The Lion’s Share, a documentary film by Baptiste Echegaray and Giuseppe Bucca dedicated to the Venice Film Festival.

Eighty editions of the Venice Film Festival, narrated by historical and unpublished interviews, a rich repertoire of archival images and the voice of the narrator – this is the voice of Carla Bruni. The documentary The Lion’s Share by Batista Echegaray and Giuseppe Bucca, produced by Canal Plus and Rai Com and edited by Rai Cultura, traces the milestones and important moments of the world’s oldest film festival, which, since its birth in 1932, has never ceased to be a mirror of its time and an integral part of the history of Italian culture. In fact, even today, at the end of August, Mostra del Cinema remains a “highlight” for Italian and foreign actors and directors who compete on the Lido with their best films to win the iconic Golden Lion.
The documentary, divided into three moments, suggests starting with Venice Glamour, Sophia Loren, Virna Lisi, Gina Lollobrigida, Brigitte Bardot, all the way to Penélope Cruz, Monica Bellucci and Cate Blanchett, several times on the catwalk in Venice. and winner of the Volpi Cup in 2007 and 2022. Instead, the second chapter is devoted to the turbulent eras of the Exhibition, the most intense moments, starting from the display of the disturbing “Doctor Volpi”. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, from the first edition of 1932, during the uncertain years of the Nouvelle, celebrated in Venice like nowhere else in the world. In the third part, “Venice Discovered”, the exhibition is a showcase for new talents: Pedro Almodovar, Emir Kusturica, Wim Wenders, Akira Kurosawa, Jane Champion, are part of a long list of artists discovered at the Lido and finding their initiation.
In The Lion’s Share, the voices of actors and great directors such as Penelope Cruz, Tilda Swinton, Fellini, Antonioni, Guadagnino – to name but a few – mix with black and white and color images of red carpets, beach parties of large hotels, crowds enthusiastic fans waiting for the stars. And again a series of protests and scandals, like the one that was caused by the screening of “The Passion of the Christ” by Scorsese in 1988.
“You run to Mostra to experience heightened emotions that last throughout the film: first they love, then they hate, then they quarrel. says the voice-over of Carla Bruni. “Nothing, after all, it’s more important than cinema.”
The Lion’s Share will be presented at the Venice Film Festival as a world premiere on Saturday, September 2.

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