A Century of Critical Analysis: FIPRESCI Turned 100 at the Venice Film Festival

A Century of Critical Analysis: FIPRESCI Turns 100 at the Venice Film Festival

The idea of an international federation for film critics was first imagined a full century ago, in 1925, when a few journalists gathered to create a body devoted to the art of cinematic criticism.

One hundred years later, the International Federation of Film Critics—FIPRESCI—has grown into a global presence, uniting 160 members across 80 countries and serving as a juried voice at 80 festivals worldwide. At the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, the organization celebrated this remarkable milestone as a vibrant reaffirmation of cinema’s critical spirit, and I was there to cover it.

On a misty, rainy afternoon in Venice, FIPRESCI members from every corner of the globe gathered for an evening of celebration. It’s not every day you turned 100 years old, right?

The centerpiece of the event  was a special tribute to the festival’s artistic director, Alberto Barbera, who received an honorary award for his love of film criticism and his consistent support of the federation’s goals and mission.

Italian Critic and FIPRESCI Vice-President Paola Casella opened the ceremony with a heartfelt speech praising Barbera’s “deep roots in a love for cinema and arts, unswayed by bureaucracy.” Her words captured the attention of critics and filmmakers attending the event. She recalled meeting him when he was still a critic: “We would speak after every screening,” noting that his career has always been anchored in the same admiration to films.

Visibly moved, the director responded that he was very young when began working at the Daily Newspaper of Torino, writing film reviews: “I had the good fortune to start working at a festival where my career began to take shape, and I quickly realized it wasn’t necessary to be a bureaucrat to organize a festival. Each day requires difficult decisions, with thousands of films submitted. Only the passion for cinema and the tools that film criticism gave me have helped me succeed in this unusual job—being the artistic director of the Venice Film Festival. This prize will stay very close to my heart. I thank you enormously and want to congratulate the federation for these fantastic one hundred years supporting cinema, filmmakers, and audiences. This is something you must continue to do, even now when it is increasingly difficult. It is important to resist and to keep doing what we are doing.” He ended, surrounded by massive applause from the participants.

In the same spirit, before the award started, the vice president of our organization shared about her future vision of  film criticism, framing it as “growing and remaining honest and true to ourselves; even in different platforms it will still be true for honesty, transparency, a real love of cinema and the ability to understand and communicate what cinema is all about.”

In the same context, in the anniversary, the Egyptian critic and current FIPRESCI President, Ahmed Shawky, reflected on the federation’s presence in more than 80 countries and at over 80 festivals, including the oldest of them all—Venice. “That history is an honor, but it also carries a responsibility. We must adapt to survive the next hundred years.”

Shawky acknowledged the difficulties of sustaining serious criticism in an economy dominated by fast content and fleeting attention spans for new formats of film entertainment consumption that challenges critical analysis.

Stay True to the Past While Adapting Formats for the Future

FIPRESCI’s centenary is not merely a celebration of endurance but a confrontation with change. Members spoke openly about how the rise of entertainment journalism, social media, and shifting distribution formats has impacted rigorous criticism.

Some members who participated in the celebration asked: “Where does genuine critical analysis live in these new formats?” and “How to survive and not to lose it?” and “How to make it profitable?” All questions that arise as new challenges for our times where film criticism is fundamental.

On that note, acknowledging the situation,  the president of the organization remains optimistic: “What gives me hope is the dedication of critics everywhere, representing FIPRESCI’s core values of free expression and a fearless love of cinema.”

Casella, on the same line, added her passion on the subject of the road ahead by noting, “This centennial is only the first hundred years. Film criticism must stay honest and true to itself, no matter the platform. Transparency and a real love of cinema will keep the art alive.”

Venice’s artistic director also talked about going back to basics through passion for films, saying that he  learned quickly that running a festival isn’t about bureaucracy—it’s about passion. “Thousands of films cross our desks each year,” he observed, “and only the critical eye I honed as a reviewer has helped me make the tough choices this job demands.”

His laughter, mixed with genuine emotion, underscored how criticism remains the heartbeat of festival curation and how the hopes of the continuity of the organization are connected to any role in the industry.

Tsai Ming-Liang, the Other Face of FIPRESCI’s 100th Anniversary

A few days after the anniversary event in Lido de Venecia,  the FIPRESCI 100 Lifetime Achievement Award celebrated the Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang for Vive L’Amour (Aiqing Wansui), screened in the festival’s Classics section. In a statement, the federation praised Tsai’s cinema as “not simply entertainment and profit but an art that needs proper time, care, and meditation; his ability to reinvent and develop it to include the most advanced technologies without compromising its essence and soul; his freedom in defying restrictions and formulaic definitions made him the ideal artist to be celebrated on our hundredth birthday.”

As a final reflection: FIPRESCI’s first century stands as a testament to the power of careful, passionate criticism. The next century will challenge tradition while  gathering new voices with unique perspectives from every part of the world; here in Venice, members were clear in saying that hope brings new ways of communication and cooperation that will create a path for the next 100 years and more.

Fran Romero

Edited by Robert Horton

© FIPRESCI 2025