ROME, July 24 — British star Robert Pattinson’s latest film, Oasis brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher, as well as a four-hour documentary about Elon Musk are all set to feature at the Venice Film Festival this year in September.
Organisers unveiled a programme packed full of strong independent and arthouse productions yesterday, but lacking major Hollywood studio support—a pattern seen at other European festivals this year.
A total of 20 films will compete for the prestigious Golden Lion top award over the September 2-12 festival, including Primetime by Lance Oppenheim about an American TV show that sought to expose paedophiles.
It stars Pattinson, fresh from his acclaimed performance as the villainous Antinous in current box-office champion The Odyssey.
“This film is the true story of the unscrupulous host of a disturbing reality show by NBC,” Venice festival director Alberto Barbera told reporters about Primetime.
Other in-competition highlights include Wild Horse Nine, a dark comedy by Ireland’s Martin McDonagh starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, as well as Bunker by Florian Zeller featuring real-life Spanish power couple Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz.
As previously announced, the competition will open with Ink, a film about press baron Rupert Murdoch’s transformation of the British media by Trainspotting director Danny Boyle.
The latest movie from German veteran Werner Herzog—Bucking Fastard, featuring sisters Kate Mara and Rooney Mara—will also be in the running for the Golden Lion.
Two of Asia’s most acclaimed filmmakers, Japan’s Hirokazu Koreeda (Shoplifters) and South Korea’s Lee Chang-dong (Burning), are also in the line-up.
Hollywood ghosting
Hollywood and US streaming giants Netflix and Amazon chose Venice to host a series of big-budget films last year, but they have mostly steered clear this year.
European festivals typically rely on Hollywood to provide a dose of mass-market entertainment alongside the sometimes edgy independent cinema that forms the core of their programmes.
The US majors blanked the Berlin festival in February and Cannes in May.
Some observers had expected Alejandro Inarritu’s Digger starring a barely recognisable Tom Cruise as an overweight oil baron to make a splashy entrance on the Venice Lido.
The Disney-produced documentary Don’t Look Back in Anger about Manchester rock band Oasis and their comeback tour last year is an exception.
“The Gallagher brothers have promised they will be in Venice,” Barbera told reporters.
Another documentary is also guaranteed to attract attention, but will challenge viewers’ powers of concentration: a four-hour exploration of Elon Musk by American director Alex Gibney.
“He traces the whole career, the contradictions, and the power that is centralised in the hands of a single man,” Barbera explained.
There will also be plenty of overtly political fare tackling state repression in Hungary (Ground Floor by Gabor Reisz), (Letters From The Silenced Country”by Andrei Kutsila) and Iran (A Bit of Light by Ali Asgari).
Several films look at violence in Israeli-controlled Palestinian territory, while Citizen Osama by Ahmed Hassouna follows a photojournalist documenting the killing and destruction by Israeli troops in Gaza.
“This year’s programme reinforces the idea of cinema as an extraordinary tool for learning about reality,” Barbera said. “All the major problems of our contemporary world are reflected or echoed in films”
This year’s judging panel for the main competition will be headed by American actress Maggie Gyllenhaal The Lost Daughter), who will also present a short film about Marilyn Monroe, starring Dakota Johnson and Ellen Burstyn.
Venice regular George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn (The Exorcist, Interstellar) are to be given lifetime achievement awards.
