NEWS photo gallery DIRECTORS FILMS PROGRAM PRESENTATION REGULATIONS PARTNERS CONTACTS CURRENT EDITION select news CRIALESE’S “CHILDREN” GROW UP IN MOVING DOCUMENTARY VENICE DAYS: FIFTH EDITION AN ITALIAN DISTRIBUTION FOR LANDSCAPE NO.2 100+1: BEYOND THE LIST THE DISCUSSION ABOUT THE LIST OF THE 100 MOVIES TO BE “SAVED” AND SHOWN IN SCHOOLS GOES ON IN VENICE A COUNTRY TEACHER HITS THE LIDO ADIUS: WHEN A SONGWRITER BECOMES A POET HOOKED HOOKS AUDIENCE AT ITS WORLD PREMIERE IL DIVO AND GOMORRAH : UNRELEASED EXCERPTS IN VILLA LO STATO DI ECCEZIONE: DOCUMENTARY BETWEEN MEMORY AND CINEMA . UBERTO PASOLINI’S MACHAN WINS VENICE EUROPA CINEMAS LABEL THE VISITOR BY JUKKA-PEKKA VALKEAPÄÄ TRIUMPHS AT THE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OF GÖTEBORG ONE DAY IN A LIFE TOOK TEN YEARS TO HIT SCREENS A WEEK ALONE LOOKS AT UPPER-CLASS ISOLATION AT THE AUTHORS’ VILLA A DISCUSSION ABOUT ARTHOUSE CINEMA AND ITS PROBLEMS, STARTING FROM FRANCE AND ITALY VENICE DAYS DEBATE ON COPYRIGHT AND CREATIVITY. THE SIAE AWARDS CEREMONY FOLLOWED JURORS’ NAMES OF THE PRIZE "LUIGI DE LAURENTIIS" FOR BEST DEBUT HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED VENICE DAYS 2008 PROGRAM IS ON LINE EUROPA CINEMAS SUPPORTS VENICE DAYS FOR THE FIFTH YEAR VENICE DAYS FILMS SCREENED AT THE USUAL APPOINTMENTS OF “VENICE IN ROME” AND “PANORAMICA” PASOLINI’S MACHAN WINS HEARTS ON THE LIDO ITALIAN CINEMA IN CANNES: A MEETING IN VILLA MEDICI ROSA “SCRATCHES” BENEATH THE SURFACE OF MARITAL BLISS THE CENTOAUTORI MOVEMENT HOSTED AT THE AUTHORS VILLA THE PRIZE FOR BEST SECTION OF THE MOSTRA GOES TO VENICE DAYS PRESIDENT BARATTA WELCOMES VENICE DAYS VERHEYDE’S AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL STELLA SHINES BRIGHT APRAHAMIAN’S BROKEN LINES WHOLLY ENGAGING THE AUTHORS’ HOUSE BECOMES “A DIFFERENT COUNTRY” VENICE DAYS BACK AT THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL MÖDERNDORFER OFFERS DARK LANDSCAPE OF HIS COUNTRY TOYE RETURNS TO CINEMA WITH NOWHERE MAN AUTHORS LUNCH WITH CARLOS SAURA, VITTORIO STORARO AND ANDREA OCCHIPINTI THE NEW INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVE ALLIANCE MONDIALE DU CINEMA (AMC) PRESENTED TODAY AT THE AUTHORS’ VILLA FRUITFUL PRESENCE OF VENICE DAYS IN CANNES PRESENT AND FUTURE OF DOCUMENTARY CINEMA: DOC/IT AND SOLINAS AWARD ARE GUESTS OF VENICE DAYS REZZA AND MASTRELLA TURN THE TABLE ON CRITICS ROME, CASA DEL CINEMA: PRESS CONFERENCE FOR VENICE DAYS’ FIFTH EDITION MEETINGS AT VENICE DAYS CLOSE WITH AN APPEAL: CULTURE EMERGENCY UNDER THE BOMBS: A SUCCESSFUL PREMIERE IN ROME VALKEAPÄÄ BRINGS BEGUILING VISITOR TO THE LIDO THE SECOND APPOINTMENT ABOUT REFLECTION ON CINEMA AND NEW MEDIA AT THE AUTHORS’ HOUSE WIM WENDERS, UNEXPECTEDLY, PRESENTS NOWHERE MAN NEW DELEGATE GENERAL AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE APPOINTED VALKEAPÄÄ BRINGS BEGUILING VISITOR TO THE LIDO 31/08/2008 Jukka-Pekka Valkeapää’s debut feature The Visitor screened to an enthusiastic public in the Venice fest sidebar Venice Days. Mysterious and sparse, the film centres on the unnamed Boy (Vitali Bobrov), whose life revolves around the small farm on which he lives with his mother, visits to his incarcerated father and his only companion, a horse. His routine is upset when a visitor (Pavel Liska, also the protagonist of Venice Days title A Country Teacher) arrives with a message from his father and a bullet in his side. Suspended in an unspecified time and place, the film masterfully evokes the boy’s confusion and curiosity over the visitor, never letting the viewer in on more than the boy himself experiences. At today’s Q&A, Valkeapää said The Visitor’s overall look was initially inspired by the works of US painter Andrew Wyeth. Creating a near-silent film that nevertheless speaks a universal language, he and co-screenwriter Jan Forström made the entire film from small fragments of this and another story they were writing. Forström, who went to film school with the director, added: “From the beginning, this film was about images, sounds and moods rather a conventional story structure.” Valkeapää and DoP Tuomo Hutri opted for all natural light and a sober palette in the film, washing it in blues, greens and browns that capture the poverty within which the characters live and the lush natural beauty surrounding them. “Only the colour red was forbidden – we used it just for the blood,” said Valkeapää. “Otherwise we kept to a quite simple and colour-scape.” After auditioning over 800 boys for the main role, the filmmakers settled on riveting newcomer Bobrov, who carries the entire film on his shoulders. While acknowledging that making a film is never simple, the director admitted that “working with Vitali was the easiest part of the process. He is a true natural incapable of doing anything untruthful.” Bobrov told festival audiences that he very much enjoyed working on such a good film. For his part, Liska gave nothing away of his mysterious character, saying that being in the film was “an exciting, different, poetic and enigmatic experience – like the film itself.” Natasha Senjanovic        Visitor.flv