The Hollywood scriptwriters and actors strike adds support to the other side of the pond. In Venice, the president of the official section jury, Damien Chazelle, wore a T-shirt in favor of the scriptwriters' demonstration, a garment that was also openly displayed by filmmakers and jury members Martin McDonagh and Laura Poitras, winner of the Lion Gold Award last year for his documentary La belleza y el dolor.
The director of works such as La La land or First man, films that he has previously brought to the Mostra, began his speech at this morning's press conference by recalling that the scriptwriters' strike is 120 days old today and the actors' strike is 48 before defend "the basic idea that every piece of art has value and is not just a piece of content to feed a channel, as seems to be the prevailing idea in Hollywood now." The Oscar-winning director of La La Land has expressed that "people must be paid appropriately for each work of art" and has also lamented the absence in the contest of "a lot of people who would love to be here". "These are difficult times in Hollywood for screenwriters and actors but also for technicians," he added.
According to the director of Babylon, "everyone is affected and we must not forget it as we celebrate the art of cinema here in Venice." The 38-year-old filmmaker considers the Italian festival "the best in the world." "There's something about Venice that lends itself to cinema and the idea of movies as a dream state, it feels like a city that's not quite real, but of course it's real, which makes it particularly suitable for a celebration. of the cinema".
Regarding his responsibility as president of the jury, he maintains that he will try not to be carried away by the opinions of the filmmakers who will evaluate the 23 films in competition with him and that he hopes there will be "a free debate." Chazelle was accompanied in his meeting with the press by the filmmakers Alice Diop and Jonas Carpignano, presidents of the juries of parallel sections, and the director of the Mostra, Alberto Barbera, who recalled that none of the actors from productions of the AMPTP, which includes platforms and large traditional studios, which definitively excludes names like Emma Stone, Michael Fassbender, Bradley Cooper, Ralph Fiennes or Benedict Cumberbatch. He has also confirmed the absence of Penélope Cruz for "personal reasons".
The Spanish co-stars alongside Adam Driver in Michael Mann's Ferrari. Both the American director and actor will parade tomorrow on the red carpet to present the premiere of this film in competition. "The impact of the strike will be felt, but not as much as it initially seemed. The first few days we ran the risk of losing the American component of the festival," Barbera said.
The tape that raises the curtain tonight at the opening gala bears an Italian stamp. Commander, by Edoardo de Angelis, explains the true story of Salvatore Todaro, commander of a submarine of the Italian Navy, who in October 1940 rescued the shipwrecked of a Belgian ship - a supposedly neutral country at that time - who had previously opened fire Against them. The film sends a humanist message above wars, sides and different beliefs by a man who respected the law of the sea.
A dramatic story not without touches of humor -the display of the Italian gastronomic variety in front of Belgian fries- that was born as a cinematographic response to what was happening in Italy in 2018, when the Vice President of the Italian Government Matteo Salvini tightened the measures against immigration by limiting humanitarian protection to asylum seekers. "Comandante symbolizes an idea of strength but also the true meaning of being Italian, which is something that has been neglected in recent years," denounced the director.
The film will be screened at tonight's opening gala, which will also pay tribute to veteran Italian filmmaker Liliana Cavani, who at 90 will receive the Golden Lion of Honor from Charlotte Rampling, star of her controversial film The Night Porter (1974), which chronicled the sadomasochistic sexual idyll between an SS torturer (Dirk Bogarde) and a Jewish prisoner (Rampling).
This pioneer of European cinema is also presenting her latest work at the Lido, The Order of Time, a reflection on the passage of life and opportunities inspired by the book of the same name by the scientific popularizer Carlo Rovelli. Cavani, with more than six decades in the trade, has recalled to journalists her beginnings as a documentarian after World War II, and has lashed out at those who continue to deny the Holocaust: "Denialism is absurd."
