Venice Film Festival infographic
Graphic shows films in competition at the Venice Film Festival.
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MOVIES

81st edition of the Venice Film Festival

By Duncan Mil

August 28, 2024 - Hollywood’s biggest stars will light up the Venice Film Festival this week. The 11-day event kicks off the awards season, with films premiering at Venice in the last three years collecting 77 Oscar nominations and winning 14.

Among the 21 films contending for the Golden Lion top prize are Todd Phillips’ “Joker: Folie à Deux”, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, Pablo Larrain’s “Maria”, with Angelina Jolie playing the opera diva Maria Callas, and Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer”, with Daniel Craig playing a gay American.

Behind-the-scenes drama includes Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in the midst of a contentious divorce. Still, the organisers have scheduled their films (and arrivals and departures) days apart to avoid overlap.

Festival director Alberto Barbera says that Venice has long had difficulty competing with Cannes and Toronto to get the biggest films. Barbera thinks things really changed in 2012 when they hosted the premiere of “Gravity,” which went on to win seven Oscars that March and established Venice as a place to host movie launches.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 28/08/2024; STORY: Graphic News
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