Venice Film Festival

The jury, presided by Lucrecia Martel (La Ciénaga) will judge the 21 pictures to award to one of them the legendary Golden Lion. And this year, the choice is going to be tough.

Hirokazu Kore-Eda (last year’s Golden Palm winner with Shoplifters) is inaugurating by unveiling his new feature film, The Truth, starring Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche and Ethan Hawke. The Mostra will also see Noah Baumbach coming back into international festival, presenting Marriage Story, two years after The Meyerowitz Stories was presented in Cannes. With Scarlett Johannson and Adam Driver as headlines, the movie will be released on Netflix, same as The King (also competing in Venice) starring Timothée Chalamet as Henry IV of France.

The contest for the Golden Lion will make us fly with the stars with Brad Pitt in James Gray’s Ad Astra, as well as Todd Philips’ The Joker will make us fall to the ground and beyond to meet with Joaquim Phoenix. Great expectations come from Soderbergh’s latest movie, The Laundromat starring none other than Meryl Streep, or also Benedict Andrews’ Seberg performed by Kristen Stewart, beginning her European tour here in Venice before flying to Deauville to be rewarded with and honorary price.

Finally, French directors Olivier Assayas and Robert Guédiguian will represent the hexagon respectively with Wasp Network and Gloria Mundi. In the meantime, Jean Dujardin will be here to defend An Officer and a Spy, new film by controversial director Roman Polanski, inspired by the Dreyfus Affair.

Also quite polemical, Gaspar Noé’s hard to watch Irréversible will be projected, non-competing, in its reversed version while the festival was accused of sexism with only two women in competition this year : Saudi Haiafaa Al-Mansour presenting The Perfect Candidate and Shannon Murphy with Babyteeth.

It is the proof that you can’t hide controversy behind a bunch of good films.

Offical website : https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2019