Venice: Jury President Bong Joon-Ho Hopes For Explosive Experience; Fest Chief Predicts Radical Change Ahead For Cinema & Streamers

Audrey Diwan’s 1960s abortion drama “L’Evenement” (“Happening”) won the Golden Lion at the 78th Venice International Film Festival, while the runner up honor went to Paolo Sorrentino’s semi-autobiographical “The Hand of God.”

Cynthia Erivo looks stunning in her final look at the 2021 Venice Film Festival!

Are you old enough to remember when Netflix was an underdog in international film festivals? When trepidation towards the future of film distribution was enough to keep streaming titles from winning in major film competitions? With all due respect to the Cannes Film Festival, those days certainly seem to be coming to an end. The Venice Film Festival has announced its lineup of winners, and Netflix has made quite a show for itself in the major categories.

Audrey Diwan’s “L’Evenement” (“Happening”) has won the Golden Lion at the 78th Venice International Film Festival.

Guy Lodge Film CriticThe Venice Film Festival is drawing to a close as tonight’s star-studded awards ceremony begins, with Oscar-winning filmmaker Bong Joon-ho’s jury set to reveal their selections from this year’s official Competition.

In shades of the gunmetal gray that has become the grading palette of choice for Serious Historical Epics — possible because arterial blood spray shows up so nice and red against it —Ridley Scott‘s starry, surprisingly engaging “Rashomon“-inflected “The Last Duel” opens on the wintry December day of the duel in question.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentDina Amer, an Egyptian-American filmmaker and award-winning journalist, explores the roots of radicalization through a contemporary coming-of-age story in her bold feature debut “You Resemble Me,” which world premieres today at the Venice Film Festival.“You Resemble Me” delivers a nuanced character study of Hasna Aït Boulahcen, the troubled young woman who became connected to the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris and was erroneously believed to be

Manori Ravindran International Editor“Parasite” director Bong Joon Ho, this year’s Venice jury president, famously accepted his 2020 Golden Globe for best foreign film by assuring audiences that “once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.”This is especially true at this year’s festival, where in addition to the standard Italian subtitles on every film, another monitor also displays English subtitles — even for English-language

Naman Ramachandran Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s debut feature, “Labour of Love,” bowed at Venice Days in 2014 where it won the Fedeora Award for best director of a debut film, en route to winning several international awards and at home in India.

Naman Ramachandran Indian filmmaker Aditya Vikram Sengupta is back on the Lido with his third feature “Once Upon a Time in Calcutta,” which screens in the Horizons strand. His debut, “Labour of Love” (2014) bowed at Venice Days where it won the Fedeora Award for best director of a debut film.

A poetic meditation on film, history, and loss, “Three Minutes – A Lengthening” gives a glimpse into a lost world and then unpacks just how much can be learned from that brief fragment. While on a grand tour of Europe in 1938, David Kurtz, a Polish-American man, traveled to Nasielsk, the town of his birth, and brought with him a 16mm camera filled with Kodachrome, a novelty at the time.

Cynthia Erivo and Sarah Gadon are probably going to be fixtures on the 2021 Venice Film Festival red carpet this year thanks to their roles on the jury!

Kristen Stewart is stepping out for the premiere of her new movie!

Happy Friday International Insiders. Tom Grater here with the week’s top international news. To get this sent to your inbox every Friday, sign up here.

Kirsten Dunst and Benedict Cumberbatch are generating a lot of awards buzz with their new movie The Power of the Dog!

Co-stars Kirsten Dunst and Benedict Cumberbatch pose for photos together at the photo call for The Power of Dog on Thursday (September 2) in Venice, Italy.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorJane Campion, only the second woman to ever been nominated for an Oscar for directing, has been encouraged by the efforts she’s seen to get more women in the director’s chair.“All I can say is since the #MeToo movement happened, I feel a change in the weather that’s substantial,” Campion said on Thursday morning at a press conference at the 78th annual Venice Film Festival.

This week at the Venice Film Festival, guests got to see Oscar-winner Jane Campion’s first feature since 2009’s Bright Star.

We are on the verge of the Opening Night of this year’s Venice Film Festival. Unlike last year, the event is going to feature many in-person screenings and discussions, as the industry hopes that the end of COVID is coming soon.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorCOVID-19 can’t kill the movies.