With masks and tests, stars return to Venice for world’s oldest film festival

Issued on: 01/09/2021 – 17:50

Held on the glitzy, beach-lined Lido, the world’s oldest film festival will seek to recover some of the glamour lost last year, when coronavirus kept away many participants, including the most red carpet-worthy celebrities.

But with strict anti-Covid measures in place, “La Mostra”, as it is known in Italy, will again seek to prove that it is the indispensable springboard for the Oscars, with a first-rate sampling of films from around the globe.

Fans of Hollywood big-budget releases are anxiously awaiting the premiere of “Dune”, the $165 million sci-fi film, while Matt Damon and Ben Affleck—with or without Jennifer Lopez—return as actors and screenwriters for Ridley Scott’s “The Last Duel”.

In the main competition, the bar is high this year, after the rival Cannes Film Festival stole some focus in July after cancelling its 2020 competition.

But the director of Venice’s festival, Alberto Barbera, told AFP the pandemic appeared to have stimulated the creativity of filmmakers, with a particularly high quality of submissions this year.

“It’s like the difficult circumstances… served to stimulate the creativity of the directors,” said Barbera in an interview Tuesday ahead of the opening, as workers put final touches on the red carpet.

“Many of the directors’ films are among their best,” Barbera said. “This means that probably this edition will be one of the strongest of recent years.”

Stars are back

A jury led by “Parasite” director Bong Joon-Ho will award one of 21 films in the main competition the coveted Golden Lion top prize during a closing night ceremony on September 11.

“Filmmakers had a very tough time this year and last year, but in a way, looking back on it, it feels this was a test and it showed the life force of cinema,” Bong said at a press conference Wednesday.

“As a filmmaker I don’t believe the history of cinema could be stopped so easily. So Covid will pass and cinema will continue,” he added.

“Nomadland”, which snatched up multiple Oscars, including best film, at the 2020 Academy Awards, was last year’s Venice winner, although neither director Chloe Zhao nor leading actress Frances McDormand were able to make the trip to Italy.

This year, things should be different, Barbera said, with more Hollywood talent heading for the festival, more spectators and more worldwide press.

Among the stars expected to walk the red carpet over the course of the festival are Kristen Stewart – playing Lady Diana in Pablo Larrain’s “Spencer”—Benedict Cumberbatch, Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas.

The competition kicks off Wednesday evening with “Madres Paralelas” (Parallel Mothers), the latest film by Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar, starring Cruz as one of two women from different generations and backgrounds awaiting childbirth in a maternity ward.

A Golden Lion for career achievement will be awarded to Italy’s Oscar-winning actor and director Roberto Benigni (“Life is Beautiful”).

Netflix, which has had prior success at the festival with “Roma” and “Marriage Story”, is behind two of this year’s hopefuls, “The Power of the Dog” by Jane Campion and Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God.”

(AFP)