Tiziano Sossi

Festival

The annual film festival in Venice is, of course, an ideal place to make a film (how come no-one has thought of it before). Everything is there in Pupi Avati's Festival: the famous hotels Des Bain and Excelsior on the Lido, the shimmering sandy beach which captivated Visconti. The film was made last spring and exploits the presence of passing film stars such as Jack Nicholson. We see the hysterical press conferences, where journalists and experts ask intelligent questions-without listening to the answers.

The Childhood Friend

40-year-old Arnold Gardner is put in charge of the talk show "The Twenty-fifth Hour" after the death of the former host Duncan Mackay. His role on screen creates immediate interest and the program becomes a great success with TV audiences. This proves to be a period of great satisfaction for Arnold, but his childhood friend, Eddie Greenberg, suddenly comes on the scene. Eddie is ill and frustrated by lack of success, and is so resentful and envious of Arnold's fame that he wants him to make a full public confession of a "sin" he committed in his young days.