire perception of her. She is articulate, intelligent, courageous and definitely her own person making her own decisions, writing her own speeches, and she is genuinely passionate about waking up humanity to the dangers of climate change.

However, to me, it was essential to understand how the documentary came into existence in the first place to put all the conspiracy theories to rest. Throughout the film, I kept wondering how the filmmaker Nathan Grossman just so happened to capture the sudden rise of Greta Thunberg onto the international scene. How did he get involved? He was there at the beginning when Greta was sitting outside Swedish parliament, mostly alone, holding a school strike, and followed her as the climate change movement exploded across the globe. He was there when she met world leaders and spoke before parliaments and the United Nations, and when she crossed the Atlantic Ocean by sailboat. Her father was by her side, but her mother was only briefly on screen, and her sister not at all. What were the family dynamics? The answers are not in the documentary.

To fill in the missing background, I had to do my own research. I recommend reading Nathan Grossman's interviews with Cineuropa and the Golden Globes to fill in some blanks. 

 

Greta's father, Svante Thunburg, is an actor. Her mother is the Swedish opera singer Malena Ernman, who wrote a book with the other members of the family entitled Our House Is on Fire: Scenes of a Family and a Planet in Crisis, which was excerpted by The Guardian that gives raw insight into the dynamics of Greta's family, and the emotional struggle they went through when Greta was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OSD) and selective mutism.

 

To me, it would have presented a more complete picture if some of this critical background had been included in the film. I am Greta will be in cinemas on October 16 and then stream on Hulu starting on November 13. Review from The Hollywood Reporter. Grade: B

8. PIECES OF A WOMAN - English (USA)

Vanessa Kirby won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for her performance in Pieces of a Woman. I had never seen her before, and thought she was brilliant, especially after also seeing her in The World to Come, which also premiered at the Venice Film Festival. But after the first thirty minutes of a home birth gone terribly wrong, which was riveting, the film lost my interest. Review from Slash Film. Grade: C

9. MISS MARX - English (UK)

Romola Garai stars as Carl Marx's youngest daughter, a female pioneer of socialism. The film isn't perfect, but it held my attention and I enjoyed the history. Susanna Nicchiarelli, whose critically acclaimed Nico, 1988 won Best Film in the Orrizonti section of the 2017 Venice Film Festival, directed. Review from Screen Daily. Grade: B

10. THE FURNACE - English (AUS) , Badimaya

Australian Roderick MacKay's engrossing debut feature is set in the Western Australia desert in the late 19th century when the British imported camel caravans and their drivers from Afghanistan, India and Persia to transport goods across the vast terrain, and where the Chinese also had set up shop. Different religions and languages collide with the indigenous people, as gold fever strikes. Review from Variety. Grade: B+

11. MAINSTREAM - English (USA)

Director Gia Coppola allowed Andrew Garfield, talented as he is, to have total freedom in her satire on social media. That was a mistake. Review from Indie Wire. Grade: D

Vanessa Kirby - Image courtesy La Biennale ASAC - Photo: Jacopo Salvi

12. THE WORLD TO COME - English (USA)

Katerine Waterston and Vanessa Kirby both give excellent performances in a story directed by Mona Fastvold of forbidden love set in Upstate New York in 1856, told through diary entries. It is quiet, intelligent and beautifully moving, and whisks Vanessa Kirby up to the stars. Review from Variety. Grade: A-

13. ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI - English (USA)

Regina King makes history as the first Black woman to direct a film selected by the Venice Film Festival in Kemp Powers' fictional account of an actual gathering in Miami with Cassius Clay, Malcom X, Jim Brown and Sam Cooke. I gave this film its own post: Black Power: “One Night in Miami” Moves the Needle Forward at the Venice Film Festival. Review from Variety. Grade: A

14. DOROGIE TOVARISCHI! (Dear Comrades) - Russian

The story of the real-life Novocherkassk massacre on June 2, 1962 when Soviet soldiers opened fire on workers who were protesting for better living conditions and lower food prices, shot in black and white. Review from Indie Wire. Grade: B

15. NOTTURNO - Arabic, Kurdish

Italian director Gianfranco Rosi's vision of the effect war torn Middle East has upon the civilian population. Powerful images, but no narrative. Review from The Wrap. Grade: B

16. SPY NO TSUMA (Wife of a Spy) - Japanese

Set in 1940 when Japan joined the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy, Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Wife of a Spy has many clever plot twists and plenty of intrigue that drive the story forward. Yu Aoi was terrific as the wife. One of my favorites. Kurosawa won the Silver Lion for Best Director. Take the time to read the review from Variety. Grade: A-

17. NOWHERE SPECIAL - English (IRL)

Set in Northern Ireland, a single father (James Norton) is dying and must find a new home for his four-year-old son (Daniel Lamont). There is genuine chemistry between the two leads as they interview potential families. Umberto Pisolini created the film based on a true story he read in the newspaper. You will cry. Review from The Upcoming. Grade: A

18. NOMADLAND - English (USA)

Winner of this year's Golden Lion, the Venice Film Festival's top prize, Chloè Zhao's Nomadland takes us into the real lives of nomadic Americans who live out of vans and RVs and work gig jobs. The always amazing Frances McDormand is surrounded by non-actors who play versions of themselves. Review from Polygon. Grade: A-

19. CRAZY, NOT INSANE - English (USA)

Alex Gibney's documentary features Dorothy Lewis, a forensic psychiatrist, whose radical views about what makes serial killers tick brought her fame as a defense witness. Her most famous case was Ted Bundy, whom Gibney saves for the end. Review from Variety. Grade: B-

