Venice film festival: Stars, glamour and controversy await
August 28, 2019
Miscellaneous
Already, in the run-up to the 76th edition of the festival, there have been some heated discussions, for example about how once again, the number of female directors is extremely low, while some are still not convinced that streaming services such as Netflix should have a place at the event. And then there's the fact that Roman Polanski's newest film will be shown.
It will get underway on August 28 with the family drama "The Truth" by Japanese director Kore-eda Hirokazu. Last year he won the Golden Palm in Cannes for the film "Shoplifters." His new movie, featuring a top-name cast that includes French film stars Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche and US actor Ethan Hawke, marks the first time Kore-eda has made a film outside of his home country.
Over the course of the festival, many more stars will be walking down the red carpet, including Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Scarlett Johansson and Robert Pattinson. Rolling Stones star Mick Jagger might also make an appearance for the festival's final screening on September 7.
Such names underscore just how important Venice has become for Hollywood. The festival poses the first major stage for potential Oscar candidates. In the past few years, many films that made their world premieres in Venice would go on to win Oscars, including "Roma," "La La Land," and "The Shape of Water."
Hollywood heavyweights are appearing this year in several films. There's "Joker," a new, even darker take on the Batman superhero franchise starring Joaquin Phoenix and Robert De Niro, and directed by Todd Phillips.
"Ad Astra" meanwhile is the first foray into sci-fi territory by acclaimed director James Gray, with Brad Pitt starring as an astronaut on an existential space odyssey.
"Waiting for the Barbarians," starring Johnny Depp and Robert Pattinson, is based on a novel by South African writer JM Coetzee dealing with immigration and racism.
A great deal of discussion is expected about productions presented by streaming services. Whereas the Cannes festival has excluded streaming services from its competition in a row over distribution rights, Venice is apparently more open.
As a result, Steven Soderbergh's drama about the Panama Papers, "The Laundromat," with Meryl Streep and Gary Oldman, as well as Noah Baumbach's semi-autobiographical divorce drama, "Marriage Story," with Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver, are in the running for the festival's highest prize, the Golden Lion.
Even more controversial has been the revelation that of the 21 films in the competition, only two are by female directors, continuing the low quotient of women behind the camera in Venice.
Be that as it may, heading the jury this year will be Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel, making her the seventh woman to hold the position.
In all likelihood, however, one man will overshadow all other issues: Roman Polanski. The 86-year-old's latest film, "J'accuse (An Officer and a Spy)," is a historical drama starring Jean Dujardin on the Dreyfus affair, an infamous case of anti-Semitism in France at the turn of the 20th century.
In the wake of the #MeToo movement, Polanski was expelled from the Oscars Academy for raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977.
The question now is: Will Polanski be coming to Venice? The very fact that he was invited by festival director Alberto Barbera unleashed a lot of controversy, which will certainly flare up again during the festival.
