Venice is set to award the Golden Lion after a star-studded competition

Published on: 07/09/2024 – 07:11Altered: 07/09/2024 – 07:08

3 minutes

From American director Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist”, which follows the tormented artistic life of a Holocaust survivor, to veteran Spanish author Pedro Almodovar’s “A Room Next Door”, the film about friendship between women and the end of their lives: there are many choices, but no film is considered a favorite.

This year, stars have flocked to the glamorous Lido for the 81st edition of the world’s oldest film festival, whose winners often go on to win Oscars.

The red carpet in Venice this season was graced by stars like Lady Gaga, who co-stars with Joaquin Phoenix in the sequel to Todd Phillips’ antihero film “Joker,” or George Clooney and Brad Pitt, whose action film “Wolfs,” which is available to stream on Apple TV+, premiered out of competition.

Experts have already declared “The Brutalist” and “Queer,” an Italian director Luca Guadagnino-directed adaptation of Beat Generation writer William Burroughs’ short novel, as films to watch, both for their cinematic ambition and the leads of actors Adrien Brody and Daniel Craig, respectively.

Angelina Jolie is up for best actress for her stunning portrayal of opera diva Maria Callas in Pablo Larrain’s “Maria,” as is Nicole Kidman for “Babygirl,” an erotic thriller whose explicit sex scenes required an on-screen fearlessness that the actress called “liberating.”

The jury, led by French actress Isabelle Huppert, is also busy choosing the best actor. Both Brody in “The Brutalist” and Craig in “Queer” are among the most transformative films of the festival.

Craig, who played James Bond five times, is already being predicted as a leading contender for an Oscar in March for his role as William Lee, a lonely, hard-drinking gay writer in 1940s Mexico City whose unrequited love for a young man leads him on an anxious, drug-addled road trip across South America.

Craig said the role gave him a wide range of experiences and emotions.

“If I were to write a role for myself and check off the things I wanted to do, I could do them all,” Craig told reporters before the film’s premiere.

Voices heard

The films at the festival, where American actress Sigourney Weaver and Australian director Peter Weir received their lifetime achievement awards, did not shy away from difficult subjects, whether they were contemporary or historical.

Abortion (“April”), white supremacy (“The Order”), the Mafia (“Sicilian Letters”) and forced disappearances and murders during Brazil’s military dictatorship (“I’m Still Here”) were some of the subjects of films competing for the Golden Lion.

Several films examined war and its devastating consequences. They included documentaries about the war in Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Two Italian feature films were about the two world wars of the last century.

One of the most notable films was “Russians at War” by Russian-Canadian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova, who went behind the lines of the war in Ukraine with Russian soldiers.

“Russian soldiers are not someone whose voice is heard,” Trofimova said at a press conference.

“This is my attempt to see through the fog of war and see people as people.”

© 2024 AFP