Over the past decade, all three major European film festivals have been proactively adapting to keep up, and Venice is no exception.

After the new century, Venice also tried to open its arms to accept Hollywood films - not only art films, but also star-studded other films, after all, the strong influence of Hollywood in Europe could not be ignored, but because of the strong protest and opposition within the Italian film industry, it was not able to unswervingly implement it, and occasionally carried out sporadic cooperation, but unfortunately fate intermittently failed to form a system, and the influence was not able to condense.

When Mark Müller was the president of the festival, his public relations skills and strong connections were undoubtedly awe-inspiring, which also made Venice completely closely linked to Asian cinema and at the same time shortened the distance between him and Hollywood, but it was precisely because of Mark Mill's long-sleeved dancing that he also understood the importance of "trade-offs", and often bowed to the conservatives and diehards in the country to seek a gentle balance, which made Venice's artistic positioning not fully established.

When Alberto became president of the Venice Film Festival, they needed to find clarity in the midst of the chaos, and how the United States, the largest market in the global film industry, should cooperate was still a difficult problem for Alberto to think about and solve, and the situation he faced was even more complicated.

At this time, the entire "Cannes system" style climate has been established, the intimate relationship between Hollywood films and Cannes can no longer be severed, and most of the excellent American films are the first choice to participate in the film festival is Cannes, while Venice can only pick up the leaks; and then they also need to face the frontal impact of Toronto, most of the time they can only pick and choose among the leftovers, there is really not much choice, and then form a vicious circle, like a quagmire.

Since taking office, Alberto has been trying to adjust little by little.

In 2012, three American films were shortlisted for the Venice main competition, Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master", Terrence Malick's "To Wonderland" and Harmony-Korine's "Spring Break", all of which received great acclaim, including the Silver Lion and Best Actor for "The Master".

In 2013, five American films were shortlisted for the Venice main competition, James Franco's "Children of God", Errol-Morris's "Rumsfeld's Narrative", David Gordon Green's "Joe", Kelly-Reichardt's "Operation Night", and Peter-Landesman's "Parkland Hospital".

Among them, David Gordon Green and Kelly Reichard are both excellent directors in the field of independent films, and Errol Morris is a big name in the field of documentaries, but neither Peter Landesman nor James Franco has ever handed over any works worth mentioning in the field of directing, and it can even be said that they are new.

As a result, the average quality of the five productions was far below expectations, making Venice controversial – more than a notch away from "Drunken Country Folk", "Only Love Lives Forever", "Nebraska", and "Behind the Candelabra" that landed in Cannes in the same year, plus the final Golden Lion was awarded to the Italian film "The Ring of Rome", which was hailed as the worst Golden Lion in Venice since the turn of the millennium, and made Venice even more controversial.

Whether it is Italy itself or other countries, all the media are complaining about Venice: in order to please Hollywood and Italy, but they forget the core essence of the film festival, after all, they still need to be based on the work, and excellent works are the unshakable soul of the film festival.

Not people inside and out.

In fact, Alberto cannot be blamed for this, his position is also very difficult to do, the president of the Venice Film Festival is to survive in the cracks, and any little reform is faced with countless interference opinions, countless opinions of insiders and laymen, even the long-sleeved and good dancing Mark Müller has not been able to change such a deadlock - no wonder everyone says that Italy is the China of Europe.

However, after two years of running-in and exploration, Alberto still vaguely found a little bit of thought: I don't know if this is the right answer for the time being, but after all, I still need to try to know the result, right?

Hollywood.

The answer is Hollywood.

The Venice Film Festival is held at a head-on collision with Toronto, with the rise of Toronto, more and more American films are more willing to premiere in Toronto, and then start the public relations operation of the awards season;

Either way, Venice is one of the top three film festivals in Europe and the longest, isn't it?

Last year was the best example: "Gravity" chose to have its world premiere in Venice, and even Cannes was jealous, but unfortunately this work did not make it to the main competition, and then "Rome Beltway" won the Golden Lion, which made more media exclaim.

