The ongoing war in Gaza was main topic of conversation at this year’s Venice Film Festival jury press conference, although director Alexander Payne diplomatically chose to not offer his viewpoint on the matter.
“Quite frankly, I feel a little bit unprepared for that question,” said Payne, the competition jury president, said when asked about his personal stance on the humanitarian crisis. “My political views, I’m sure, are in agreement with many of yours. I’m here to judge and talk about cinema. ”
Payne noted that questions about the festival’s stance on Gaza would be better directed to Venice chief Alberto Barbera, who offered his sympathies to those affected but said that nobody will be disinvited to the global gathering of cinema.
“We have been asked to turn down invitation to artists; we will not do that,” said Barbera. “If they want to be at the festival, they will be here. On the other hand, we have never hesitated to clearly declare our huge sadness and suffering vis a vis what is happening in Gaza and Palestine. The death of civilians and especially of children, who are victims, the collateral damage of a war which nobody has been able to terminate yet. I think there are no doubts in regard to the Biennale’s position on this.”
Payne, the Oscar nominated director of “The Holdovers” and “Sideways,” is presiding over this year’s jury and will judge the films in competition along with Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres (an Oscar nominee for “I’m Still Here”), Iranian auteur Mohammad Rasoulof (“The Seed of the Sacred Fig”), Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu (“4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”), French director Stéphane Brizé (“Out of Season”), Italian director Maura Delpero (“Vermiglio”) and Chinese actor-producer Zhao Tao (“Caught by the Tides”).
All were in attendance at Wednesday’s press conference but only Payne was among the speakers on the panel. Others the dais included Scottish filmmaker Charlotte Wells (“Aftersun”), Julia Ducournau (“Titane”) and Tommaso Santambrogio (“Closing Time”).
Hollywood stars including Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Jacob Elordi, Amanda Seyfried and Emma Stone are journeying to Venice to premiere such films as “After the Hunt,” “Jay Kelly,” “Frankenstein,” “The Testament of Ann Lee” and “Bugonia.”
More to come…
