News from Italy
The 81st edition of the Venice International Film Festival
Vita gazette – The 81st edition of the Venice International Film Festival, organised by the Venice Biennale, will take place at the Lido from August 28th to September 7th 2024. Sigourney Weaver will receive the Golden Lion at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.
The official presentation of the program will be held on July 23rd. Some new features, however, have already begun to arrive.
Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement
The 81st Venice International Film Festival, which will be held from August 28th to September 7th, has announced another Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. The American actress Sigourney Weaver will receive it.
The 74-year-old, a three-time Oscar nominee and winner of a Bafta and a Golden Globe, is known for her roles in films such as Alien, Ghostbusters, Gorillas in the Mist, Avatar, and The Master Gardener.
Another Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement will be awarded to Peter Weir, an Australian director and screenwriter known for masterpieces such as “Dead Poets Society,” “The Truman Show,” and “Master & Commander.”
Presiding over the International Jury of the Competition is the French actress Isabelle Huppert, famous for her roles in “Elle”, “The Pianist” and “La cérémonie”. “It is a long and wonderful story that links me to the Venice Film Festival. Becoming a privileged spectator is an honour. Today, more than ever, cinema is a promise. The promise of escaping, of shocking ourselves, of surprising, of looking the world in the face, united in the diversity of our tastes and ideas”, declared the actress.
The actress Sveva Alviti will host the festival’s opening and closing evenings. Alviti will open the exhibition on Wednesday, 28 August, on the stage of the Sala Grande (Palazzo del Cinema on the Lido) and lead the closing ceremony on Saturday, 7 September, when the Lions and the other official awards will be announced.
Vittorio De Sica – The gold of Naples
The pre-opening film has been revealed: on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the death of Vittorio De Sica and the 70th anniversary of the film, it will be the classic “The Gold of Naples” (1954) in a 4K digitally restored version curated by Cinecittà on the initiative of Filmauro Srl by Aurelio and Luigi De Laurentiis, with the artistic supervision of Andrea De Sica. Directed by Vittorio De Sica and starring Eduardo De Filippo, Sophia Loren, Silvana Mangano, Paolo Stoppa and Totò, the film will be presented on August 27th in Sala Darsena at 9 pm.
Venice Gap-Financing Market
The 11th edition of the Venice Gap-Financing Market (30 August – 1 September 2024), organised as part of the Venice Production Bridge, will take place during ’81. Selected projects from Europe and worldwide can complete their financing through one-to-one meetings with international professionals. During the three days of the Venice Gap-Financing Market, 61 projects from all over the world will be presented in the final stages of development and financing. Nearly 320 projects were received, and the selection reflects the great diversity of the submitted projects’ backgrounds, stories, talents, genres, and budgets. In 2024 the VPB Focus will be Luxembourg & Wallonia – Brussels supported by Film Fund Luxembourg and Center du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel and Japan supported by JETRO.
This year, the festival is expected to feature names such as George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Daniel Craig, Angelina Jolie, Lady Gaga, and Joaquin Phoenix.