Venice Days, a quick presentation

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Presentation:

the Venice Days were born in 2004, as an independent event on the fringes of the Venice Film Festival, modeled on the prestigious ‘Directors´ Fortnight´ of the Cannes Festival and promoted by the associations of Italian film directors and authors (Anac and 100autori).

The aim of the event is to draw attention to high quality cinema, without any kind of restriction, with special care for innovation, research, originality and independence. These are all features of the 12 films selected as well as being reflected in the special events held during the Days in the Casa degli Autori.

Ever since the first edition, the Days have come to represent a real alternative to the Festival´s official areas and an ideal and informal place for authors, producers, distributors and journalists to meet and discuss their ideas in an informal environment.

The 12 films selected from all over the world, in addition to other events and any special screenings, are screened in the theatres provided by the Venice Film Festival. By the Casa degli Autori, there is also an open-air screen to show films from the ‘Spazio Aperto´ (Open Space) section.

Four times in eight years a film from the Venice Days has won the top prize for new authors at the Venice Film Festival: the "Luigi De Laurentiis Award Lion of the Future".

Venice Days´ (a "non-competitive" section of the Festival) only official award has been the Label Europa Cinemas, dedicated to films produced and co-produced in Europe. The Label was created by a network of high-calibre European exhibitors, with the support of the EU´s MEDIA Programme. It consists of a financial contribution towards distribution and promotion, as well as a guarantee for the winning film that it will be shown in the cinemas belonging to the network.

All the films participating to the Days are also in competition for the parallel awards, with a ceremony due to take place on the last day of the Festival.

In the Media:

* One of the most popular events of the Festival (Il Sole 24 Ore)

* A more human approach, which tends to encourage exchanges between filmmakers and audiences (Le Monde)

* Venice Days have been remarked for the quality of their film selection (Le Film Français)

* An alternative place, where confrontation between film directors, audience and critics takes place in an effective manner (L'Unità)

* The new sidebar marks a bold move for the Lido (Variety)

* In another sign of change, the Venice festival will boast its own Directors' Fortnight section (Screen)

* A place where cinema shows what has not yet been done (Ciak)

* "The busiest place of the Mostra" (Il Foglio)

Selected Guests:

Luigi Abete, Hiam Abbass, Marina Abramovic, Stefano Accorsi, Fatih Akin, Santiago Amigorena, Ambra Angiolini, Solveig Anspach, Enrica Fico Antonioni, Omero Antonutti, Ariane Ascaride, Banda Osiris, Paolo Baratta, Alberto Barbera, Gabriele Basilico, Giuseppe Battiston, Luca Barbareschi, Marco Bellocchio, Alessandro Bergonzoni, Irene Bignardi, Gaetano Blandini, Barbora Bobulova, Anna Bonaiuto, Mercedes Bresso, Mimmo Calopresti, Vinicio Capossela, Zoe Cassavetes, Luciana Castellina, Veronique Cayla, Ascanio Celestini, Helena Christensen, Marina Cicogna, Roberto Cicutto, Giada Colagrande, Pappi Corsicato, Giobbe Covatta, Emanuele Crialese, Marie-Josée Croze, Enzo D´Alò, Willem Dafoe, Caterina d´Amico, Giancarlo De Cataldo, Francesco De Gregori, Alex De La Iglesia, Vittorio De Seta, Steve Della Casa, Julie Depardieu, Teresa De Sio, Piera Detassis, Stefano Disegni, Roberto Faenza, Pierfrancesco Favino, Isabella Ferrari, Davide Ferrario, Carlo Freccero, Vincent Garenq, Alessandro Gassman, Elio Germano, Enrico Ghezzi, Massimo Ghini, Fabrizio Gifuni, Marie Gillain, Remo Girone, Amos Gitai, Ugo Gregoretti, Robert Guédiguian, Sabina Guzzanti, Francesca Inaudi, Kim Ki Duk, Neil LaBute, Giancarlo Leone, Giampaolo Letta, Philippe Lioret, Carlo Lizzani, Ken Loach, Luigi Lo Cascio, Daniele Luchetti, Amos Luzzatto, Moshen Makhmalbaf, Vincenzo Marra, Lucrecia Martel, Mario Martone, Valerio Mastandrea, Lorenzo Mattotti, Bill Mechanic, Gianni Minà, Mario Monicelli, Giuliano Montaldo, Stefano Mordini, Massimo e Milly Moratti, Marco Müller, Caterina Murino, Maurizio Nichetti, Andrea Occhipinti, Ermanno Olmi, Nico Orengo, Doris Pack, Mimmo Paladino, Marco Paolini, Cristina Parodi, Giuseppe Piccioni, Ottavia Piccolo, Michele Placido, Sarah Polley, Domenico Procacci, Vittoria Puccini, Andrea Purgatori, Costanza Quatriglio, Isabella Ragonese, Tahar Rahim, Michele Riondino, Stefania Rocca, Sigur Rós, Vincent Rottiers, Stefano Rulli, Paolo Rumiz, Maya Sansa, Gabriele Salvatores, Michele Santoro, Carlos Saura, Roberto Saviano, Riccardo Scamarcio, Andrea Segre, Rade Serbedzija, Peppe Servillo, Fernando Solanas, Valeria Solarino, Silvio Soldini, Emilio Solfrizzi, Paolo Sorrentino, Domenico Starnone, Gino Strada, Vittorio Storaro, Massy Tadjedin, Zhao Tao, Lili Taylor, Giorgio Tirabassi, Roberta Torre, John Turturro, Tom Tykwer, Marco Travaglio, Nichi Vendola, Veruschka, Wim Wenders, Lou Ye, Gianni Zanasi, Krzysztof Zanussi.