By Delores Hinckley
ROME (AP) --The 76th Venice Film Festival will feature three Netflix productions alongside Hollywood titles, embracing the streaming giant after the Cannes Film Festival excluded it for a second year in a row.
Among Venice's 21 competition titles, unveiled Thursday in Rome, is the Netflix-produced Panama Papers film "The Laundromat," directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Meryl Streep and Antonio Banderas.
Netflix will also present Noah Baumbach's "Marriage Story," starring Scarlett Johansson and Alan Alda, as well as David Michôd's "The King," with the latter debuting out of competition.
The world's oldest film festival also features Hollywood productions like Todd Phillips' "Joker" with Joaquin Phoenix in the comic book classic role, as well as Brad Pitt in the sci-fi space journey "Ad Astra," by James Gray.
The festival runs Aug. 28 to Sept. 7.
The competition also includes "J'accuse" by director Roman Polanski, a controversial figure in the #MeToo era. Polanski pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in 1977 and fled the United States the following year.
Venice Film Festival Director Alberto Barbera acknowledged a lack of female directors in competition. Only two out of 21 directors are women, while last year there was one.
"There are a number of movies addressing the issue of the female condition in different parts of the world. Not all of these movies are directed by women, as female directors unfortunately are still a minority," Barbera said.
Barbera asserted that the way male directors now portray women reveals "a new form of sensitivity of the female universe, something that rarely happened in the past."
Here’s the Venice lineup:
COMPETITION
The Truth, director Hirokazu Kore-eda (opening film of festival)
The Perfect Candidate, Haifaa Al-Mansour
About Endlessness, Roy Andersson
Ema, Pablo Larrain
Saturday Fiction, Lou Ye
Martin Eden, Pietro Marcello
La Mafia Non E Piu Quella Di Una Volta, Franco Maresco
The Painted Bird, Vaclav Marhoul
Il Sindaco del Rione Sanita, Mario Martone
Babyteeth, Shannon Murphy
Joker, Todd Phillips
J’accuse, Roman Polanski
The Laundromat, Steven Soderbergh
No. 7 Cherry Lane, Yonfan
Wasp Network, Olivier Assayas
Marriage Story, Noah Baumbach
Guest of Honour, Atom Egoyan
Ad Astra, James Gray
A Herdade, Tiago Guedes
Gloria Mundi, Robert Guediguian
Waiting for the Barbarians, Ciro Guerra
OUT OF COMPETITION
The Burnt Orange Heresy, Giuseppe Capotondi (closing film of festival)
Goodbye, Dragon Inn, Tsai Ming-Liang
No One Left Behind, Guillermo Arriaga
Electric Swan, Konstantina Kotzamani
Irreversible- Inversion Integrale, Gaspar Noe
The New Pope, Paolo Sorrentino
Never Just a Dream: Stanley Kubrick and Eyes Wide Shut, Matt Wells
Seberg, Benedict Andrews
ZeroZeroZero, Stefano Sollima
Vivere, Francesca Archibugi
Mosul, Matthew Michael Carnahan
Adults in the Room, Costa-Gavras
The King, David Michod
Tutto Il Mio Folle Amore, Gabriele Salvatores
OUT OF COMPETITION DOCUMENTARY
Woman, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Anastasia Mikova
Roger Waters Us + Them, Sean Evans, Roger Waters
Citizen K, Alex Gibney
I Diari di Angela – Noi Due Cineaste. Capitolo Secondo, Tervant Gianikian, Angela Ricci Lucchi
Citizen Rosi, Didi Gnocchi, Carolina Rosi
The Kingmaker, Lauren Greenfield
State Funeral, Sergei Loznitsa
Collective, Alexander Nanau
45 Seconds of Laughter, Tim Robbins
Il Pianeta In Mare, Andrea Segre
HORIZONS COMPETITION
Pelican Blood, Katrin Gebbe (Opening Film)
Blanco en Blanco, Theo Court
Mes Jours de Gloire, Antoine de Bary
Nevia, Nunzia de Stefano
Moffie, Oliver Hermanus
Hava, Maryam, Ayesha, Sahraa Karimi
Rialto, Peter Mackie Burns
The Criminal Man, Dmitry Mamuliya
Giants Being Lonely, Grear Patterson
Just 6.5, Saeed Roustaee
Zumiriki, Oskar Alegria
A Son, Mehdi M. Barsaoui
Revenir, Jessica Palud
Verdict, Raymund Ribay Gutierrez
Shadow of Water, Sasidharan Sanal Kumar
Sole, Carlo Sironi
Madre, Rodrigo Sorogoyen
Ballon, Pema Tseden
Atlantis, Valentyn Vasyanovych
SCONFINI
Chiara Ferragni – Unposted, Elisa Amoruso
Il Varco, Federico Ferrone, Michele Manzolini
The Scarecrows, Nouri Bouzid
Effetto Domino, Alessandro Rossetto
Eleanor Adds Director Candice Vernon To Its Roster For Spots and Branded Content
Director Candice Vernon has joined production house Eleanor for U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content. She has already wrapped several jobs at Eleanor, which waited to announce her until they had a body of work together.
Via Eleanor, Vernon made history as the first Black director on a Febreze commercial. The “Small Spaces” campaign marks a major departure from Febreze’s typical blue-and-white world. The home of the “Revolving Door” commercial is a beautiful array of bold sunset hues, African prints, and African art.
Vernon said, “I asked myself, what feels right to me? What feels new? I wanted to bring an essence of not just Black Americans but the full diaspora. I wanted to make a statement that we’re not a monolith.”
Following the success of the “Small Spaces” campaign, Febreze brought Vernon back for a comedy-infused trifecta exploring the hilarious situations that call for an air freshening hero.
Febreze Brand VP Angelica Matthews said, “About two years ago, we realized the consumers that were the most loyal to Febreze were the African American consumers. And the more we learned, the more we realized the richness that we were really missing. So we said we have to go beyond just Black casting, we need to get Black directors that truly understand the culture that truly understand how to bring authentic performances out on screen. We really looked around the industry and noticed there’s actually a shortage of African American directors who have experience doing commercials. When we all saw Candice’s reel, we could all tell the passion for the craft, passion for really trying to help us from where we are to where we’re trying to go.”
Vernon brings a unique lens to... Read More