The Venice International Film Festival participates in We Are One: A Global Film Festival

The Venice International Film Festival of La Biennale di Venezia is participating in We Are One: A Global Film Festival, the digital festival produced and organized by Tribeca Enterprises and YouTube, with the cooperation of 21 international film festivals. The programming slate was announced today on the website www.weareoneglobalfestival.com. We Are One: A Global Film Festival will be online for 10 days from May 29th to June 7th 2020 exclusively on YouTube.com/WeAreOne.

“We are honored and happy to join We Are One – stated the Director Alberto Barbera – as a sign of friendship and solidarity for our friends of Tribeca, at the same time offering to the worldwide audience a taste of what we do in Venice in order to support new filmmakers concretely. Our contribution to the program includes three shorts (one by a master, Guillermo Arriaga, two by young and talented female directors, Konstantina Kotzamani and Clémence Poésy), as well as two feature films produced within the framework of our Special Program called Biennale College Cinema, which we are very proud of. The program is completed by six VR films chosen from the selections of the Venice VR Competition, the innovative section first introduced by the Biennale Cinema three years ago.”

In particular, the Biennale Cinema will contribute to the online program of We Are One: A Global Film Festival with the following films:

• Electric Swan by Konstantina Kotzamani (Greece, 2019) – short film

• No One Left Behind by Guillermo Arriaga (Mexico, 2019) – short film

• The Tears Thing by Clémence Poésy (France, 2019) – short film

• Passenger – Venice VR 2019

• The Waiting Room VR – Venice VR 2019

• Bloodless – Venice VR 2017, winner of Best VR Story (for linear content)

• Isle of the Dead – Venice VR 2018, winner of Best VR Story (for linear content)

• On/Off – Venice VR 2017, Biennale College Cinema VR

• Daughters of Chibok – Venice VR 2019, winner of Best VR Story (for linear content)

• Beautiful Things by Giorgio Ferrero (Italy, 2017) – feature film Biennale College Cinema

• Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit (Thailand, 2013) – feature film Biennale College Cinema

We Are One: A Global Film Festival, a 10-day digital event, will feature over 100 films including narrative films, documentaries and talks, selected for the first time in a collaboration between 21 important international festivals from 35 countries, with programming that also includes discussions, VR content and musical performances. The films on the slate include 13 world premieres, 21 online premieres and eight international online premieres.

Biennale College Cinema is a higher-education workshop that since 2012 has enriched the Venice International Film Festival. To date, the Biennale grant has been awarded to produce 26 micro-budget feature films (costing no more than 150,000 euro each), including the four that will be screened at the coming 77th Venice International Film Festival (2-12 September 2020), promoting new talents that have established their name around the world.

Beautiful Things (Italy), directed by Giorgio Ferrero and produced by Federico Biasin, was made for the 5th edition of the Biennale College Cinema (2016-2017). After premiering at the Biennale Cinema 2017, where it won the Premio Arca CinemaGiovani for Best Italian Film, in 2018 Beautiful Things won first prize in the NEXT:WAVE section dedicated to rising directors at the CPH:DOX in Copenhagen. It also won “Best Sound Award” at the Moscow International Doc Film Festival, and was presented at the IFP and the FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology). Giorgio Ferrero held a masterclass about the film at Yale.

Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy (Thailand, 2013) directed by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit and produced by Aditya Assarat, was made for the 1st edition of the Biennale College Cinema (2012-2013). After its world premiere screening at the Biennale Cinema 2013, it participated in the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, winning the Netpac Competition for Best Asian Film; in the Busan International Film Festival, the Tokyo Film Festival, the Torino Film Festival, the Rotterdam Film Festival, the Pan-Asia Film Festival and the San Francisco Film Festival. It won four Thailand National Film Awards (out of 10): Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Editing. It was released in theatres in Thailand in November 2013, to great acclaim.

The Biennale College Cinema, organized by La Biennale di Venezia, enjoys the support of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism – General Direction Cinema. Biennale College Cinema is sponsored by the Università Telematica Pegaso. Biennale College Cinema relies on the academic collaboration of IFP New York and the TorinoFilmLab. The Director is Alberto Barbera, Head of Programme is Savina Neirotti.

Biennale College Cinema is supported by Eurimages, the cultural fund of the Council of Europe that covers the expenses for travel, hospitality and training for a woman director (Eurimages Residency Grant).