The Venice Film Festival opens without Hollywood stars and in a lighter version

2020-08-31T10:10:51.903Z

From September 2 to 12, during a 77th edition marked by the health crisis, 18 films - including two American - will be in the running to succeed the Joker, Lion d'Or 2019.

In 2019, Brad Pitt, Meryl Streep or Joaquin Phoenix were featured on the Lido. In 2020, the Venice Film Festival has to do without Hollywood stars, thwarting the festival's ambition to become a launching pad for the Oscars. Its 77th edition, from September 2 to 12, is marked by the coronavirus pandemic.

The oldest festival in the world, which has hosted American legends such as Marlon Brando, Martin Scorsese and Robert de Niro, is the first international film event to be held since the start of the global health crisis, after the cancellation of the most prestigious of them - its direct competitor - Cannes, in May.

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No less than 18 films are in the running to succeed Todd Phillips' Joker , Golden Lion 2019 before winning two Oscars five months later, including that of best actor for Joaquin Phoenix. Among them, a French film, an Indian, four Italians ... but very few Americans.

Two American directors

No big name from Hollywood and only two female directors to represent the United States. Chinese-American Chloé Zhao, author of the independent film The Rider and chosen by Marvel for one of its next installments, will present Nomadland, the story of a modern-day nomad in Nevada, played by Oscar-winning actress, Frances McDormand , while a more confidential director, the Norwegian Mona Fastvold, presents The World to Come .

Out of competition, the African-American actress Regina King goes behind the camera for One Night in Miami , which features the young Cassius Clay, who will become Mohamed Ali, as well as Malcolm X. A film that could be talked about while the race question is once again hot in the United States.

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Despite everything, the contrast is complete with last year, where, in addition to Joker , Venice had known how to attract the space odyssey of James Gray Ad Astra with Brad Pitt, or The Laundromat of Steven Soderbergh. It is in the jury that we will find this year a Hollywood star, the Australian Cate Blanchett, as president.

" Some spectacular films will be missing, blocked by the confinement which still weighs on the programming of the most awaited Hollywood releases ", had to note before the launch of the festival its artistic director, Alberto Barbera, craftsman of the love story of the Mostra with Hollywood in recent years. At the cost of opening up, decried by part of the profession, towards American video-on-demand platforms like Netflix.

Oscars Antechamber

The bet had paid off, to the point that Venice, ideally placed as the Toronto festival in September, in the festival calendar before the Anglo-Saxon awards season, was seen as an anteroom for the Oscars. Cannes takes place upstream, and Berlin too late, in February.

Gravity and Roma by Alfonso Cuaron, La la land by Damien Chazelle, 3 Billboards, Les Panneaux de la vengeance by Martin McDonagh ... so many films presented or awarded on the lagoon before being Oscar winners a few months later. But this year, between the sanitary traffic restrictions, and the cinemas shut down for three months in the United States, the American studios have their heads elsewhere.

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In this slump, the biggest productions have all been postponed, starting with Christopher Nolan's Tenet , finally released in more than 70 countries, the James Bond Dying Can Wait , the ninth episode of Fast and Furious and Wonder Woman 1984 . Disney studios have redirected their flagship product Mulan to platforms, and the Oscars themselves have been postponed by two months, to April 25.

Ironically, the Cannes rival, forced to physical cancellation and with whom a “ shared gesture ” had for a time been mentioned, was still able to hang Hollywood productions on his hunting chart of the year: the Soul animated film by Pixar studios and The French Dispatch by Wes Anderson are in its " official selection ".

A turbulent history

This edition in the midst of a health crisis is just the latest mishap in a festival with a turbulent history. The Venice Film Festival has survived many vicissitudes since its birth in 1932, whether it was World War II or the student demonstrations of the 1960s and 1970s.

The Mostra began on August 6, 1932 on the terrace of the luxurious Excelsior hotel, with the screening of Docteur Jekyll and Mister Hyde by Rouben Mamoulian. In 1934, a scandal broke out with Gustav Machatý's Éxtasis , the first film to show a full nude.

Launched during the fascist era, the festival awards the best film not a Golden Lion, but the Mussolini Cup, in tribute to the Duce who rules the peninsula with an iron fist. The world conflict arrives and the Mostra is put in parentheses: the 1943, 1944 and 1945 editions do not take place.

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After the war, the Mussolini Cup was quickly renamed the “ International Grand Prix of Venice and Lion of Saint Mark ”, before taking its current name in the 1950s. The 1946 edition, in the wake of the fall of fascism, marks the return of American films, absent since 1939. The following editions dedicate authors of the caliber of Luis Buñuel, Luchino Visconti, Jean-Luc Godard or Agnès Varda .

The student movement of the 60s and 70s also affected the festival, forced to give up the awards ceremony, deemed obsolete by the thinking heads of the student revolt. This movement remained very active for a long time, even leading to the cancellation of the 1973, 1974, 1977 and 1978 editions. The 1980s marked the rebirth of the Mostra and the coveted Lion d'Or.

This year, the 18 films in the running for the prestigious award are:

Emma Dante's sorelle Macaluso (Italy)

The world to come by Mona Fastwold (USA)

Nuevo orden by Michel Franco (Mexico / France)

Lovers of Nicole Garcia (France)

Laïla in Haifa by Amos Gitaï (Israel and France)

Dear comrades by Andreï Kontchalovsky (Russia)

The sacrificed lovers by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Japan)

Sun children by Majid Majidi (Iran)

Pieces of a woman by Kornel Mundruczo (Canada and Hungary)

Miss Marx by Susanna Nicchiarelli (Italy and Belgium)

Padrenostro by Claudio Noce (Italy)