 

20. LASCIAMI ANDARE (You Came Back) - Italian

 

The closing film of The Venice Film Festival was on location in Venice when exceptional high water hit last November and December. The weather was cleverly incorporated into the film, which gave it an added dimension. It's hard enough to film in Venice under "normal" conditions, let alone when the city is flooded. The movie reminded me of Nicholas Roeg's Don't Look Now. I featured it in a separate post: Venice Film Festival Closes with the Eerie "Lasciami Andare" (You Came Back) - Filmed during the Venice 2019 Floods. Grade: B

New Talent: Greek director Christos Nikou - "Mila" (Apples) - Photo: C. Nikou

This year's film festival was not about escapism and sheer entertainment, but was quieter and more thoughtful -- perfect for going to the movies during a pandemic when we are all feeling a bit more retrospective and bewildered. The magical experience of viewing a film with fellow human beings invokes a precious camaraderie -- there is nothing else like it. The void left by the absence of Hollywood films was filled with distinct voices that might otherwise have been overlooked. I learned a lot, and am grateful to have had the opportunity to attend La Biennale di Venezia's 77th Mostra internazionale d'arte cinematografica. See you at the movies!

 

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog 

Venice Film Festival Closes with the Eerie "Lasciami Andare" (You Came Back) - Filmed during the Venice 2019 Floods

Image Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures - Photo: Andrea Pirrello

(Venice, Italy) The closing film of the 77th Venice International Film Festival was Lasciami Andare (You Came Back), which was filming on location in Venice last November and December when the city was hit by the devastating November 12th flood, followed by endless periods of acqua alta, or high water. Production continued on the movie, and the weather was skillfully incorporated into the film. Venice and all her mysteries add an intriguing element to a movie that questions if there is life after death.  

The movie starts with the sound of the siren that alerts Venetians that acqua alta is approaching. Everyone who lives in Venice understands the dread you feel when the air is filled with the blast of the air raid siren. Then, one by one, the wailing tones go up, up, up, depending on the level of the water. The fourth tone, rarely heard, is ominous, and warns residents to prepare for the worst. By using the high water siren to start the film, director Stefano Mordini invokes an eerie backdrop for a movie that confronts the supernatural.

Here is a YouTube clip from La Repubblica -- from real life in Venice, not from the movie -- so you can hear the haunting siren for yourselves:


The movie reminded me of Nicholas Roeg's Don't Look Now -- both films are about the loss of a child and supernatural contacts, and both are set in Venice. However, Lasciami Andare is a more internal story about grief and guilt and a man torn between two women -- his former wife, the mother of his dead child, and his new, pregnant lover -- than a thriller. 

I saw the Saturday afternoon screening at the film festival, and thought it was compelling. I posted on social media alerting everyone to see the film that evening, as it was playing all over town. To my surprise, someone in the States replied on Twitter that the film was based on the book You Came Back written by Christopher Coake, who was a friend of hers. I was amazed that the book was actually set in the American Midwest. Venice is so much an element of the film that it seemed it had been written just for the city.

Next, up popped Christopher Coake himself, who tweeted that he had not yet seen the film. He and his wife were supposed to be at the opening on Saturday night during the Venice Film Festival but could not travel due to the pandemic. But he did say that he had watched Don't Look Now for the first time while writing the novel.

Stefano Mordini's Director's Statement:

There are houses in Venice where the sun enters through the cracks, capturing the image of what it encounters and reflecting it on the walls. The process is like the camera obscura. Marco and Clara lived in a house like this and it is in the image of a canal, with wooden boats and the odd gondola passing by, that something more than a simple landscape is reflected. Looking more closely, in the beams of light you can see something else. And that is where the camera starts in its search for young Leo, to help him leave.

Lasciami Andare, which translates to "Let Me Go" not "You Came Back," opens in theaters in Italy on October 8. Let's hope it becomes available on streaming with English subtitles for all the Venice lovers out there. I can't find an English-language review, but just that it is set in Venice makes it worth watching (I'm biased). Go to La Biennale for the synopsis and details.

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat Bauer 

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

How does it Feel to Attend the Venice Film Festival during a Global Pandemic?

The Red Carpet behind the wall - Photo: Cat Bauer

(Venice, Italy) How does it feel to attend the Venice Film Festival during a global pandemic? Mostly serene. Less frenetic. More European. There is a new system in place where every person with accreditation must make a reservation for every screening and every press conference, which is a good thing. In past years, it had become more like a competition to get in the door to the buzzy films, and attendees were sometimes forced to queue long in advance. Now we know we have a seat, just like regular members of the audience — it saves a lot of time. We can be found by matching our seat number to our accreditation badge in case of a coronavirus outbreak, and they can easily identify everyone who is seated in the same vicinity. 

Our temperature is taken when we enter the grounds of the film festival, and when we enter a screening. The police are being extremely vigilant about checking our tote bags. Every other seat in the theater is left empty, so the audience is cut in half. To work in the press room, our pass codes and time we enter is recorded by hand, and we are given a handwritten number so that we can be easily located. There are no computers to share, which is inconvenient but understandable; we must bring our own. When we leave the press room we turn in the number so the time we leave can be recorded, and the place where we sat is sanitized. Masks must be worn everywhere at all times, and it is strictly enforced.

