From Penelope Cruz to Cate Blanchett, the stars will not miss this year on the red carpet of the Lido facing the sea for the 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival, which will host in competition the opuses of Darren Aronofsky, Alejandro Inarritu and Luca Guadagnino, announced the festival on Tuesday.
In total, 23 films will be in the running for the prestigious Golden Lion for Best Film at this Mostra, 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 also be in competition with Kherst Nist (“Bears don’t exist”).
Spanish star 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 Darren Aronofsky with The whale (The whale), taken from a play and starring Brendan Fraser. Other big names: Mexican Alejandro Inarritu, with a film “very personal” according to Barbera titled Bardo, the false chronicle of a few truths. Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story) will open the competition with his new film produced by Netflix: White Noise. This adaptation of the eponymous novel by Don DeLillo features actors Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig.
Other feature films are still highly anticipated: Bones and all by the Italian Luca Guadagnino who has a Hollywood cast with Timothée Chalamet and Chloë Sevigny, The eternal daughter by Joanna Hogg with the British Tilda Swinton, or even The banshees of Inisherin by Martin McDonagh with Colin Farrell. Blonde hair by Andrew Dominik, a Marilyn Monroe-inspired film starring Ana de Armas in the title role and Adrien Brody, is also expected to turn heads. Finally, the militant action of artist-photographer Nan Goldin will be at the center of All the beauty and the bloodshed by Laura Poitras, on the opiate drug scandal in the United States.
In addition to the Honorary Golden Lion which will be awarded to Catherine Deneuve, France is particularly well represented this year with no less than five films in competition: Other people’s children by Rebecca Zlotowski with Virginie Efira, A couple by Frederick Wiseman, Minea family portrait signed Roschdy Zem, Athena by Romain Gavras on a revolt in the suburbs, and Saint-Omer by Alice Diop, a first film on infanticide.
In this same universe, the French filmmaker-writer Florian Zeller offered himself Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern and Anthony Hopkins for The sonhis new theatrical text on father-son relationships.
Canal+ has entered into a partnership “exclusive” with the dean of film festivals, the Venice Film Festival, of which it will broadcast the next two editions, the encrypted channel announced on Tuesday. The channel will thus be the sole broadcaster of the Venice Film Festival in France as well as in several countries in Europe and Africa, the statement said. A daily program on the news of the festival, presented by Antoine de Caunes, will also be on the program.
This partnership is reminiscent of the one established for almost 30 years by the channel with the Cannes Film Festival. The most prestigious film festival in the world, the Cannes Film Festival this year chose France Télévisions and the online media Brut as “exclusive media partners”, at the expense of Canal+ which notably broadcast the opening and closing ceremonies.
The 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival will take place from August 31 to September 10 on the famous Lido of the City of the Doges. American actress Julianne Moore, 61, will chair the jury.
All films in competition:
White Noise by Noah Baumbach
Il signore delle formiche by Gianni Amelio
The Whale by Darren Aronofsky
The immensity by Emanuele Crialese
Saint Omer by Alice Diop
Blonde hair by Andrew Dominick
Tar by Todd Field
love-life by Koji Fukada
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths by Alejándro Iñárritu
Athena by Romain Gavras
Bones and All by Luca Guadagnino
The Eternal Daughter by Joanna Hogg
Beyond the Wall by Vahid Jalilvand
The Banshees of Inisherin by Martin McDonagh
Argentina, 1985 by Santiago Miter
Chiara by Susanna Nicchiarelli
Monica by Andrea Pallaoro
No Bears by Jafar Panahi
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed by Laura Poitras
A couple by Frederick Wiseman
The Son by Florian Zeller
Mine by Roschdy Zem
Other people’s children by Rebecca Zlotowski