The opening jury press conference for next week’s Venice film festival is in doubt, due to what a festival spokesperson has described as “a conf
The opening jury press conference for next week’s Venice film festival is in doubt, due to what a festival spokesperson has described as “a conflicting schedule”.
The session has not officially been withdrawn, with the spokesperson telling Screen that “we’ll see” as to whether it still goes ahead, due to the scheduling conflict.
The festival has confirmed to Screen that press conferences for individual films will be going ahead, including for the 21 Competition films. Closing press conferences for the heads of the festival’s juries, and the award-winning films, are also scheduled for Saturday, September 12 following the closing ceremony.
The first confirmed press conference will be for Alina Marazzi’s Italian film The Girl With The Leica, the Horizons opening title, on Wednesday, September 2 at 13.30 CEST.
It will be followed at 14.15 by the press conference for Danny Boyle’s festival opening film Ink, in Competition.
Press conferences are scheduled for Competition titles including Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine with John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, Werner Herzog’s Bucking Fastard starring Kate Mara and Rooney Mara, and documentary NAZA about the war in Gaza.
There will be conferences for out of Competition titles including Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace’s documentary Oasis: Don’t Look Back In Anger, Barthelemy Grossmann’s Father Joe starring Kiefer Sutherland and Al Pacino, and Alex Gibney’s Musk.
There is also a conference scheduled for Wim Wenders’ out of Competition documentary From Inside Out – The Architecture Of Peter Zumthor. Wenders was president of the jury at this year’s Berlin film festival, and attracted criticism for his comments that “films are the opposite of politics”.
The attending filmmakers and cast for each conference are not yet confirmed, with names announced nearer the time.
Opening day
Venice typically holds a press conference on its opening day, attended by the heads of the juries for the Competition, Horizons, and Venice Classics sections, and the Luigi de Laurentis Award for Debut Film, as well as artistic director Alberto Barbera, and Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, president of festival parent organisation the Biennale.
Last year’s opening conference was attended by Competition president Alexander Payne and fellow jury heads including Charlotte Wells.
The festival has organised a press cocktail event for the opening day this year, to be attended by festival director Alberto Barbera, ahead of the opening ceremony.
Maggie Gyllenhaal will preside over the Competition jury for this year’s festival, with French actress and filmmaker Valerie Donzelli president for the Horizons section, and Italian filmmakers Carolina Cavalli and Daniele Vicari for the Luigi De Laurentiis and Venice Classics juries respectively.
Cannes and Berlin film festivals hold opening jury press conferences attended by the full Competition juries.
In recent years, festival opening conferences have become dominated by questions about political conflicts, especially around the war in Gaza. As well as Wenders’ comments in response to a question on the topic at Berlin, it was also in focus at last year’s Venice, with Payne saying he was “unprepared for that question” and Barbera noting that guests would not be disinvited for political views.
Venice film festival runs from September 2-12.
