Rome, 23 July (LaPresse) – “A co-funding partner has pulled out without causing any significant economic impact. It is a fellow traveller (the European Commission, ed.) that is now leaving us for a purely political reason – certainly not a legal one, let alone a cultural one. We do not engage in politics; we do not go along with the crowd; we are here to conduct research in the field of the arts. To comply with their wishes would be to betray the principles of autonomy and freedom of expression and research, creativity and imagination that have been the hallmark of this institution for 131 years.” So said President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, speaking at the press conference to present the 83rd Venice International Film Festival (2–12 September). “No fewer than three letters from the European Commission received three detailed replies, yet they kept repeating the same questions. The European Union is cutting two million from the Biennale and giving six billion to Putin in six months. That is where the waters become murky – and it is certainly not here. Cinema activities will continue; the institution’s solid foundations allow for this, and we will carry on doing so. This creative space is vitally necessary because its aim is to provide tangible support to young people,” he added, quoting Phaedrus’s famous fable, ‘The Wolf and the Lamb’.
Venice Biennale, Buttafuoco: ‘The EU is taking 2 million from us and giving 6 billion to Putin in six months’
Rome, 23 July (LaPresse) – “A co-funding partner has pulled out without causing any significant economic impact. It is a fellow traveller (the European Commission, ed.) that is now leaving us for a purely political reason – certainly not a legal one, let alone a cultural one. We do not engage in politics; we do not go along with the crowd; we are here to conduct research in the field of the arts. To comply with their wishes would be to betray the principles of autonomy and freedom of expression and research, creativity and imagination that have been the hallmark of this institution for 131 years.” So said President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, speaking at the press conference to present the 83rd Venice International Film Festival (2–12 September). “No fewer than three letters from the European Commission received three detailed replies, yet they kept repeating the same questions. The European Union is cutting two million from the Biennale and giving six billion to Putin in six months. That is where the waters become murky – and it is certainly not here. Cinema activities will continue; the institution’s solid foundations allow for this, and we will carry on doing so. This creative space is vitally necessary because its aim is to provide tangible support to young people,” he added, quoting Phaedrus’s famous fable, ‘The Wolf and the Lamb’.
