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The 80th Venice Film Festival promises a diverse lineup with 23 films competing for the sought-after Golden Lion. Scheduled to run from August 30 to September 9, 2023, the prestigious event will feature Lebanese director Wissam Charaf for the second consecutive year.
Despite the potential controversy over the inclusion of Roman Polanski’s The Palace and Woody Allen’s Coup de Chance, the 80th Venice Film Festival showcases a varied array of cinematic narratives. Alberto Barbera, the Festival’s Artistic Director, downplayed the impact of the ongoing actors’ strike on the programming, stating, “the only film we have lost is the opening one, the beautiful Challengers by Luca Guadagnino.” He clarified that Guadagnino’s film would be replaced by Comandante, a work by Italian director Edoardo De Angelis.
Of the 23 films contending for the Golden Lion, Bradley Cooper’s biopic Maestro, centered around the legendary composer Leonard Bernstein, is already generating considerable buzz. However, the attendance of some Hollywood stars, such as Emma Stone, remains uncertain due to the strike. Despite these potential absences, the festival boasts several world premiere films, including Sofia Coppola’s biopic on Priscilla Presley, and Michael Mann’s Ferrari, featuring Adam Driver. The selection of international directors includes Frenchman Luc Besson, recently cleared of rape allegations, with Dogman, Mexican Michel Franco presenting Memory starring Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard, and Italian Matteo Garrone with Io Capitano. French cinema is well represented with La bête by Bertrand Bonello, featuring Léa Seydoux, and Hors-saison by Stéphane Brizé, with Guillaume Canet. The festival is scheduled to come to an end on September 9 with the screening of La sociedad de la nieve by Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona, inspired by the tragic 1972 Andes air crash. Damien Chazelle will preside over the jury of this 80th edition.
For the second consecutive year, filmmaker Wissam Charaf will introduce his latest masterpiece to the assembled audience at the esteemed Venice Film Festival. His recent short film entitled Et si l’océan plongeait dans l’océan des nues (And if the sun plunged into the ocean of clouds) is in the running for an award in the Official Selection of this prestigious festival. The director’s feature film Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous caught the Mozaik Bridging the Borders award at the Palm Springs Film Festival in California. The film had also clinched the 2022 Label Europa Cinemas award for the best European film projection at the 79th Venice International Film Festival.