New electric scooters on the Lido

To me, the Sala Grande —normally 1031 seats, now cut to 518 seats — and the Sala Darsena —normally 1401 seats, now cut to 699 seats — are two of the most pleasant cinemas in which to screen a film, though the much smaller audience feels a bit surreal. I miss the energy of all the journalists gossiping and reacting to what we see on screen. There were 12,000 accredited visitors last year. This year there are only 5,000. When it comes to the public, last year 80,000 tickets were sold versus 20,000 this year. But still, just being able to live through movies on a big screen with fellow human beings, with shared emotions, is a moving experience for which there is no substitute.

The frenzy of the arrival of the stars on the Red Carpet is almost non-existent. The barrier separating the people on the street from the Red Carpet has been heightened so you can’t see over it — it used to be that stars could just reach across the barrier and thrill their fans with a personal touch. Now in order to see anything you have to watch the video screen. Gone are all the autograph and selfie seekers that would camp out for hours in the hope of seeing their favorite stars. I miss all the glitz and glamour, and the crowds of onlookers. Last year I interviewed three girls who had been coming to the Red Carpet for years in a post called Waiting for the Stars.  They had first encountered each other outside the barrier to the Red Carpet, had bonded, and since then had held a yearly reunion, becoming Red Carpet pros with clever tricks and maneuvers. I wonder where they are this year...

Lexus all-electric car - Photo: Cat Bauer

Since I‘ve spent a good chunk of my life in Hollywood, most of all I miss the American movies. I am a diehard fan of Hollywood magic; I love the structure, and normally focus on seeing movies from the United States. But in the absence of American films, I have been able to see films from all over the world that I normally would not have the time to see, so I get to travel to faraway lands without leaving my seat. 

There are lots of positive new innovations on the Lido. The busses to take us to the festival are all electric and nearly silent, without that ancient fossil fuel energy belching out the rumble of dinosaurs. All the Lexus cars, an official sponsor of the Venice Film Festival, are fully electric. There are new orange bicycles for rent, as well as electric scooters. La Biennale di Venezia tote bags are khaki green, created by Tucano in Milan, and made entirely of recycled plastic bottles, which are transformed into thread. It feels just like cloth.

Winged Lion of Venice wood sculpture by Marco Martalar - Photo: Cat Bauer

There is a new guardian lion in the gardens of the film festival. The wooden Lion of San Marco sculpture, Il Leone Alato e gli Alberi d'Oro di Vaia, was created by Marco Martalar, and composed of more than 1500 pieces of branches and roots broken by the fury of the wind during an unprecedented storm in the Veneto on October 28, 2018 named "Vaia." The artist began the sculpture in October 2019, and finished it in March 2020, transforming the broken trees into a majestic lion, a symbol of strength and hope. It is the largest winged wooden lion in the world.

At the moment I write this, there has not been a single COVID-19 coronavirus case at the 77th Venice International Film Festival. I feel grateful and privileged to be able to attend it in this challenging year. That La Biennale di Venezia took the courageous step of safely restarting the World of Cinema during a global health crisis is something to applaud.

Ciao from the Venice Film Festival,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Black Power: “One Night in Miami” Moves the Needle Forward at the Venice Film Festival

One Night in Miami

(Venice, Italy) One night in Miami, on February 25, 1964, the brash 22-year-old Cassius Clay defeated the World Heavyweight Champion, Sonny Liston. Years later, playwright and screenwriter Kemp Powers would stumble upon a paragraph in Redemption Song - Muhammad Ali and the Spirit of the Sixties, a book by Mike Marqusee about the intersection of sports and politics. One paragraph mentioned how four Black icons had gathered in a hotel room after the fight: Cassius Clay, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Joe Lewis. The four luminaries were friends, and Powers imagined that they had come to support Clay in a fight no one thought he would win.

During the ZOOM press conference, Powers said that he was fascinated by that paragraph because if you had asked him who were the four most inspirational men in his entire life, randomly he would have named those four men. At the time he read the paragraph, he was still a journalist and was planning to write a book about the friendship between the four men. "The subject that I had been researching for many years with the intention of writing as a book, suddenly became ripe for writing this piece of fiction." So he wrote it as a stage play, and then adapted his play into a screenplay.

Regina King is making history as the first Black woman to direct a film selected by the Venice Film Festival. King was asked what it meant to show the film at this pivotal moment in time -- a story set nearly sixty years in the past, but with a theme that is relevant to Black society in America today. King said that the story that was happening for Black Americans sixty years ago is the same story that is happening now. "When we started filming it, did we know we would be in this powder keg moment that we're in right now? Absolutely not. But the conversations were relevant when Kemp wrote the script, when we started filming, and it feels kind of like one of those things where it was meant to be, even though our intention wasn't that it would happen during the time when an uprising, if you will, was going on in our country... Maybe we're lucky and we are going to have the opportunity to be a piece of art out there that moves the needle in the conversation for real transformative change."

One Night in Miami ZOOM press conference - Photo: Cat Bauer

As an American living overseas, it was deeply disturbing to watch as George Floyd was murdered by Derek Chauvin in front of the eyes of the world. The United States exploded just as Italy was gently emerging from the global pandemic. The dichotomy was extreme. So to see a film like One Night in Miami, and watch articulate, intelligent Black men delve deep into the question of race was reassuring, thought-provoking and inspiring. The film is a real opportunity to have an informed debate.

