(Rome) From Penelope Cruz to Cate Blanchett via Catherine Deneuve and Timothée Chalamet, a shower of stars are expected at 79e Venice festival, where filmmakers Darren Aronofsky, Alejandro Inarritu and Luca Guadagnino will be in the running for the Golden Lion for best film.
Posted at 9:22
A total of 23 films will be in competition at this Mostra (August 31-September 10), which aims to be “a window open to the world”, underlined during his online presentation the artistic director Alberto Barbera, denouncing in particular the detention of three filmmakers in Iran.
One of them, Jafar Panahi, who is to serve a six-year sentence for “propaganda against the regime”, will moreover be in competition with Kherst Nist.
France is particularly well represented this year with five films in competition: Other people’s children by Rebecca Zlotowski with Virginie Efira (“in a state of grace”, according to Barbera), A couple by Frederick Wiseman, Minea family portrait signed Roschdy Zem, Athenaa fiction by Romain Gavras about a revolt in the suburbs, and Saint-Omer by Alice Diop, a first film tackling the delicate theme of infanticide.
French filmmaker-writer Florian Zeller has offered himself Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern and Anthony Hopkins for the British production The sonadapted from his eponymous play on father-son relationships.
There will be no shortage of stars this year on the red carpet at the Lido facing the sea: the Spanish actress Penelope Cruz is the protagonist of an Italian film, the immensity by Emanuele Crialese, while the Australian Cate Blanchett embodies a conductor in ART by Todd Field.
This festival will also mark the return of American director Darren Aronofsky with The whalebased on a play and starring Brendan Fraser.
Pope and Ukraine
Another big name: the Mexican Alejandro Inarritu, who will present a “very personal” film according to Barbera: Bardo, the false chronicle of some truths.
Highly anticipated, Bones and allby Italian Luca Guadagnino, boasts a Hollywood cast, from Timothée Chalamet to Chloë Sevigny.
Briton Tilda Swinton will be in the credits of The eternal daughter by Joanna Hogg, while Colin Farrell will be the protagonist of The banshees of Inisherin by Martin McDonagh.
Blonde hair by Andrew Dominik, a Marilyn Monroe-inspired film starring Ana de Armas in the title role and Adrien Brody, is sure to turn heads.
The activism of artist-photographer Nan Goldin will be at the center of All the beauty and the bloodshed by Laura Poitras, on the opiate scandal in the United States.
And it is to white noise by Noah Baumbach, with Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig, who will have the honor of opening the Venetian competition. The jury of the Mostra is chaired this year by the American actress Julianne Moore, surrounded in particular by the French director Audrey Diwan and the Nobel Prize for Literature Kazuo Ishiguro.
As always, the Mostra will also be marked by many out-of-competition events, such as the presentation of the documentary by Gianfranco Rosi In viaggio, made from images of Pope Francis visiting the world.
The din of war will reach the Lido, with two documentaries in particular: Freedom on fire: Ukraine’s battle for freedom by Evgeny Afineevsky, and The matchmaker by Benedetta Argentieri, about a Briton who was recruiting for the Islamic State group.
French actress Isabelle Huppert, accustomed to red carpets, will be present in the parallel section “Horizons” with The trade unionist by Jean-Paul Salomé, while the very controversial Oliver Stone will present his documentary Nuclear. Another French star, Catherine Deneuve, will receive an honorary Golden Lion.
Finally, schoolgirls will not fail to swoon with the expected arrival of English pop phenomenon Harry Styles, who appears alongside Chris Pine on the bill of don’t worry darlinga psychological thriller from and starring Olivia Wilde.