By Lindsey Bahr
Director Noah Baumbach's adaptation of Don DeLillo's 1985 novel "White Noise" has been selected to open the Venice International Film Festival in August, festival director Alberto Barbera said Monday.
Baumbach wrote and directed the film, which looks at the contemporary American family through the lens of a professor, Jack Gladney, and his fourth wife, Babette. Greta Gerwig, who has a child with Baumbach, stars alongside Adam Driver, Don Cheadle, Raffey Cassidy and Jodie Turner-Smith.
"It is a great honor to open the 79th Venice Film Festival with 'White Noise,'" Barbera said. "Baumbach has made an original, ambitious and compelling piece of art which plays with measure on multiple registers: dramatic, ironic, satirical. The result is a film that examines our obsessions, doubts, and fears as captured in the 1980s, yet with very clear references to contemporary reality."
The Netflix-produced film will be among those competing for the Golden Lion award, selected by a jury led by Julianne Moore, and a likely player in the awards season to come. It'll screen for festival goers at the Sala Grande at the Palazzo del Cinema on Aug. 31 on the Lido.
Baumbach previously debuted his film "Marriage Story" at the festival in 2019. It would go on to pick up six Oscar nominations, including best picture, and one win for Laura Dern.
"It is a truly wonderful thing to return to the Venice Film Festival, and an incredible honor to have 'White Noise' play as the opening night film," Baumbach said. "This is a place that loves cinema so much, and it's a thrill and a privilege to join the amazing films and filmmakers that have premiered here."
The rest of the slate for the 79th Venice International Film Festival will be revealed this week. The festival runs from Aug. 31 through Sept. 10.
Lindsey Bahr is an AP film writer
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More