Venice started without stars / Damien Chazelle’s support for the strikers
While this year’s Venice jury president Damien Chazelle supported the strike by Hollywood writers and actors, the opening night film, a war drama, received a 90-second standing ovation.
Charso Press: According to Variety, the 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival started last night.
While Luca Guadagnino’s film was supposed to open this festival, the Hollywood strike caused a tennis-centric film to be replaced by a World War II drama titled “Commander” by Eduardo De Angelis.
Before the start of the festival, Damian Chazelle was the head of this year’s jury, who supported the strike of Hollywood writers and actors and emphasized: Art is more than content!
In this situation, the absence of actors on the opening night of Venice was strongly felt, and the number of people who lined up outside the Sala Grande theater was very small, and while Jane Campion, one of the members of the jury, went among the crowd to sign autographs and take selfies. , the atmosphere was completely different from when Lady Gaga or Timothee Chalamet were in front of people.
At the first day’s press conference, Chazelle and fellow jury member Martin McDonagh supported the writers’ and actors’ strikes in Hollywood by wearing shirts with the slogan “Writers Guild on Strike.”
Chazelle said: Today is the 121st day that Hollywood writers have gone on strike and the 48th day that actors are on strike. I think there is an underlying idea that every work of art has its own value. How art is made and how art can be made sustainable for the people who make it has lost a lot of color in the last 10 years.
The director of “Lala Land” continued: There are many issues on the table regarding strikes, but for me this is the main issue. The debate about paying for reproductions is about the idea that people get paid for each piece of art. It’s obviously a tough time in Hollywood, especially for writers, actors, and behind-the-scenes. Everyone is affected by this situation and I only emphasize that we are here to cherish cinema as art.
As a result of the strikes, prominent stars such as Bradley Cooper will not be present at this festival.
Alberto Barbera, the director of the Venice Film Festival, reiterated that due to the strike, few American actors will be present at the Lido, and Adam Driver is expected to promote “Ferrari”, Kelly Espanyol and Jacob Elverdi to promote Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla”, Caleb Landry Jones for ” “Dogman” Luc Besson and Jessica Chastain will come to the festival this year for the film “Memory” by Mexican director Michel Franco, which will be screened at the end of the festival. All of these actors have received endorsements from the Actors Guild to promote their independent films.
One of the important programs of the opening ceremony, which was hosted by Italian actress Caterina Moreno, was the awarding of the Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award to Italian director Liliana Cavani. Charlotte Rampling, who was an unforgettable actress in Cavani’s groundbreaking film in 1974 titled “The Night Watchman,” presented this award to the 90-year-old lady and said: “I can say that Liliana Cavani and I were defined by “The Night Watchman.”
Cavani also reminded that she is the first woman to receive the Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award in the 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival. He said: “It’s not fair, and there are women screenwriters and directors who work just as well as men.”
Cavani, who is 90, is showing his latest film, “The Order of Time,” in Venice this year, a meditation on time based on a book by Italian physicist Carlo Rovelli, which will be screened outside the competition section.
Another important figure on the opening day of Venice was Italy’s Favino, who plays a heroic naval commander in the movie “Commander”. The director of the film, De Angelis, who recently made a TV series adapted from Elena Ferrante titled “Liar Life of Adults”, also appeared on the stage to talk about his reasons for making this film and the place of this commander in Italian history, who served as a role model for the Italian Coast Guard in The rescue of immigrants and asylum seekers has remained in the memories.
The Venice Film Festival continues until September 9 (18 Shahrivar).