Venice Film Festival draws to a close and is announcing its awards
The 82nd Venice Film Festival in Italy is concluding with an awards ceremony recognizing achievements in acting, directing, and best picture, known as the Golden Lion.The event featured many notable filmmakers and actors, including Benny Safdie, Jim Jarmusch, Toni Servillo, Luna Wedler, and the cast of “The Voice of Hind Rajab.” The festival showcased several potential Oscar contenders such as Kathryn Bigelow’s intense thriller “A house of Dynamite,” Guillermo del Toro’s gothic adaptation of “Frankenstein,” Park Chan-wook’s dark comedy “No other Choice,” and Dwayne Johnson’s dramatic role in “The Smashing Machine.” Other highlights included Yorgos Lanthimos’s provocative “bugonia,” George Clooney and Adam Sandler’s heartfelt “Jay Kelly,” and Jude Law’s portrayal of Vladimir Putin in “The Wizard of the Kremlin.” Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s documentary “The Voice of Hind Rajab” received a 22-minute standing ovation for its poignant depiction of the Israel-hamas war.
The main competition jury was led by Alexander Payne and included several renowned international filmmakers and actors. Past Venice winners like Lanthimos and del Toro returned with acclaimed films,and the festival maintains its reputation for showcasing future Oscar winners,having premiered several best picture winners over the past decade. Though Pedro Almodóvar’s previous Golden Lion-winning film received no Oscar nods,Venice continues to be a prestigious platform for both established and emerging cinematic talents.
Venice Film Festival draws to a close and is announcing its awards
VENICE, Italy (AP) — The 82nd Venice Film Festival is coming to a close with an awards ceremony Saturday. The prizes include nods for acting, directing and best picture, called the Golden Lion.
Several directors and actors were on the red carpet before the show, including “The Smashing Machine” director Benny Safdie, “Father Mother Sister Brother” filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, “La Grazia” star Toni Servillo, “Silent Friend” actor Luna Wedler and the ensemble behind “The Voice of Hind Rajab.”
This year’s competition lineup included many possible Oscar heavyweights. Kathryn Bigelow set off a warning shot about nuclear weapons and the apparatus of decision-making with her urgent, and distressingly realistic, thriller “A House of Dynamite.”
Guillermo del Toro unveiled his “Frankenstein,” a sumptuously gothic interpretation of the Mary Shelley classic, with Oscar Isaac portraying Victor Frankenstein as a romantic madman and Jacob Elodri, naive and raw, as the monster.
Park Chan-wook delighted with his darkly comedic “No Other Choice,” a satire about the desperation of white-collar workers competing for jobs.
Dwayne Johnson took a serious turn as a fighter grappling with addiction to painkillers and winner in the MMA/UFC sports drama “The Smashing Machine,” while Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons are strange and fierce as kidnapped and kidnapper in Yorgos Lanthimos’s provocative “Bugonia.”
George Clooney and Adam Sandler moved audiences as an aging movie star and his devoted manager on a soul-searching journey through Europe in “Jay Kelly,” a ruthlessly truthful love letter to Hollywood, in all its ridiculousness and beauty.
Jude Law furrowed his brows as Vladimir Putin in “The Wizard of the Kremlin” and Amanda Seyfried put a human, feminist, face to the religious sect the shakers in “The Testament of Ann Lee.”
Julia Roberts also flexed her acting muscles as a Yale philosophy professor in the midst of a misconduct accusation against a colleague in “After the Hunt,” but neither she nor her castmates Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri and director, Luca Guadagnino, are eligible for Venice prizes. The film debuted out of competition.
Far from Hollywood, Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, had a late-festival smash with “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” about the 6-year-old girl killed in Gaza, which reportedly got a 22-minute standing ovation. The film is a shattering document of the Israel-Hamas war, set entirely inside the dispatch center of the Palestine Red Crescent Society rescue service. It uses the real audio of Hind’s call, while actors portray the first responders.
“Nebraska” filmmaker Alexander Payne presided over the main competition jury, which included Brazilian actor Fernanda Torres, Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, French director Stéphane Brizé, Italian director Maura Delpero, Chinese actor Zhao Tao and Romanian director Cristian Mungiu.
Both Lanthimos and del Toro have won the Golden Lion before, for “Poor Things” and “The Shape of Water,” respectively. Those films also went on to win top Oscars, including best actress for Stone in “Poor Things,” and best picture and director for del Toro’s “The Shape of Water.”
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Since 2014, the Venice Film Festival has hosted four best picture winners, including “The Shape of Water,” “Birdman,” “Spotlight” and “Nomadland.” Last year, they had several eventual Oscar-winning films in the lineup, including Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” which won three including best actor for Adrien Brody, Walter Salles’ best international feature winner “I’m Still Here,” and the animated short “In the Shadow of the Cypress.”
The previous Golden Lion winner, Pedro Almodóvar’s English-language debut “The Room Next Door,” a smash at Venice with an 18-minute standing ovation, received no Oscar nominations.
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