so what dirty secret does May el-Toukry has on Barbera, that he's ensuring her a Lion like that, making her the only female director in competition? as much as I appreciate the festival director's firm stance on the quota/quality issue, he did navigate himself into a hot mess here. with the media making sure this becomes a steaming train wreck, and Gyllenhaal - of course - weighing in during the press conference, it's now a 100% certainty that Woman Unknown - what a fitting title for this PR disaster - will win one of the big prizes on Saturday. in fact, could you ever tell with that amount of assurance that a certain film will win, even before the festival started? that's hilarious and nothing less than utterly shameful. not only that, at this point it would be quite a surprise if this terribly conventional period piece wouldn't catch the Golden Lion, just because if the jury wants to make THAT point, it has to be the big one, right? it seems only Naza could snatch that away if the opinion in the jury is unanimous about that (The Voice of Hind Rajab director Ben-Hania is part of the team, so expect a heated discussion beyond closed doors there)....or is grand ol' Alberto just a clever misogynist after all*, spicing up a (made up media) discussion about the incompetence of female directors with making a less-than-mediocre arthouse doorstopper the winner, sparking the real debate about the topic just to come in the upcoming weeks, leaving his festivities in the mouth of the public?*(obviously joking, he's not of course, cause it certainly won't be in his best interest to use & devalue his festival's award like that. also, he's not a misogynist, 'just' an Italian, non è vero? boh...)/// Venezia 83 ///
