By Michael Roddy and Isla Binnie LONDON/ROME (Reuters) – Saverio Costanzo, the Italian director of the New York City-set low-budget drama “Hungry Hearts” that will compete for the top prize at the Venice Film Festival opening this week, sees the exposure his film will get as a godsend. “We need the festival to make a buzz so people know about the film and Venice is a festival that is full of passion.” That is a welcome endorsement for the Venice Film Festival’s 71st edition, which opens on Wednesday with the much-anticipated world premiere of “Birdman” by Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and starring Michael Keaton as a former superhero trying to make a comeback. Although it is the world’s oldest film festival and perhaps its most glamorous, with stars chauffeured to the red carpet on Lido Island by motorboat water taxis instead of limousines, it struggles, a bit like the city, to keep its head above water. The festival’s director, Alberto Barbera, who was brought back in 2012 after an eight-year hiatus, has introduced a host of innovations to keep Venice relevant at a time when the Tribeca Festival in New York in April steals some of its artistic thunder and the Toronto Film Festival that begins next week has become a global cinematic mega mall.
Source: https://in.news.yahoo.com/venice-film-fest-opening-week-still-cinema-lifeline-145820605.html