Politically charged films lasting up to seven hours will be screened in Venice
The Venice Film Festival, which opens on September 2, will screen several politically charged feature-length films. Among them are Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa’s three-hour film *Imperium*, Alex Gibney’s four-hour documentary *Musk*, and Julia Loktev’s video diary *My Unwanted Friends: Part II,” which runs for over five hours.
“Imperium” is based on archival footage. The film tells the story of a film crew from the Italian Communist Party that was sent to the Soviet Union. As The Guardian notes, Loznitsa’s work aims to shatter any remaining illusions the left may have about the USSR.
American director Alex Gibney has made a documentary about Elon Musk. According to the publication, even before the film’s release, Musk called it a “hit job”—a biased attack. Loktev’s film is dedicated to Russian dissident journalists in exile.
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The program will also feature Luca Guadagnino’s seven-hour film *The Joy of Life*—an analysis of the works of Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci. The Guardian notes that this selection differs from the emphasis on glamour that the festival has had in recent years.
Separately, The Guardian, in collaboration with the Franco-German cultural channel Arte, has announced a call for submissions of short documentary films about democracy in contemporary Europe. The films must not exceed 20 minutes in length. The winning entry will be presented at the DOK Leipzig festival in late October, after which the project will receive funding, editorial support, and distribution on the Guardian Documentaries and Arte platforms. The deadline for submissions is September 14.