The actor Eli Goree, who plays Cassius Clay, said something that really struck a chord. In the film (as he did in real life) Cassius Clay boasts about how beautiful he is. Goree's mother had seen the movie for the first time the night before. It was the first time she had ever cried when seeing a film that her son was in. Goree's mother had grown up in the 60s, and she was reminded how Cassius Clay was the first Black person who had ever said that he was beautiful. "It affected everything after that. Because other Black people said, well, he's beautiful? Then I must be okay."

All the actors give distinct, powerful performances: Kinglsey Ben-Adir as Malcolm X; ldis Hodge as football superstar Jim Brown; Leslie Odom Jr. as music legend Sam Cooke, and Eli Goree as Cassius Clay the moment he transforms into Muhammad Ali. Read the Variety review by Owen Gleiberman, which eloquently sums up the film:

"Where the film comes together, and holds you as a structured piece of drama, is in the theme that surges throughout it but is given a name only at the end: “Black power.” In 1964, that phrase was just coming into its own, and “One Night in Miami” is set at the paradigm shift of a moment when Black power was a consciousness that emerged, in part, from how figures like these four were rising in the culture, becoming influential stars in it, challenging it and changing it and maybe, in the process, revolutionizing it. Revolution was in the air, yet only Malcolm X had named it that. “One Night in Miami” is a casually entrancing debate about power on the part of those who have won it but are still figuring out what to do with it."

One Night in Miami has been picked up by Amazon Studios, and will be released later this year. Let's hope this time the needle takes a giant leap forward.

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

The Haunting Film “Venetian Molecules” (Molecole) shot in Venice during Quarantine pre-opens the Venice Film Festival

Molecole - Photo courtesy ASAC

(Venice, Italy) Filmmaker Andrea Segre has had a complicated relationship with Venice, his father’s hometown, as well as a complicated relationship with his deceased father, Ulderico, who was born in 1946. Andrea, who lives in Rome, had come to Venice on February 20, 2020 to work on two projects for cinema and theater about the banes of Venice — over-tourism and high water. 

Then the global pandemic struck, and Andrea was quarantined here in Venice. The film took a completely different direction.

Andrea weaves home movies and photographs of his father’s boyhood in Venice — material that the director did not know existed until after Ulderico’s death — with his own masterful images and thoughts, capturing the essence of Venice during the lockdown. He digs deep inside himself to find some type of resolution to an unanswered letter he had written to his father, as he speaks to Venetians about how life is lived inside the lagoon. The film is a poignant love letter both to Venice and to Ulderico, and illustrates the impact that living inside a singular city like Venice has upon one’s soul. It touched my heart. 

Andrea Segre’s Director’s Statement says it best:

“To make a film you have to think about it, write it, organise it, shoot it. This wasn’t the case for Molecole. I experienced it and it came out by itself, in a time and dimension I couldn’t foresee. Molecole just gushed out. Like water. Like the molecules, the material we are all made of but can’t see. 

My father was Venetian and was a physicist-chemist. He studied molecule movements, the small elements of the material we can’t see but that determines the evolution of our lives. Often unexpectedly. 

Like the virus that blocked the world and showed me a solitary, magical Venice where I was able to encounter my father and understand what this fragile, powerful city can teach us.“

Molecole opens in theaters in Italy today, September 3, 2020. When international distribution is available, I will let you know. Not only a film for those who love Venice, Molecole captures in real time the surreal world created by a global pandemic, and the disorienting emotions and periods of retrospection that impacted all of us. I thought it was brilliant.

Ciao from the Venice Film Festival,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

The Disquieted Muses Grapple with the World - When La Biennale di Venezia Meets History

Freedom for Chile (1973) at Le Muse Disquiete - Photo: Cat Bauer

(Venice, Italy) When La Biennale was forced to postpone the International Architecture Exhibition due to the current health crisis, it got creative and dug into its Historical Archives for Contemporary Arts (ASAC) to mark the 125 years that it has been in existence. 

For the first time, all the artistic directors of La Biennale's six different departments -- Art, Architecture, Cinema, Music, Dance and Theater -- have come together to curate Le Muse Inquiete, an enlightening exhibition illustrating how history has crossed paths with the dynamic cultural institution.

Back in the 1890s, the original idea to hold an international art festival in Venice was the brainchild of Riccardo Selvatico, a playwright, poet, and mayor of Venice, who, together with his circle of intellectuals, would meet in Caffé Florian in Piazza San Marco to organize their plans. 

La Biennale's first International Art Exhibition of the City of Venice opened on April 22, 1895 in a purposely-built pavilion in the sprawling gardens of Venice's Giardini sector. Belgium built the first national pavilion in 1907, soon joined by Hungary, Germany, Great Britain, France and Russia, creating individual art embassies where each country could spotlight their talent. 

Aside from interruptions by two world wars (and now the COVID-19 pandemic), La Biennale has taken place ever since, growing into one of the most important global cultural events.

The Disquieted Muses - Photo: Cat Bauer

The Disquieted Muses grabs us from the moment we enter the Central Pavilion. We come face to face with clips from June 14, 1934 of Adolf Hitler landing at the airport on the Lido in Venice and disembarking from a Lufthansa plane where he was greeted by Benito Mussolini. The two dictators hop into a boat taxi along with Giuseppe Volpi, the powerful businessman and president of La Biennale -- who created the Venice Film Festival -- and Antonio Maraini, the secretary general of La Biennale and Florentine sculptor who had a "dazzling career of absolute dominance over artistic life during Fascism."

