The Venice International Film Festival is primed to make its triumphant return this September after a restrained outing in 2020 marred by the limitations of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Festival director Alberto Barbera said Tuesday he hopes the festival’s 2021 edition will mark the “reopening that was not the case last year.” But unlike the film festival in Cannes, which came back to life this year in France after skipping 2020, Venice still has to comply with stringent Italian anti-COVID restrictions.
A huge barricade once again is sealing off public access to the red carpet and there are limited chances for fans to catch VIP water taxi arrivals on the Lido. More than 10 testing stations have been set up, and festival-goers must show proof of a negative test, vaccination or having recently recovered from COVID-19 to enter screenings. Masks are required indoors.
In other words, the Venice show is going on even as Italy copes with new infections driven by the highly contagious delta variant.
Here's all you need to know about the 78th edition which is set to run from 1-11 September
Film screenings to look forward to
Director Denis Villeneuve has been to the world’s top film festivals, from Cannes to Toronto, but Venice holds a special spot.
“It’s definitely the most elegant,” Villeneuve said.
It’s no surprise then that Venice was where he wanted to debut his most ambitious film yet, Dune, an adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science fiction classic with an all-star cast led by Timothée Chalamet.
Dune is just one of the high-profile premieres coming to 78th Venice International Film Festival, with new films from acclaimed directors like Jane Campion, Ridley Scott, Pedro Almodóvar, Paolo Sorrentino, Paul Schrader and Edgar Wright and a roster of A-list celebrities including Ben Affleck, Kristen Stewart, Penelope Cruz, Kirsten Dunst, Zendaya, Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac expected to grace the famed red carpet outside the Palazzo del Cinema.
- Almodóvar will kick off the 2021 Venice Film Festival with the world premiere of his new drama Parallel Mothers. The film will debut in competition and vie for the festival’s top prize, the Golden Lion. Written and directed by Almodóvar, it stars Penélope Cruz, Milena Smit, Israel Elejalde, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Julieta Serrano, and Rossy De Palma. Almodóvar had attended Venice last year to world premiere his short film The Human Voice out of competition.
- Jane Campion was the only woman to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes until Julia Ducournau duplicated the feat at the last edition with her trippy crime thriller Titane. Campion is returning to Venice with her first feature in over 12 years. The Power of the Dog, a frontrunner for this year’s Academy Awards, is a western starring Benedict Cumberbatch. The film is an adaptation of Thomas Savage’s novel of the same name.
- Kristen Stewart has transformed as Princess Diana in Pablo Larrain’s Spencer. The film will premiere at Venice before it goes to the Toronto International Film Festival which begins on 15 September. Written by Steven Knight, Spencer revolves around one Christmas vacation of the British royalty that saw her coming out with the decision to end her marriage to Prince Charles.
- Also vying for Golden Lion is Schrader’s The Card Counter, starring Isaac as a former military interrogator who now spends his days playing poker at seedy casinos. Maggie Gyllenhaal is premiering her first feature, The Lost Daughter, in competition. The adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s 2008 novel about a divorcee rediscovering herself without her children stars Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley.
- Other buzzy films in competition include Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God, inspired by the director’s own coming-of-age story, and Ana Lily Amirpour’s Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon, with Kate Hudson.
- Dune is debuting out of competition, alongside Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho, a stylish psychological horror with Thomasin McKenzie and Anya Taylor-Joy, and Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel, a 14th century epic with Affleck, Driver, Matt Damon and Jodie Comer.
India's Once Upon A Time In Calcutta to Premiere on the Lido
Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s third feature, Once Upon A Time In Calcutta, will be part of the 78th Venice Film Festival. The only movie from India, it will play in the section titled, Horizons, the second most important after Competition, reports News18.
Sengupta’s work will compete with 18 others, like Pilgrims, Amira, Atlantide, The Falls, A Plein Temps, 107 Mothers, White Building and True Things.
"Venice is a dream Festival for any filmmaker and we are extremely grateful and excited to be back with a Bengali film about the city, especially on the 100 birth centenary of Satyajit Ray,” Sengupta said in a statement.“Leveraging real characters and actual events, the movie is my effort to chip away the various layers of the previously Communist city to reveal a human condition that is tragic and yet full of hope and joy.
The film highlights the aspirations and struggles of people gasping for breath in an ever-expanding metropolis. For the viewer, I have tried to create a real glimpse into the murky waters of Calcutta, with colourful characters, all trying very hard to find a corner of their own without drowning,” he added describing the movie.
Golden Lion For Lifetime Achievement Honours
For the 78th festival, Life Is Beautiful director Roberto Benigni and Halloween (1978) star Jamie Lee Curtis have been announced as the recipients of the Golden Lion.
Jamie Lee Curtis will pick up the Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement on 8 September, when the latest instalment of her Halloween slasher franchise, Halloween Kills, will be screened on Venice’s Lido out of competition.
Oscar-winning Italian director-actor Roberto Benigni of Life is Beautiful fame will be honoured with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 78th Venice International Film Festival.
"My heart is full of joy and gratitude. It is an immense honour to receive such an important recognition of my work from the Venice International Film Festival," Benigni said in a statement.
Bong Joon-ho presides over the jury panel
Parasite director Bong Joon Ho has been selected as jury president and will preside over seven jurors to hand out the festival’s top awards, including the prestigious Golden Lion. He’ll be the first South Korean to hold the post.
In a statement, the director said he is, “Honoured to be woven into its beautiful cinematic tradition. As president of the jury — and more importantly as a perpetual cinephile — I’m ready to admire and applaud all the great films selected by the festival. I’m filled with genuine hope and excitement.”
Alongside Bong, the jury is comprised of Hungry Hearts (2014) director Saverio Costanzo, Bendetta (2021) actress Virginie Efira, Harriet (2019) star Cynthia Erivo, actress Sarah Gadon, Collective (2019) documentarian Alexander Nanau, and Eternals director Chloé Zhao.
A panel discussion with Afghan filmmakers to discuss Taliban takeover
The Venice International Film Festival has invited Afghan filmmakers Sahraa Karimi and Sahra Mani to talk about the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan with "particular attention to the situation of filmmakers and artists" since the hardline religious group seized control of the country.
According to Biennale's official website, the panel will take place on 4 September at the Palazzo del Casino (Lido of Venice), in the Press Conference Room.
The topic of the panel is "the dramatic situation of Afghan filmmakers and artists in general, the need for the creation of humanitarian corridors and the guarantee of the granting of political refugee status, as well as concern for their future and the need to provide for their accommodation once they arrive in Europe".
Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan on 15 August, several Afghans have fled the country, many of whom said they had been threatened by the Taliban.
Karimi, who is the first female president of the Afghan Film Organization, wrote an open letter requesting the film community of the world to be the voice of the people of Afghanistan which went viral ahead of the Taliban takeover.
Her feature Hava, Maryam, Ayesha screened in Venice's Horizons (Orizzonti) sidebar in 2019.
Mani, a documentary maker whose credits include A Thousand Girls Like Me, will also participate. She will also present a project at the CoProduction Market of the Exhibition.
The panel will be moderated by Italian journalist Giuliano Battiston, who since 2007 has dedicated himself to Afghanistan with travel, research and essays.
(With inputs from agencies)
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