Giovanni Bogani
Rain and wind devastate the Lido promenade hours before the start of the Venice Film Festival. It feels like winter. But soon everything will become clear: the film festival will be held in the eightieth year. Eighty editions, but more years of life. It started in 1932, with projections on the terrace of the Excelsior Hotel, no one thought about awards yet. Years of splendor, then came the war, had to face other – real – dramas, and Mostra was put on hold. As it happened in some editions of the 70s, years after 1968, fury, declared revolutions, protests. It was not air for stars, glamor, awards. And so the number of publications lagged behind the real age of the Exhibition. This time, the prizes are already available to a jury chaired by director Damien Chazelle. There are also films that skillfully combine authorial research and great gripping stories. He risked missing out on one ingredient: the stars. But eventually they will be there too.
“Next season will see the most anticipated films, there will be many discoveries,” says director Alberto Barbera. “There will be proof that cinema is alive and vital. Absences are limited, much less than we expected when the strike was called.”
Since July 13, American actors have been on strike against the rampant use of artificial intelligence in movies, and actors have been banned from events where they promote their films. So there will be a few notable absences: Emma Stone, the protagonist of Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Creatures. Or Bradley Cooper, director and protagonist of Maestro, about conductor Leonard Bernstein. As you know, the opening film “Pretenders” by Luca Guadagnino was skipped, the release of which was even delayed by a year. But in the end, everyone else will be there too. And there are already some unexpected glamorous arrivals: George Clooney stepped onto the Lido yesterday to accompany his wife, Amal Alamuddin, who will be honored the day after tomorrow for her work in support of human rights. Clooney supports the cause of his colleagues: he donated a million dollars for the most economically weak actors.
Adam Driver, Michael Mann’s Ferrari star, will be there. Driver, who plays the legendary racing car manufacturer, has been granted a temporary exemption from the actors’ union because Ferrari is an independent producer. Likewise, Jessica Chastain received an exception: the Oscar-winning actress will come September 8 to Mexican Michel Franco’s In Memoriam. And then there are directors who are sometimes more iconic than some of the stars. Like Woody Allen, who will be at the Lido on September 4th as director of the Coup de chance. Liliana Cavani, who will be the first director to receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement tonight. And the main character of The Night Porter, Charlotte Rampling, should give a speech in his honor. Two star directors are also expected at the Lido, such as Nicolas Winding Refn and Wes Anderson, as well as Mads Mikkelsen from The Promised Land, as well as Kaley Spaeny and Jacob Elordi, who play Priscilla Presley in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla. On September 2, Fanny Ardant will come to see Roman Polanski’s film The Palace.
And the Italians? At the Lido Pierfrancesco Favino is expected the protagonist of the opening film, Comandante by Edoardo De Angelis and many others, from Toni Servillo to Valerio Mastandrea, Alba Rohrvacher, Alessandro Gassman, Micaela Ramazzotti, who made her debut as director of the film “Happiness”, and Pietro Castellitto, who directs Pope Sergius in Aeneas. Tonight is the inauguration in the presence of Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano. The godmother of the ceremony is actress Katerina Murino.