The 74th edition of the Venice
international film festival opens in the lagoon city on
Wednesday with a line-up of much anticipated movies and
spectacular settings for the nighttime events.
The programme running until September 9 interprets the
present and near future, exploring new languages of cinema in a
demonstration of vitality and hope despite the global crisis.
On Friday Hollywood legends Robert Redford, 81, and Jane
Fonda, 79, reunite to receive Golden Lions for career
achievement before an out-of-competition showing of Our Souls at
Night, directed by Ritesh Batra and starring the pair.
The pack of long-awaited films is led by Mother!, a
psychological thriller by Darren Aronofsky and starring Jennifer
Lawrence and Javier Bardem.
There is also anticipation for the premiere of the first two
episodes of Suburra, the first Italian series produced by
streaming-on-demand giant Netflix.
Glamorous couples present at the festival will include Bardem
and Penelope Cruz, George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin (and maybe
also their twins?), Lawrence and Aronofsky, who became an item
during filming of Mother!, and Paolo Virzì and Micaela
Ramazzotti.
This year's festival also introduces a new competition
section for films in virtual reality.
The Shape of Water by Mexico's Guillermo Del Toro about the
encounter between a dumb woman and a mysterious amphibian
creature is rumoured to be among the favourites for the Golden
Lion.
The theme of migration also finds room in the programme with
Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei's Human Flow documenting the
living conditions of migrants and refugees all over the world
and the new film by Andrea Segre, L'ordine delle cose, focusing
on the relations between Italy and Libya.
The line-up also includes around 30 Italian films, including
four in the competition section.
The animation film Gatta Cenerentola by Alessandro Rak and
Cosimo Gomez's debut film Brutti e cattivi are among those
generating the greatest interest.
The jury is chaired by Annette Bening, while for the first
time ever the opening and closing ceremonies will be hosted by a
man, Italian actor Alessandro Borghi.
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