Page - 144 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 05/01

Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati Festival Review 75th International Film Festival Venice Variations on the Theme of Violence: Multifaceted Representations of a Ubiquitous Phenomenon in New Films At age 75, the Mostra internazionale d’arte cinematografica in Venice is the old- est film festival worldwide. It usually shows not only art-house films that can be seen only in repertory cinemas but also bigger productions and blockbusters that will be released in European cinemas over the coming year. Held from 29 August to 9 September in 2018, this anniversary event presented a collection that was rich and demanding for scholars of media and religion. In this review, I focus on the two programmes I watched as a member of the Interfilm Jury: the main session Venezia 75 Competition and Orizzonti Competition, a programme of art-house productions from all over the world. The film selections in both categories covered a broad range of topics, styles and genres, but one issue could be found in almost every work – violence. Many of the films in the main competition and Orizzonti offered detailed analysis of the many facets of violent human relationships: violence on an individual and collective scale, violence within families or nations, violence in conflict zones or everyday life. Seen from this perspective, Venice Film Festival 2018 offered a great opportunity to reflect on ideas and concepts related to representing violence as a ubiquitous phenomenon in human relationships. This review is conceived as an overview highlighting selected works and their particular con- tribution to articulating violence. VIOLENCE AND FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS A number of films focused on violence within families. In these works, the fam- ily represents the focal point of broader social relationships. Ozen (The River, Emir Baigazin, KZ/PL/NO 2018) provides a portrait of a family composed of a violent father, a weak, indifferent mother and five brothers, who all live in an isolated house in a desert landscape. The father keeps the family in complete social isolation through a system of self-sufficiency that demands huge physical and psychological exertion. One day, a peculiar young figure brings the family DOI: 10.25364/05.4:2019.1.12 144 | Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/1