We weave our way through rooms documenting La Biennale's transformation from a local public institution that organized international art exhibitions into an organization controlled by the Fascists, who viewed the arts as a political propaganda tool. From 1934 to 1938, La Biennale was visited by  Mussolini, Hitler, Joseph Goebbels and the king of Italy, "demonstrating its importance as a stage for new Italian alliances with the world."

In May 1940, war raged in Europe but La Biennale still opened its doors, now totally under Fascist control, with artists chosen by direct invitation or through competitions based on Fascist themes. The Palazzo del Cinema on the Lido had been requisitioned by the armed forces, so the 8th Venice International Film Festival was held in the historic center of Venice at the San Marco and Rossini cinemas, and only Axis allies or neutral countries were allowed to take part.

Military Requisition for Property - Photo: Cat Bauer

Italy was at war in 1942 and La Biennale did not have the staff or resources to open, but geared back up in 1946 after the war. One of the most interesting documents on display is the MILITARY REQUISITION FOR PROPERTY dated May 1, 1947 notifying the Comune di Venezia that elements of the United States of America were temporarily occupying the Palazzo del Cinema.

Model of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection - Photo: Cat Bauer

Peggy Guggenheim brought her collection -- which included Jackson Pollack -- to Venice in 1948, the same year of the first solo exhibition by 67-year-old Pablo Picasso, who had never exhibited at La Biennale before. A small model of the Greek pavilion where Peggy exhibited her collection is an amazing reproduction of the show with the tiny works of art all in their places.

We journey through the Cold War and the 1950s when Bertolt Brecht was invited to stage Mother Courage and Her Children, but was refused a visa by the Italian government. In 1954, mayhem broke out at the award ceremony in the Sala Grande when Federico Fellini's La Strada won the Silver Lion and Luchino Visconti's Senso was totally ignored. "Visconti's assistant Franco Zeffirelli got in a physical fight with Fellini's assistant Moraldo Rossi, and the police had to intervene to separate them, while La Strada's producer Dino De Laurentiis engaged in a shouting match with Visconti supporters."

In the 1960s Abstract Expressionism arrived on the scene from the United States, bringing an American contingent of Pop artists like Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns to La Biennale. Robert Rauschenberg's controversial 1964 win of the coveted Golden Lion, La Biennale's top prize, created an uproar in the art world.

That is just a small taste of the overwhelming history lesson that awaits you at the Central Pavilion down at Giardini. The titles of the rooms illustrate more of what's in store:

ROOM 1
The Film Festival, 1932-1939

Room 2A
The Biennale during Fascism 1928-1945

Room 2B
The Cold War and the New World Order 1947-1964

Room 3
1968: a year of protests and new ideals

ROOM 4
The 1970s: interdisciplinary and political work

ROOM 5
Freedom for Chile, 1974

ROOM 6
Sofija Guvajdulina, applied music and absolute music

ROOM 7
The Biennale of Dissent, 1977

ROOM 8
The First International Architecture Exhibition and Postmodernism, 1980

ROOM 9
La Biennale and the Society of the spectacle

GIARDINO SCARPA
Tan Dun, traditional music and technology

ROOM 12
The 1990s: from Nation-States to a Global Biennale

ROOM 13
Central Pavilion since 1895

It was fascinating to discover the extent that international events and politics actually play out in the world of art, and the tense equilibrium artists create when they react to the world around them with powerful creative expression. We can only imagine what the current state of affairs will inspire in future Disquieted Muses.

Le Muse Inquiete - When La Biennale Meets History is at the Central Pavilion in Giardini until December 8, 2020. Go to La Biennale di Venezia for more information.

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Mysteries of the Month of August & the Divine Feminine - The Sacred Meets the Profane During the "Easter of Summer" - Thoughts on Ferragosto from a Scalding Venice

The Sun - Photo: NASA

UPDATED August 2026

(Venice, Italy) In 18 BC, Augustus, the first emperor of the Roman Empire, created the Feriae Augusti, the Festivals of Augustus. Many sources say he consolidated several pre-existing Roman festivals in August to give his people a longer period of time off after their hard work during the harvests. 

Others say the future emperor created the festivals when he was called Octavian to celebrate his conquest of Egypt and victory over Mark Antony, who committed suicide on August 1, 30 BC.

But long before that, stretching back to 600 BC, the peak of summertime we now call the Ides of August -- Ferragosto -- celebrated divine female energy. In Italy, honoring August isn't just a tradition; it is woven into the very soul of the country. Let’s go back in time…

JULIUS CAESAR, THE FATHER OF AUGUSTUS, WAS THE FIRST ROMAN TO BECOME A GOD

How does a man become a god?

Julius Caesar, along with Pompey the Great and Marcus Crassus, was one-third of the First Triumvirate, a secret, unofficial Roman political alliance formed in 60 BC that would deteriorate over time under the weight of each man's cunning ambition.

By January 49 BC, General Julius Caesar was the governor of Cisalpine Gaul, a province in the north of the Roman Republic. (If Venice had existed at that time, it would have been part of Gaul.) Caesar had many reasons for wanting to leave Rome. He had taken this northern governorship to win military glory, pay off massive debts, and maintain legal immunity from his political rivals. 

While Caesar was becoming rich and famous by conquering territory up north, his secret alliance collapsed. Marcus Crassus died in battle, and an envious Pompey the Great turned against Caesar, teaming up with the Roman Senate. Fearing Caesar's growing power, the Senate ordered him to disband his army and return to Rome as a private citizen. 

First you cross the Rubicon

Knowing he would face immediate arrest if he complied, Caesar chose defiance. The Rubicon was a shallow river that was the border between Gaul and the Roman homeland. Caesar knew that by crossing the Rubicon into the core of the sacred homeland with an army, he would start a civil war, famously uttering, "The die is cast."

I was surprised to learn that the Rubicon is not far from Venice, just 28 minutes outside Rimini.

The Rubicon - 28 minutes from Rimini - Google Maps

At one point, Gaul stretched from France, Germany, Switzerland, and beyond, across Northern Italy to the Adriatic Sea.

A "history buff" named Dixit on Quora does an excellent job answering the question:

Why did Julius Caesar cross the Rubicon as it is on the eastern edge of Italy when he came from Gaul towards Rome? 

The Rubicon - Dixit on Quora

"You can see that the Northern part of Italy, now called the ‘Po Valley', is North of the Rubicon and is labelled ‘Gaul', more correctly the ‘Province of Cisalpine Gaul'.

The Rubicon is outlined in blue on the above map, and you can see that it ends (or rather begins), in the Apennine mountains (which is that rougher terrain on the left side of the Rubicon).

In Roman times, the Rubicon marked the border between Italy, and Cisalpine Gaul, which was administered separately." Keep reading

To make a long, complex story very short, Caesar crossed the Rubicon on the night of January 10 or 11, 49 BC. He defeated Pompey in 48 BC at the Battle of Pharsalus, and vowed to build the Temple of Venus Genetrix, Venice the Mother, honoring the goddess as his family's divine ancestress.

Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was assassinated. Caesar was back in Rome as dictator by July 25, 46 BC. He would go on to reorganize time itself and create the Julian Calendar, but first had some unfinished business to attend to. 

Julius Caesar finally defeated the last of the rebel forces at the Battle of Munda in Spain during the Great Roman Civil War on March 17, 45 BC.

The official news of his victory reached the Senate in Rome on the evening of April 20, 45 BC, the day before Rome's birthday. The ancient games commemorating the founding of Rome in 753 BC, seven centuries earlier, were already scheduled to be held the next day -- chariot races, gladiator fights, and other spectaculars. After Caesar's victory, his propaganda team quickly re-dedicated the celebrations to Caesar, as if he were the founder of Rome itself.

After years of turmoil and civil unrest, the people of Rome were ready to move on. Caesar was given a house built like a temple on the sacred Palatine Hill. He was the first living man to have his portrait put on coins.

The Aphrodite of Fréjus (Musée du Louvre)
Roman marble copy representing Venus Genetrix statue
commissioned by Julius Caesar in 46 BCE

By early 44 BC, the groundwork for Caesar's celestial ascent had been laid. His family had long claimed to be descended from the goddess Venus. Fulfilling his earlier battlefield vow from the fight against Pompey, he had built a magnificent temple dedicated to Venus Genetrix. He was the Pontifex Maximus, the chief high priest in the ancient Roman religion. If he became a living god, his name would be Divus Julius -- if and when ratified by the Senate.

Caesar’s enemies -- along with some of his most trusted friends -- put a stop to his divine ambitions when they assassinated him on the Ides of March 44 BC.

Or so they thought. 

Future emperor Augustus comes on the scene

Augustus was born Gaius Octavius on September 23, 63 BC. He was the grandnephew of Julius Caesar. In his will, Julius Caesar had named Octavius as his adopted son and sole heir. When Julius Caesar was murdered, the 18-year-old Gaius Octavius claimed his legal inheritance and became Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian, instantly becoming one of the wealthiest and most powerful citizens in the Republic of Rome.

I was curious as to why Julius Caesar chose the young teenager, Octavian, over Mark Antony, who had been expected to be the heir, and did some research.

When Octavian was four years old, his father died. His mother, Atia, remarried, and the boy was sent to live with his grandmother, Julia Minor, Julius Caesar's beloved sister, who raised him. Through his grandmother and mother, Octavian shared Caesar's sacred bloodline, the direct descent from the goddess Venus Genetrix. 

When Julia died, the 12-year-old Octavian stood before Rome and delivered an eloquent, moving eulogy for his grandmother. Word reached Caesar in Gaul, who was impressed by the young boy's poise and oratorical skill. While Mark Antony was a formidable general, he did not share this divine bloodline. Through the women who raised him, Octavian carried the living lineage of Venus Genetrix, the Divine Mother -- a connection that set him apart in Caesar's eyes as his rightful heir. 

Julius Caesar becomes a god

In July 44 BC, four months after Julius Caesar's assassination, Octavian held funeral games in honor of his adopted father, incorporating the games into the celebration of the goddess Venus -- games that Caesar had established two years earlier that ran from July 20th to July 28th (a lovely time for summer festivities since my own birthday is July 27th:-). 

Astonishingly, a bright comet appeared in the skies during the games -- a comet that has since been verified by historical records. 

Comets are hard to ignore

All of Rome witnessed the comet, which was visible for seven straight days. Julius Caesar had just been assassinated. The games celebrated the goddess Venus. Octavian proclaimed the obvious -- that Julius Caesar had become a god and had joined his ancestor, Venus, in heaven. 

Julius Caesar was deified as Divus Julius in 42 BC and was worshipped as a god by the masses. Octavian took the comet as a sign of his own rebirth and the dawning of a New Age. Octavian had become Divi Filius, the son of the divine. (Remember, all this was going on before Jesus Christ came on the scene.)

Head of Church + State = Emperor 

After nearly two decades of conquering and destroying his strongest enemies -- including Mark Antony and Cleopatra -- and expanding Rome's reach, Octavian received the title "Augustus" from the Roman Senate on January 16, 27 BC, transforming the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire with Augustus as its first emperor.

A denarius minted c. 18 BC. Obverse: CAESAR AVGVSTVS; reverse: comet of eight rays with tail upward; DIVVS IVLIV[S] (DIVINE JULIUS) - Image: Classical Numismatic Group, Inc

THE MONTH OF AUGUST

Prior to Emperor Augustus, the month of August was called Sextilis because it was the sixth month in the ten-month Roman calendar. It became the eighth month around 700 BC when January and February were added to the calendar, but was still called Sextilis. 

 

To this day, we still use the wrong numbers for the last four months of the year -- September is not the seventh month, but the ninth, yet we do not call it "November" after the Latin word novem for "nine."

• September = septem = seven - but is the ninth month
  

• October = octo = eight - but is the 10th month
  

• November = novem = nine - but is the 11th month
  

• December = decem = ten - but is the 12th month
  

Before Julius Caesar came along, the Roman calendar was often manipulated for political purposes. Julius Caesar reformed the calendar on January 1, 45 BC, aligning it with the Sun. But Caesar didn't name July after himself; he was assassinated before he could. It was Mark Antony who pushed a law through the Senate later in 44 BC to rename Caesar's birth month of Quintilis to "Iulius," or July, in his honor, making his birthday July 12, 100 BC. 

After Augustus came to power, in 8 BC he renamed Sextilis "Augustus," a month dear to his heart, but not because it was the month he was born -- remember, he was born on September 23, 63 BC. Ironically, Caesar Augustus would die on August 19, AD 14, in the month he created, at the age of 75.

From Wikipedia:

Whereas the emperor Augustus Caesar, in the month of Sextilis, was first admitted to the consulate, and thrice entered the city in triumph, and in the same month the legions, from the Janiculum, placed themselves under his auspices, and in the same month Egypt was brought under the authority of the Roman people, and in the same month an end was put to the civil wars; and whereas for these reasons the said month is, and has been, most fortunate to this empire, it is hereby decreed by the senate that the said month shall be called Augustus.

Roman fresco of goddess Diana hunting, 4th century AD,
from the Via Livenza hypogeum in Rome

THE VIRGIN MOON GODDESS DIANA

Centuries before Augustus swept onto the stage, Romans had already been celebrating the Nemoralia on the Ides of what would become August. The Nemoralia was a three-day festival in honor of the virgin goddess, Diana. 

Diana was a complicated deity -- a triple goddess of the Moon, the hunt, and the underworld -- as well as wild animals, virginity, fertility, and childbirth. She was often depicted with a bow and arrow.

Worshippers carried blazing torches and candles in a night procession to the shores of Lake Nemi, a volcanic lake just south of Rome in the city of Aricia. They adorned hunting dogs with garlands of flowers. It was a day of rest for women and slaves, to whom Diana offered protection. 

The Romans co-opted the twelve Olympian Greek gods and changed their names, but the gods retained much of their essential nature. The Romans conflated the virgin goddess Diana with the virgin Greek goddess Artemis, whose worship stretched back to pre-Hellenic times. Both Diana and Artemis were the daughters of the primary Olympian god, Zeus in Greek mythology, and Jupiter in Roman mythology.

By the time the Romans had conquered the Latin people of Aricia in 338 BC, Diana Nemorensis (Diana of the Wood) had been worshipped in the sacred grove of the Arician forest since very ancient times. The Grove of Diana was a healing sanctuary that would grow into a small city with Hellenized architecture and an international clientele. 

The moon goddess Diana was revered by Augustus, who had ties to Aricia on the maternal side of his family.

Virgin and Child on the Crescent Moon with a Diadem by
Albrecht Dürer (1514) Rijksmusem

THE VIRGIN MARY

Meanwhile, around 4 BC, Jesus Christ was born to a Jewish virgin named Mary in Bethlehem, a city located on the West Bank in Palestine in the Roman province of Judea, six miles south of Jerusalem. With her husband, Joseph, she had traveled from Nazareth -- 90 miles away -- supposedly in order to register in the census ordered by Emperor Augustus (which, in reality, did not take place until AD 6).

The Archangel Gabriel had appeared to Mary and told her she would be the mother of the Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, chosen above all women on earth for her goodness and purity, fulfilling the prophecy in the Old Testament of the promised Messiah.

At the time of the birth of Jesus, Herod the Great was the King of Judea, a title bestowed upon him by the Roman Senate, with whom he had close relations. Herod died in 4 BC, and his kingdom was divided among three of his sons and his sister. Under Augustus in AD 6, Judea was turned into a Roman province, and the general population was taxed. The Roman prefect was granted the power of a supreme judge and had the authority to order a criminal's execution.

After Augustus died in AD 14, his stepson, Tiberius, was named emperor. Pontius Pilate was the Roman prefect of Judea when Jesus Christ flipped Judaism on its head and challenged the pagan gods. With words as his only weapon, Jesus was a charismatic leader who could draw a crowd. 

He claimed God was his father. He rode a donkey into Jerusalem on Passover, surrounded by adoring masses. He went into the Temple, tossed over tables and drove out the merchants, accusing them of turning his Father's house into a den of thieves. He was a threat to the Jewish leadership, and an annoyance to Rome.

