Venice Film Festival: 9 minutes of ovation at the historic “Argentina 1985” gala – all the details

the gala of Argentina, 1985 at the Venice Film Festival, which has just ended, it was the most important moment of national cinema in recent years. And here they are, moved, Ricardo Darín, Peter Lanzani, the director Santiago Miter and the entire Argentine delegation, who received after the screening a nine-minute standing ovation.

All that moment, that of applause and that of enjoying sharing the projection with spectators from all over the world, for the first time, perhaps, perhaps, in one of those, in exactly one week, it will be supplanted by another equally transcendent one.

On Saturday 10 September, the prizes are awarded, the Golden Lion for the best film, and the silver ones, plus the Coppa Volpi for the best performers.

The film will be released in Argentine theaters on Thursday 29 Septemberand three weeks later it will be streamed on Amazon Prime Video, co-producer of the film. It focuses on the trial of military juntas. Darín plays the prosecutor Julio César Strassera, Lanzani is Luis Moreno Ocampo and Alejandra Flechner plays Strassera’s wife.

The Argentine delegation, which as we have already mentioned is huge, came down from their rooms to the Hotel Excelsior, where they are staying, to meet other compatriots and head, all together, to the gala. And the scheduled time was 5pm. Before, there was a cocktail in the Hotel, for the film crew and special guests.

And at 5:45 pm – yes: one hour before the start of the screening, scheduled for 6:45 pm – they started heading towards the Palazzo del Cinema.

The projections of the official gala are in the Sala Grande of the Palazzo del Cinema, which is less than 200 meters from the door of the Hotel, but as per protocol, the main guests got into several cars available for the Festival, and left them at their feet. of the red carpet.

Let’s all go

were those mentioned Santiago Miter, Ricardo Darin, Peter Lanzani and Alejandra Flechneralso Vittorio Alonsothe executive chairman of Marvel Studios physical production, the co-writer Mariano Llinas and your partner Laura Paredesacting in Argentina, 1985 and will remain until next week: he is also the protagonist and co-writer of the screenplay Trenque Lauquén, by Laura Citarella, who competes in the Horizons section.

They were also i Chinese darinowho is the producer of the film along with his father, plus Axel Kuschevatzky, Agustina Llambí Campbell, Federico Posternak and Santiago Carabantethe director of photography Javier Giulia and the Spanish musician Pietro Osunawho composed the music for the film and was orchestrator for There is no time to die, Thor: Love and Thunder Y Light year.

The cast and producers are gone, then, in the previously assigned cars, without “getting up, let’s go together”, or “are we all here?”. Film producer Victoria Alonso, for example, shared the journey with her vehicle Pietro Pasqualethe Chilean actor of The Mandalorian. Ricardo Darin went with Florence Bas, his wife and son. Director Santiago Miter did the same with Dolores FonzHis couple.

The rest of the guests did so by walking.

Once in the Red carpet, met the requirements of the paparazzi. Photos together, separately, but all in a predetermined order of arrival, with a steadycam revolving around them, to be recorded for television.

At one point Agustina Llambí Campbell performed a handkerchief from the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo with the phrase “Son 30 thousand” and was widely photographed, like Alejandra Flechner, who approached.

A few minutes later, a fan appeared on the other side of the carpet and handed Chino Darín an Argentine flag. El Chino, Agustina and Victoria Alonso took a photo for the fan and then returned to the carpet to the photographers area to take pictures with the flag.

They were received by the artistic director of the exhibition, the former film critic Alberto Barbera. All extremely formal, but with laughter that testified to the emotionality of the moment, and also the nervousness.

Once in the Sala Grande, the director and the actors were nominated by Barbera. The members of the Jury were already there, who will decide the Palmarés, as we said, within a week, Saturday 10th. Our compatriot was too Mariano Cohen, Director of The illustrious citizen, 4×4 Y official competition, which was shown a year ago right here, right in this room. Julianne Moore, on the other hand, saw the film in the morning in a private screening.

How is the Great Hall?

The screening of the gala is accessible from various routes. The press and people from the film industry, like any other accredited person, can try to get the ticket online. These tickets fly very fast, because they are counted and those of Argentina, 1985they were available from 6:45 am on Tuesday 30th August.

The rest, which is certainly always a lot, is put up for sale to the general public. This is something that differentiates the Venice Film Festival from the Cannes Film Festival, where gala screenings are only on special invitations.

The price of tickets to see the films varies, has different values. A screening at 11 am is not the same as the central one, which is precisely there Argentina, 1985always around 19.

How much did the ticket cost? Well, 50 euros. At the blue stock exchange, just under 15,000 Argentine pesos.

The Sala Grande, which seats about 1,000 spectators, has an audience divided into three sections and climbing the stairs leads to the Gallery, where actors, director and producers sit, and the public is also present. And, in every gala, the same case happens: all those who are seated in the audience – including members of the jury – have to turn around to see the actors behind them, and then, yes, applause is heard.

meter of applause

One apparent way to know how audiences have received the films in competition for the Golden Lion is to count the minutes of applause received after the screening, while the final titles are played on the screen in the Great Hall, which has no curtain.

It is assumed that the longer the ovation, the happier the spectators were. In this edition, it was at the top until now Bones and all, screened Friday night. How long did the applause last? Between eight minutes and eight and a half minutes.

In part we understand: it was the first of those competing with the direction of an Italian director (the Palermo Luca Guadagnino, that of call me by your name), and with a Hollywood star like the young Timothée Chalamet.

But Argentina 1985 passed: nine long minutes of standing ovation. Exciting. Darín cried and hugged first with Santiago Miter and then with Peter Lanzani. Mariano Cohn wanted to come and say hello, but he couldn’t do it due to protocol problems.

At one point, during the long applause, Darín nodded to the three young actors who play the assistant prosecutors in the film. Being three rows behind, after that gesture they moved forward and the audience could see them.

Continuing with the applause counter, they followed her behind Tarwith Cate Blanchett (6 minutes) e Bardby Alejandro González Iñárritu, with Griselda Siciliani (4 and a half minutes).

After the hugs and congratulations after the screening, everyone left the Great Hall and headed to the dock of the Hotel Excelsior. There they embarked on several taxi boats for the dinner scheduled for the celebration of the international premiere. It was in one of the exclusive restaurants of the Hotel Cipriani, in Venice.

But that’s another story. The big story ended with cheers for the film.