Principal Photography Completed for the Biennale College Cinema 2015/2016 Edition Feature Films

This year, for its 4th edition, the Biennale exceptionally selected four projects to be presented at the 73rd Venice Film Festival which will be held on the Lido from August 31st to September 10th 2016, directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by the Biennale di Venezia chaired by Paolo Baratta. All the Biennale College teams have now completed principal photography and are now in the editing phase.

Meanwhile, the call for the 5th edition (2016/2017) projects has been launched and applications end on July 1st, 2016.

Biennale College – Cinema is a strategic programme for training new filmmakers from all around the world, which was already operating in the areas of Dance, Theatre and Music.

Biennale College fosters new talents, allowing them to work in contact with masters in order to develop “creations”. In this way, the Cinema Section of La Biennale di Venezia has been revitalized and given a brand new configuration: a program of permanent activities “after and beyond the Festival”.

The primary goal of Biennale College – Cinema is to supplement the Film Festival with an advanced training workshop for the development and production of micro-budget (150,000€) audio-visual works, open to up to 12 teams of directors and producers from around the world. At the end of a year-long series of activities that cover the entire spectrum of filmmaking including the conception, development, production, marketing, audience engagement, sales and distribution of films – up to 3 feature length micro-budget audio-visual works will be created. This year, as a one-time exception, the Biennale also accepted the top-ranked Italian project, considering its particular interest and quality.

An essential element of the initiative is the combination of not only training and production finance but also the screening of the completed film at the Venice International Film Festival giving the selected filmmakers much needed visibility – the lack of which is one of the major problems of today’s independent cinema.

After their Venice screenings, Biennale College Cinema past productions enjoyed successful international careers:

SHORT SKIN (2013/2014 edition) by Duccio Charini was released theatrically in Italy, France, Norway, Portugal, Greece, Poland, the United States and Hungary after being shown at festivals in Berlin, Vancouver, Setattle, Cabourg, Buenos Aires, Stockholm…

BLANKA (2014/2015 edition) by Kohki Hasei was shown at festivals in Talinn, Göteborg, Taipei, Busan and will get theatrical distribution in France, Spain and Switzerland.

THE FITS (2014/2015 edition) by Anna Rose Holmer was shown in Sundance and New Directors / New Films before its U.S. theatrical release on June, 3rd where it set the 2nd best per-screen average of the weekend in the States during its first weekend.

BIENNALE COLLEGE CINEMA 2015/2016 EDITION FEATURE FILMS
to be screened at the Venice International Film Festival in September:

MUKTI BHAWAN – HOTEL SALVATION
by Shubhashish Bhutiani
produced by Sanjay Bhutiani
INDIA

Faced with his father's untimely and bizarre demand to go and die in the holy city of Varanasi and attain Salvation, Rajiv is left with no choice but to embark on this journey.

ORECCHIE – EARS
by Alessandro Aronadio
produced by Costanza Coldagelli
ITALY

A man wakes up one morning with an irritating ringing in his ears. The note on the fridge reads “Your friend Luigi has died. P.S. I took the car”. This is the beginning of a tragicomic one day journey that will end up with him giving a funeral speech to the recently deceased Luigi. By the way, who the hell is Luigi?

UNA HERMANA – ONE SISTER
by Sofia Brockenshire and Verena Kuri
produced by Verena Kuri
ARGENTINA

In a small Argentinian town, a young woman sets out to search for her sister who has disappeared without a trace. As her journey continues, a string of inexplicable events begin to unfold.

LA SOLEDAD
by Jorge Thielen Armand
produced by Adriana Herrera, Manon Ardisson and Rodrigo Michelangeli
VENEZUELA

Already struggling to survive in the urban jungle of Caracas, José discovers that the decrepit mansion he occupies with his family will soon be demolished. Driven by a desire for a better life and guided by the ancestral spirits of the house, José embarks on a mystical search for a cache of gold that is rumoured to be buried in the walls of the mansion. This drama is based on a true story and played by the real characters.