All About Mujeres (Women) - Variety Bash at Hotel Daniel - 76th Venice Film Festival

Lucrecia Martel, President of Jury with partner Julieta Laso - Photo: Cat Bauer

(Venice, Italy) The exclusive Variety bash at the Hotel Danieli that kicks off the Venice Film Festival is a warm-hearted tradition, now in its11th edition. Usually it celebrates the President of the Jury with whimsical food and creative drinks inspired by his or her body of work. This year the party took slightly a different twist, honoring both Argentinian Lucrecia Martel, the President of the Jury, and Spaniard Pedro Almodóvar, one of the winners of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, with the theme: All About Mujeres (Women).

In these "Me Too" times, Venice has been criticized for its lack of films directed by females, while including the controversial directors Roman Polanski and Nate Parker in its line-up. The Hollywood Reporter led the charge with an article entitled "Completely Tone Deaf": How Venice Became the F-You Film Festival -- illustrated with a cartoon of a male winged lion sprawled in a gondola, a cigar in one hand, his other hand raised in a middle finger salute.

Let us not forget that the Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel is at the helm of the jury of the 76th Venice International Film Festival, and she is no wimp (and she smokes cigars:-). Recovering from a broken arm after she fell off a hoverboard a couple weeks ago, Martel is here in Venice with her partner, Julieta Laso, and sees her position as President of the Jury as a responsibility and an opportunity.

I had the chance to speak to Martel, and she is cool. She told Paolo Baratta, La Biennale President, that she would like to see a list of all the films submitted to the festival. "Is the problem with the choices the film festival itself is making? Or is the root of the problem at the national level and the amount of submissions by female directors?" 

Let's take Hollywood itself. Despite all the chatter about equality and the "Me Too"movement, according to a January 3, 2019 article in IndieWire the percentage of female directors actually decreased in 2018:

The new study, released today by executive director Dr. Martha Lauzen, reveals that the percentage of women working as directors on the top 250 grossing films declined from 11% in 2017 to 8% in 2018. The percentages of women directing films in the top 100 and 500 films declined as well, with women only directing 4% of the top 100 films (a decline of 4 percentage points) and 15% of the top 500 (a decline of 3 percentage points).

 All About Women? - Photo: Mirco Toffolo

These are some touchy times, and I do think that Venice is making an effort despite the optics. Alberto Barbera, Director of the Venice Film Festival, praised Martel in his written statement:  

“Four feature films and a handful of shorts, in just under two decades, have been enough to make Lucrecia Martel Latin America’s most important female director, and one of the top worldwide. In her films, the originality of her stylistic research and her meticulous mise-en-scène are at the service of a worldview free of compromises, dedicated to exploring the mysteries of female sexuality and the dynamics of groups and classes. We are grateful to her for having enthusiastically agreed to put her exacting, yet anything but uncharitable, gaze at the service of this commitment we have requested of her.”

During the opening press conference Martel challenged Barbera. According to Variety:

Martel then said to Barbera: “For this 76th edition of the festival, you could have tried as an experiment, Mr. Barbera, to have 50-50, just to see what happens – if it’s so certain that the quality of movies would suffer or if this could foster a distinct industry-wide movement. The industry transformation underway is so deep that, after 76 years, Venice could experiment for a couple of years.” 

Barbera declined to take up the idea. “If I had found 50% of movies directed by women [that were worthy of the selection], I would have done that, without any need for a quota,” he said.

By putting films by Polanski and Parker on the line-up, two male directors accused of rape, and then appointing a strong, independent, intelligent woman like Lucrecia Martel as President of the Jury, Venice has actually provided a platform for what could be a vital conversation. Whether anything productive will come of it has yet to be seen.