Around AD 30 or 33, Pontius Pilate condemned Jesus Christ to death, reportedly for claiming to be the Son of God and the King of the Jews. Jesus was crucified on a cross on a Friday and placed in a tomb, his mother Mary and others at the scene.

On Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and found it empty. Jesus then appeared to Mary Magdalene and his disciples before he ascended body and soul into heaven forty days later. Rome and the Jewish leadership had severely underestimated the power of Jesus Christ.

Christ Pantocrator in the Basilica of San Marco, Venice
Photo: Cat Bauer

CHRISTIANITY  vs. THE ROMANS

As the centuries passed, it became clear that Jesus Christ had founded an entirely new religion: Christianity, with devout worshippers willing to die for their faith. The highest of Christianity's holy days is Easter or Pascha, a movable feast tied to the Moon that celebrates Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead.

There is a difference between the way the date is calculated between the Western Roman Catholic Church, which uses the Gregorian calendar, and the Eastern Orthodox Church, which still uses the Julian calendar.

For its first 300 years, Christianity was viewed by Rome as an illegal religion, and most Roman citizens, who were pagans, sought to repress it. Initially, persecution of Christians was carried out on a local level, instigated by pagan mobs. Christians were forced to renounce their religion and sacrifice to the Roman gods upon fear of death. One particularly gruesome form of capital punishment was damnatio ad bestias, condemnation to beasts, a blood sport reserved for the worst criminals and Christians.

In AD 68, Mark the Evangelist, Venice's own patron saint and the founder of the Church of Alexandria, was killed by a pagan mob when they put a rope around his neck and dragged him through the streets until he died.

The local persecutions escalated until in 303 AD, during the Great Persecution, the Roman state ordered the destruction of churches, the seizure of Christian property and the burning of Christian texts. Christians were tortured and burned alive or mutilated and forced to work in the copper mines in Egypt.

EMPEROR CONSTANTINE CONVERTS TO CHRISTIANITY

Constantine the Great put an end to the persecution of Christians in AD 313, together with his eastern counterpart, Licinius, with the Edict of Milan, granting the freedom for each individual to worship as he pleased. 

Constantine was a pagan who converted to Christianity in AD 312. He decreed that Sunday, sacred to the official Roman Sun god, Sol Invictus, would be a day of rest. He reunited the Roman Empire under one emperor and moved the capital to the Greek city of Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople, founded in AD 324. He built churches, ordered up Bibles, and promoted Christians to high-ranking offices. Constantine was baptized on his deathbed on May 22, AD 337.

Christianity became the official state religion of the Roman Empire with the Edict of Thessalonica on February 27, AD 380. Similar to how Rome absorbed the Greek gods, it changed the images and feast days of the pagan gods to represent the Christian religion.

Church of Santa Maria Assunta, Torcello, Venice - Photo: Cat Bauer

THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY & THE EASTER OF SUMMER

There is no mention of how the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, died, and it has been a topic of discussion throughout the ages, including whether to call her the Theotokos, the Mother of God, the Christotokos, the Mother of Christ, or even the contentious role of Co-Redemptrix, a concept suggesting that Mary actively co-operated in the saving of humanity by offering her own maternal suffering at the foot of the cross.

For centuries, it was debated whether:

• she died a natural death
• Christ transported her soul to heaven, and on the third day her body was resurrected
• she was still alive at the time of the Assumption

The Virgin Mary's ascent into heaven is called the Dormition in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Assumption in the Roman Catholic Church. It is the same celebration with different interpretations. 

The earliest records about the celebration of the Virgin Mary are lost to history, but reference was made to a feast day as far back as the 3rd century. Then, in AD 431, during the time of the Council of Ephesus, it was decided that the Virgin Mary was to be called the Theotokos, "the one who gave birth to God." 

The Byzantine emperor Maurice (539-602) selected August 15th as the feast of the Dormition, the passing of the Virgin Mary from earthly life.

The Easter of Summer

The Greek Orthodox Church celebrates the Dormition of the Theotokos on August 15, and calls it the "Easter of Summer." It is preceded by a two-week fast, broken by a traditional feast with family and friends. 

The Orthodox Church teaches that Mary died a natural death at the house of John the Evangelist in Jerusalem, surrounded by the Apostles except for Thomas. The Apostles buried her in the garden of Gethsemane. When Thomas arrived three days later, he visited her tomb and found it empty. So, the Orthodox Church believes that Mary died on earth, Christ took her soul to heaven, and then her body was assumed.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Papal State institutionalized the Feast of the Assumption as a Catholic holiday on August 15th and moved the pagan Ferragosto festival so it would coincide with the religious festival of the Virgin Mary.

FASCISTS HOP ON THE FESTIVAL

During Fascism in the late 1920s and 30s, the regime organized discounted train trips so that working classes in Italy could have an opportunity to relax and visit the sea or the mountains on August 13, 14, and 15, establishing a tradition of traveling to different regions that continues to this day.

In the Roman Catholic Church, it was not until 1950 that Pope Pius XII made the Assumption of the Virgin Mary part of Church dogma, declaring "that the immaculate Mother of God, Mary ever virgin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven." He did not say whether or not she was already dead.

So in Italy, the pagan festival of the ancient moon goddess, Diana, was absorbed into the Roman Imperial festivities of Ferragosto, which was absorbed into the Catholic feast of the Assumption of Mary, the Mother of God, which was absorbed into the Fascist festivities of Ferragosto...

Happy August from Venezia,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog