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Agnès Varda, moderator, Alice and Alba Rohrwacher ©Moira Sullivan By Moira Sullivan 72nd Venice Film Festival, Report 2 The Venice Film Festival is one of the oldest in the world yet every festival needs to update to remain vital. This year festival president Alberto Barbera was aware that young people don’t seem to come to the festival enough because there aren’t enough activities for them: parties, mingling opportunities, hangouts. One Italian festival that has successfully enlarged on this concept is the nearby Udine Far East Film Festival in the Veneto region, this year taking out a full-page ad in the pricey daily trades. The average filmgoer in Udine is under 30 and there are quite a few opportunities to attend parties and gatherings.    What does this have to do with a film festival? The party angle of a festival makes it festive. Venice now competes with the  Rome Film Festival  and the former director of the Venice Fest, Marco Müller , was the first president. He b

Childhood of a Leader By Moira Sullivan 72nd Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival runs from 2 – 11 September and this is a first report from Lido where the festival is held every year. For me the highlight of the festival has come and gone and that was meeting Agnès Varda. As part of the "Miu Miu Women's Tale"s seminars, Agnès along with Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher and sister Alba sat on a panel discussing their work. Agnès likes to say that she has an entire zoo of film awards, such as a Berlin Bear, a Golden Lion and now an honorary Palme that she was given at May at the Cannes film Festival. Agnes and Alice both made short films that differ as far as art direction but involve groups of girls. Agnès' 3 bottons is a fairy tale about a young girl who loses three buttons and is given three wishes. The same concept is present in Alice Rohrwacher ‘s De Djess about a woman who tries on dresses that were found in the sea. Both directors do