Venice Film Festival rewards socially conscious cinema, with a twist: room for series!
Euthanasia, Holocaust, child education, illegal abortion, Nazi right-wing: the awards lineup at the 81st Venice Film Festival gives the impression that what convinced the jury, led by French actress Isabelle Huppert, were strong and provocative themes. Cinema with a conscience has truly found its home at the Lido. Another notable aspect is the prominent role of women: four out of the five female directors in competition walked away with prizes (the only exception being Italian filmmaker Giulia Louise Steigerwalt of Diva Futura).
The Golden Lion went to Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar for The Room Next Door (distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures). It marks the first English-language film by the acclaimed veteran from Madrid, who in this work directs Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, two friends, one of whom, terminally ill, decides to undergo euthanasia.
Italy took home the Silver Lion with Vermiglio by Maura Delpero (Lucky Red), a whispered tale about the passage of time in the metaphysical landscape of the Dolomites near the Austrian border, where war is raging, but far away, down in the valley. The Silver Lion for Best Director was awarded to The Brutalist, written and directed by Brady Corbet for Focus Features and Universal Pictures. The film chronicles 30 years in the life of Laszlo Toth (Adrien Brody), a Hungarian-born Jewish architect who survives the Holocaust. In 1947, Toth emigrates to the United States with his wife, Erzsébet (Felicity Jones), where he accepts a contract with a mysterious and wealthy client, which will alter the course of his life.
Nicole Kidman won Best Actress (Coppa Volpi) for her performance in Babygirl (A24) by Danish-American director Halina Reijn, who helms an erotic thriller in which the statuesque Australian appears nude in several scenes. Kidman plays Romy, a robotics industry manager with a husband and children, who suddenly becomes entangled in a sadomasochistic relationship with a young intern named Samuel. Due to her mother’s sudden passing, Kidman was unable to attend Venice to collect the award.
According to the jury, the Best Actor was Vincent Lindon, the star of Jouer avec le Feu (a French production, distributed in Italy by Andrea Romeo’s I Wonder). Directed by French sisters Delphine and Muriel Coulin, Lindon portrays a widower, a former union leader, raising two teenagers, one of whom gets drawn into a neo-Nazi group with tragic consequences.
Then there’s the case of Brazilian director Walter Salles and his film I’m Still Here, starring the extraordinary Fernanda Torres as Eunice Pavia, a mother of five whose life is upended by the peculiar arrest and subsequent disappearance of her ex-congressman husband. Many expected Torres to win Best Actress, but instead, the film took home the Best Screenplay award for Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega.
The Special Jury Prize went to April, Georgian director Dea Kulumbegashvili’s second feature, the story of a midwife who performs illegal abortions. The Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor went to Paul Kircher for his role as Anthony, a smart 14-year-old who steals his father’s beloved motorcycle to reach the girl he loves, in the French film Leur Enfants Après Eux, directed by Ludovic Boukherma and Zoran Boukherma.
A curiosity: At Venice 81, serialized storytelling made its grand debut in the cinematic Olympus. Great success was attributed to M. Il Figlio del Secolo, the highly anticipated series based on Antonio Scurati’s award-winning novel, which won the prestigious Premio Strega and became an international bestseller. The series explores the rise of fascism in Italy and Benito Mussolini’s ascent to power. Directed by British filmmaker Joe Wright, known for acclaimed works such as Darkest Hour, Atonement, and Cyrano, the show is a collaboration between Sky Studios and Lorenzo Mieli for The Apartment, a Fremantle Group company. It is co-produced with Pathé, in association with Small Forward Productions, along with partnerships with Fremantle, CINECITTÀ S.p.A., and Sky. Luca Marinelli, one of Italy’s most renowned actors, portrays young Mussolini. Stefano Bises, known for Gomorrah – The Series, The New Pope, and ZeroZeroZero, wrote the episodes.
Fonte: labiennale.org
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Euthanasia, Holocaust, child education, illegal abortion, Nazi right-wing: the awards lineup at the 81st Venice Film Festival gives the impression that what convinced the jury, led by French actress Isabelle Huppert, were strong and provocative themes. Cinema with a conscience has truly found its home at the Lido. Another notable aspect is the prominent role of women: four out of the five female directors in competition walked away with prizes (the only exception being Italian filmmaker Giulia Louise Steigerwalt of Diva Futura).
The Golden Lion went to Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar for The Room Next Door (distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures). It marks the first English-language film by the acclaimed veteran from Madrid, who in this work directs Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, two friends, one of whom, terminally ill, decides to undergo euthanasia.
Italy took home the Silver Lion with Vermiglio by Maura Delpero (Lucky Red), a whispered tale about the passage of time in the metaphysical landscape of the Dolomites near the Austrian border, where war is raging, but far away, down in the valley. The Silver Lion for Best Director was awarded to The Brutalist, written and directed by Brady Corbet for Focus Features and Universal Pictures. The film chronicles 30 years in the life of Laszlo Toth (Adrien Brody), a Hungarian-born Jewish architect who survives the Holocaust. In 1947, Toth emigrates to the United States with his wife, Erzsébet (Felicity Jones), where he accepts a contract with a mysterious and wealthy client, which will alter the course of his life.
Nicole Kidman won Best Actress (Coppa Volpi) for her performance in Babygirl (A24) by Danish-American director Halina Reijn, who helms an erotic thriller in which the statuesque Australian appears nude in several scenes. Kidman plays Romy, a robotics industry manager with a husband and children, who suddenly becomes entangled in a sadomasochistic relationship with a young intern named Samuel. Due to her mother’s sudden passing, Kidman was unable to attend Venice to collect the award.
According to the jury, the Best Actor was Vincent Lindon, the star of Jouer avec le Feu (a French production, distributed in Italy by Andrea Romeo’s I Wonder). Directed by French sisters Delphine and Muriel Coulin, Lindon portrays a widower, a former union leader, raising two teenagers, one of whom gets drawn into a neo-Nazi group with tragic consequences.
Then there’s the case of Brazilian director Walter Salles and his film I’m Still Here, starring the extraordinary Fernanda Torres as Eunice Pavia, a mother of five whose life is upended by the peculiar arrest and subsequent disappearance of her ex-congressman husband. Many expected Torres to win Best Actress, but instead, the film took home the Best Screenplay award for Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega.
The Special Jury Prize went to April, Georgian director Dea Kulumbegashvili’s second feature, the story of a midwife who performs illegal abortions. The Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor went to Paul Kircher for his role as Anthony, a smart 14-year-old who steals his father’s beloved motorcycle to reach the girl he loves, in the French film Leur Enfants Après Eux, directed by Ludovic Boukherma and Zoran Boukherma.
A curiosity: At Venice 81, serialized storytelling made its grand debut in the cinematic Olympus. Great success was attributed to M. Il Figlio del Secolo, the highly anticipated series based on Antonio Scurati’s award-winning novel, which won the prestigious Premio Strega and became an international bestseller. The series explores the rise of fascism in Italy and Benito Mussolini’s ascent to power. Directed by British filmmaker Joe Wright, known for acclaimed works such as Darkest Hour, Atonement, and Cyrano, the show is a collaboration between Sky Studios and Lorenzo Mieli for The Apartment, a Fremantle Group company. It is co-produced with Pathé, in association with Small Forward Productions, along with partnerships with Fremantle, CINECITTÀ S.p.A., and Sky. Luca Marinelli, one of Italy’s most renowned actors, portrays young Mussolini. Stefano Bises, known for Gomorrah – The Series, The New Pope, and ZeroZeroZero, wrote the episodes.
Fonte: labiennale.org
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