The 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival opened without stars or shinewith an Italian film and the actors’ and writers’ strike in Hollywood as a backdrop.
Damien Chazelle, president of the festival jury, appeared at the Lido Film Palace wearing a T-shirt in support of the writers’ strike. The director of La la land began his speech at the press conference, recalling that the writers’ strike is 120 days old today and the actors’ strike is 48, before defending “the basic idea that each work of art has value and is not just a piece of content to feed a channel, as seems the prevailing idea on hollywood now. Making art sustainable for the people who create it is at the heart of this conflict and the origin of the ‘residuals’ debate, people must be paid appropriately for each piece of art”.
The winner of an Oscar for best director for La la land lamented the absence at the festival of “many people who would love to be here” and stressed that “these are difficult times in Hollywood for screenwriters and actors, but also for technicians. Everyone is affected and we must not forget it as we celebrate the art of cinema here in Venice.”
YOU CAN SEE: Hollywood comes to a standstill in search of “radical changes”
Without artists and with scandal
On the other hand, the director of the Mostra, Alberto Barbera, confirmed that the Spanish actress Penélope Cruz will not attend the festival “for personal reasons”, despite the fact that her participation as the protagonist of Ferrari, by Michael Mann, along with Adam Driver, who competes in the official section.
Both Mann and Driver will be at the Lido tomorrow, after having obtained authorization from the Hollywood Actors Union (SAG-AFTRA) to promote their film, an independent production.
Barbera recalled that none of the actors from AMPTP productions will participate, which includes platforms and large traditional studios, which definitively excludes names such as Emma Stone, Michael Fassbender, Bradley Cooper, Ralph Fiennes or Benedict Cumberbatch.
YOU CAN SEE: “We will not back down”: the strike that paralyzes Hollywood
Among those who will be there, he mentioned Sophia Coppola’s team to present Priscilla, the biopic about Priscilla Presley, and Léa Seydoux, star of Bertrand Bonella’s new film, La bête.
The film that was supposed to open the festival, Challengers, with the young American star Zendaya, also had to be replaced by Comandante, an Italian film by Edoardo de Angelis, due to the protest that is rocking Hollywood.
But the Mostra is not without controversy due to the presence of three directors who were confronted with sexual scandals, including Roman Polanski, who is still under legal threat in the United States for the rape of a minor in 1977. The complainant publicly forgave him , but other women have come up with accusations against the director of The Pianist.
YOU CAN SEE: Hollywood: actors would join the writers’ strike
There is also Woody Allen, who will present Coup de Chance, his 50th film, who is haunted by accusations of abuse by his adoptive daughter Dylan, and the Frenchman Luc Besson, who has just been acquitted of a rape complaint, who will return to the movies with Dogman.
The decision to invite the three directors drew the ire of feminist activists. But for Alberto Barbera, it was It is necessary to make a distinction between man and artist.
#Venice #Film #Festival #begins #stars #controversy