Cat Bauer and Alejandro Aravena

Meanwhile, I was happy to run into Pritzer-Architecture-Prize winner Alejandro Aravena, who was the Director of the 2016 Biennale Architecture Festival. Alejandro is here in Venice with his brother and childhood friend. I asked him if he knew Lucrecia Martel, and he said no, but he would be happy to meet her. I spent much of the evening wading through the sea of party-goers, trying to locate Martel and Aravena in the same space and time. Since they were both cool and from South America -- Martel is from Argentina; Aravena is from Chile -- wouldn't a Meeting of their Minds be something fantastic?

Santa Maria Bloody Mary prepared with flair by the St. Regis Venice

The evening's food was inspired by Almodóvar's body of work, and the cocktails by Martel's.

THE FOOD - INSPIRED BY PEDRO ALMODOVAR

Spanish director and writer Pedro Almodóvar, a two-time Academy Award winner, made his name as a "women's director," and the tasty nibbles were inspired by the complex characters in his films. Volver was the inspiration for Executive Chef Alberto Fol of the Hotel Danieli. He whipped up meatballs of Raimunda: beef meatballs and chorizo with a soup of roasted peppers, and a datterino tomato Gazpacho with Manchego cheese and caramelized onion crumbs, a dish from the regional cuisine of La Mancha, where the film's main characters are from.

Inspired by Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, chef Nadia Frisina of the new St. Regis Venice, was live with a cooking station that served pescado Mojo Rojo and Pulpo tinto.

From the JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa, Chef Dario Parascandolo and Chef Fabio Trabocchi of Fiola at Dopolavoro Venezia teamed up for a menu inspired by Everything About my Mother, with Travestiti Cod and Paella Impostor.

THE COCKTAILS - INSPIRED BY LUCRECIA MARTEL

The cocktails were just as fanciful and creative as the food.

Martel's La Ciénaga inspired barman Facundo Gallegos of The St. Regis Venice to create the "Laguna Roja, an Argentine reinterpretation of the classic Negroni made with Mate and Beefeater Gin infusion, as well as the "Santa Maria Bloody Mary," a signature cocktail of the St. Regis brand, zapped with a modern twist and dedicated to the Venetian grape.

The Hotel Danieli and its bartender Roberto Naccari celebrated the movie Zama with "Don Diego Chimarrao," a cold infusion of berries and ginger, inspired by Don Diego, the protagonist of the film, and from the Chimarrao, a typical South American drink.

The JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa paid homage to La Mujer sin Cabeza with cocktails created by the barman of the hotel, Lorenzo Romano: "Septimo Capitulo" with Gin, Campari, Martini Bianco and Ginger Syrup; and the "Cabeza," dedicated to the main character Maria Onetto – a darkly colored cocktail that symbolized her obscure mind and psychic disorder, with Fernet Branca, Earl Grey Syrup, Lemon zest, topped with Chinotto.

Lucrecia Martel and Cat Bauer

As the evening went on, I finally spotted Martel's partner, Julieta Laso. "Where is Lucrecia?" Julieta took my hand and pulled me straight toward Martel, who was swamped with people wanting a photo with her. I wanted one, too. As we smiled for the camera, I told her that I would like to introduce her to Alejandro Aravena. But it was too late. She said the boat taxi had just arrived to whisk them away. Another time...

Then I ran into Alejandro's brother. "Where is Alejandro?" "He's got to be around somewhere." "Would he leave without you?" "No." I searched again through the mass of bodies and eventually spotted Alejandro out on the terrace. "When I finally found Lucrecia Martel, the boat taxi had just come to take her away. Another time, perhaps."

Alejandro smiled. "But I did meet her. We were in the line for risotto, and we heard Spanish being spoken, so we started to chat."

The Spirit of Venice (who is female, of course:-) must have thought it was a good idea for them to meet, too... and what better place than the Variety party at Hotel Danieli, with the spectacular view of the lagoon as the backdrop, and the magic of the film festival wafting through the air?

One thing is certain -- the topic of conversation at the Venice Film Festival is All About Women!

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog