Venice Film Festival lineup features Julia Roberts, George Clooney and Emma Stone
Some of the other high-profile titles competing for the Golden Lion include: Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein with Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as the monster; Chloé Zhao's Hamnet, a work of historical fiction about William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his wife (Jessie Buckley) after the death of their son; and Benny Safdie's sports drama The Smashing Machine starring Johnson as MMA fighter Mark Kerr and Emily Blunt as his wife. Also in competition are Kathryn Bigelow's A House of Dynamite, a political thriller about an imminent missile strike on the US starring Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson; and Jim Jarmusch's anthology film Father Mother Sister Brother with Cate Blanchett and Adam Driver. Many master filmmakers are also in the section: Park Chan-wook will debut No Other Choice, László Nemes has his most personal film yet in Orphan, and François Ozon takes on an Albert Camus adaptation with Létranger.
One of the titles bound to make waves is Kaouther Ben Hania's The Voice of Hind Rajab about the young girl who was killed along with six other relatives when they were trapped in their car under Israeli fire in northern Gaza. Luca Guadagnino's After the Hunt, a psychological thriller for the #MeToo era about a complaint of sexual violence at an American university, is debuting out of competition – a joint decision between the filmmaker and Amazon MGM. It will mark Roberts' first time at the festival. She co-stars in the film with Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebiri. Julian Schnabel's In the Hand of Dante, based on the cult novel with Isaac, Gal Gadot, Al Pacino, and Martin Scorsese, is also showing out of competition, as is Gus Van Sant's Dead Mans Wire with Bill Skarsgård, Colman Domingo, and an appearance by Pacino.
The festival, held on the Lido, a barrier island in the Venetian Lagoon, will open with Paolo Sorrentino's La Grazia starring Toni Servillo and Anna Ferzetti on Aug. 27 and run through Sept. 6. Alexander Payne is presiding over the main competition jury, which also includes actor Fernanda Torres and directors Cristian Mungiu, Mohammad Rasoulof, and Maura Delpero. Venice has established itself as a solid launching pad for Oscar hopefuls with a handful of best picture winners including The Shape of Water, Spotlight, Nomadland, and Birdman, and many more nominees to its name. Last year's edition 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. Corbet co-wrote another competition entry with his partner Mona Fastvold, who directed The Testament of Ann Lee with Amanda Seyfried. Like The Brutalist, it was also shot on 70 mm but is quite a bit shorter.
Venice will be just the first stop for several films including Hamnet, Frankenstein, and The Smashing Machine, which will all go on to play at the Toronto Film Festival shortly after. The festival has programmed 15 documentaries out of competition including Golden Lion winner Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus's Cover-Up about investigative journalist Seymour Hersh; Sofia Coppola's documentary Marc by Sofia about her longtime friendship with fashion designer Marc Jacobs; Werner Herzog's doc Ghost Elephants described as being as exciting as a thriller; and Kim Novak's Vertigo. Both Novak and Herzog are being honored with lifetime achievement awards during the festival.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
4 days ago
- Arab News
What We Are Reading Today: ‘After a Dance'
Author: Bridget O'Connor Bridget O'Connor's 'After a Dance' — published in 2024 — is a dazzling collection of short stories that captures the messy, beautiful imperfections of human life. Each story brims with wit, sharp observations, and an unflinching exploration of characters living on the edge of their own realities. From an anonymous thief chasing an unusual prize to a hungover best man clinging to lost love, O'Connor weaves a tapestry of flawed yet relatable individuals. These characters, vividly drawn and achingly human, linger in the mind long after the final page. The unrepentant gold-digger who always emerges victorious is as compelling as the melancholy romantic grappling with their fragility. The prose is both biting and tender, oscillating between humor and heartbreak. O'Connor has a gift for capturing the absurdity of everyday life while uncovering profound truths beneath its surface. Her stories are unapologetically raw, often exposing the darker corners of the human psyche. Yet, amid the chaos, there is an undeniable beauty in the vulnerability of her characters. What sets 'After a Dance' apart is its balance. It neither romanticizes nor vilifies its subjects, instead presenting them as they are: Complex, contradictory, and utterly fascinating. Whether it is unraveling the narcissist or delving into the quiet strength of a dreamer, O'Connor showcases the full spectrum of human emotion with grace. This collection is a testament to O'Connor's storytelling. It is a rollercoaster of highs and lows, of laughter and tears, and, ultimately, of life itself. Few books manage to be this entertaining while leaving such a lasting emotional impact. A must-read for anyone who craves stories that are as honest as they are captivating.
Asharq Al-Awsat
5 days ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Lindsay Lohan Comes Full Circle with ‘Freakier Friday'
Lindsay Lohan says she drew upon her own experiences of motherhood for "Freakier Friday", the highly-anticipated sequel to her hit 2003 movie "Freaky Friday". Lohan, 39, welcomed her first child in 2023, a year before the Disney movie was filmed. "It felt full circle for me, and also the timing was pretty impeccable considering that I'm a new mom and I was able to bring being a mom into the character," Lohan said at the film's London premiere on Thursday. "It's the first time I'm able to do that on screen." "Freaky Friday", with a reported budget of $26 million, was a surprise hit, making over $160 million worldwide and obtaining a cult following. The 2025 follow-up sees Lohan and actress Jamie Lee Curtis reprising the roles of mother and daughter duo Tess and Anna Coleman. Twenty years on, Anna is a single parent to tomboy teen daughter Harper, played by Julia Butters. Their relationship comes under stress when Anna falls for Eric (Manny Jacinto), the father of Harper's new British classmate Lily (Sophia Hammons), and they decide to get married. The future stepsisters, with a mutual dislike for one another, decide to intervene. While the 2003 film saw a body swap between Tess and Anna, things get "freakier" this time around with Tess and Anna switching bodies with Lily and Harper. Before signing on to the sequel, Lohan ensured that Anna returned as a multi-faceted and relatable character. "It was important to me that we explained who Anna is today and how she's evolved and the dynamic between her and her daughter as she's a single working mom. There are some basic points that I wanted to get across because I want people to see the movie and find a piece of it that they can grab onto and be like, 'okay, I get that'," she said. Directed by Nisha Ganatra, the movie also sees actor Chad Michael Murray reprising the role of young Anna's love interest, Jake. Shooting the sequel was a "lovefest", said Murray. "It was the same, but better. It felt very much like connective tissue to the first movie. Everyone loved going to work and no one wanted to go home." "Freakier Friday" marks Lohan's big screen return. "It's obviously nerve-wracking because you want it to be great and you want people to love what you do," she said. "As long as people are enjoying what I'm doing and it's making them happy, then I feel like I'm doing my job and that's what I'm here to do." "Freakier Friday" begins its global cinematic rollout on August 6.
Arab News
5 days ago
- Arab News
Manal AlDowayan discusses taking her project ‘Thikra' on tour
BEIRUT: The contemporary dance performance 'Thikra,' designed by Saudi contemporary artist Manal AlDowayan and English dancer and choreographer Akram Khan, was orginally staged as a site-specific piece for the AlUla Arts Festival earlier this year. It has now been adapted and is currently touring Europe, with upcoming shows in Spain, Luxembourg, France, England, Italy and Germany. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @ AlDowayan admits that, through 'Thikra,' she's 'been bitten by the theater bug,' thanks to its collaborative process and live audience interaction. It has become an exciting new space for her creative expression. 'I don't (normally) have an audience experience,' Al Dowayan tells Arab News. 'In the theater world… you bow and they clap and there's a standing ovation… the curtain goes down and the clapping doesn't stop.' At the heart of 'Thikra' — and AlDowayan's broader creative mission — is the act of storytelling, especially as a tool for cultural preservation. 'My work is a narrative biography of who I am and the experiences I've faced moving through this world,' AlDowayan tells Arab News. 'We were sitting around a lone bush in the desert and I thought: 'This is it. This is the location (in which to set 'Thikra'),'' she recalls. '(The show is set in) a circle, inspired by how we sit around fires and tell oral histories.' For AlDowayan, storytelling holds particular weight for women, whose voices have historically been marginalized. She strives to resurrect narratives that have been silenced or erased. 'It started from feminist thinking — women's presence in public spaces and the idea of erasure: your name, your identity,' she says. AlDowayan says she is eager to further explore theater as a medium for her work. 'Using the human body as a conduit of expressing a creative idea… that's deeply inspiring for me,' she says. And her interest in performance as an artform is not just about creative growth; it's also about redefining cultural narratives. 'I don't think Saudi Arabia — or artists and creatives from Saudi Arabia — should be excluded from the global language of creativity,' AlDowayan concludes.