Later, it also proved the strong influence of "gravity", sweeping all the way from the box office to the awards, even if it unfortunately missed the Oscar for Best Picture in the end, it was still the most influential work in the world in 2013.

Assuming that "Gravity" was shortlisted for the main competition in Venice and topped the Golden Lion Award, then this should be enough to become the most high-profile event in Venice in the ten years after "Brokeback Mountain" topped the Golden Lion: attention, popularity, and word-of-mouth.

For Alberto, it was an arithmetic problem, and it was an arithmetic problem that was not difficult. If the Venice Film Festival can really be the starting point of the awards season, attracting all the Hollywood superstars and the Oscar-winning works, then-

Good work is not a problem, nor is the popularity of the superstar, which can solve the dilemma of Venice in the short term, and it can also steal the limelight from Cannes a little bit - Cannes is so far away from the Oscars that Venice is more suitable for awards season productions in terms of publicity strategy and discussion.

Of course, this also comes with taking risks: at the risk of Venice becoming the "awards season backyard", Toronto becoming Hollywood's backyard is a matter of course, but what about Venice?

This is a decision that Alberto needs to make. In addition, this is the key point that Alberto needs to convince the Italian industry professionals - how to find a balance between Italian and American films, how to use American films to create a buzz to attract other films, and how to find a place in Venice among the films of the awards season, all of which were problems that Marc Müller was unable to solve back then, and Alberto now has to face as well.

Today, I made a special trip to New Orleans to visit the class, which is related to Alberto's next plan.

If it's just for Lan Li, the actor, Alberto doesn't need to make a special trip to the crew to visit, and a one-on-one one-on-one phone invitation is already full of sincerity, but Alberto also hopes to open up the strategic cooperation plan of Hollywood independent films through Lan Li:

Alberto had heard about the Sundance Film Festival and Sisyphus Films, and Alberto was also aware of the close contact between Blue Rite and the Berlin Film Festival, coupled with the strong influence and appeal of Blue Rite on the global film market, which became a decisive factor.

Alberto's trip was dedicated to inviting Lan Li to attend the Venice Film Festival, which was crucial for the future planning of the entire festival.

A little surprisingly, after a short meeting between Alberto and Lan Li, inspiration burst out uncontrollably, and there was something unstoppable-

If Lan Li can serve as the president of the jury of the Venice Film Festival, there is no need to say more about the attention and popularity, and the most important thing is the artistic positioning of Venice.

Over the years, Lan Li's vision of selecting films reflects his artistic taste and professionalism, and the heritage of hereditary aristocracy is the icing on the cake, which makes Lan Li have enough prestige in the industry: his art appreciation ability is worthy of recognition, and it is bound that many art creators are willing to communicate, discuss, argue and debate with Lan Li, which is undoubtedly a crucial part of the atmosphere of the film festival.

On the one hand, it can set an artistic tone for the festival, and on the other hand, it can attract more works to apply for Venice. This creates a virtuous cycle that stabilizes Venice in turmoil – of course, Blue Rite is not the savior of Venice, and it is impossible to solve the festival's many ills easily, but at least, it can provide a direction and a beacon for the festival to find more effective solutions: a beginning.

The position of president of the jury is far from being as simple as it seems, as in Berlin and Cannes, as well as in Venice.

It's just that...... The situation in Italy is too complicated for Marc Müller to accomplish, and Alberto is unlikely to do it overnight.

Despite the very, very/tempting/human thoughts, Alberto calmed down and temporarily put away the improvised ideas that popped out of his mind and focused on his original plan:

He still needs to avoid being in a hurry, not being fat, first inviting Lan Li to participate in the main competition unit, and then step by step to strengthen the connection between Lan Li and Venice, looking forward to making Lan Li the chairman of the jury of the main competition unit in Venice in the future, and igniting the chemistry between Venice and Hollywood films, growing up for the camp step by step, and truly making Venice gain a firm foothold in the global film industry.

Although the proposal of the president of the jury is almost impossible, there is no obstacle to inviting Lan Li to participate in the main competition.