2017 Venice Film Festival News

The Italians did not just run the festival, they also ruled the red carpet. This year there were more local designers than ever before, and jury president Annette Bening, as well as Rebecca Hall, set the tone by wearing Italian designers exclusively.

Documentaries can be a joy to watch if they are well made, and the Michael Caine-produced and narrated My Generation is a delight. The 84-year-old actor was welcomed to huge applause at the premiere of the Swinging Sixties doc at the Palazzo del Cinema.

During the making of Milos Forman’s Man on the Moon in 1998, rumors abounded about his lead actor’s downright weird behavior. Jim Carrey had lobbied hard for the part of comedian Andy Kaufman despite Forman’s misgivings and was now creating what is commonly known in Hollywood as a “difficult set”.

George Clooney has always been at his best as a director when he takes on political and societal issues. This is where he feels most at home, having grown up the son of an anchorman and news reporter.

This year marks the first time a major film festival has included a full-fledged section devoted to Virtual Reality as a proper cinematic form. The island of San Servolo – the city’s old “Lazzaretto”, where plague-stricken Venetians were once quarantined – has been put to a rather less ominous use.

How many events can boast that they hosted not one but two notorious queens of the British Empire? Last night the HFPA welcomed Dame Helen Mirren AND Dame Judi Dench at its annual cocktail reception in the Excelsior Hotel. They were joined by mere Hollywood royalty when George and Amal Clooney arrived.

Golden Globe winner George Clooney is in competition at the Venice Film Festival with his directorial project, Suburbicon, starring Julianne Moore, Matt Damon, and Oscar Isaac. The script is by the Clooney, longtime creative partner Grant Heslov and the Coen Brothers from a story they wrote right after Blood Simple, in 1984.

The Palazzo del Cinema crowd gave what seemed an interminable standing ovation to Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, as they were called onto the stage by Festival Director Alberto Barbera to receive the Golden Lion. It was the first time in the festival’s history that the career prize was given to two filmmakers at the same time, and never could it have been more appropriate.