The strike of Hollywood screenwriters and actors gathers support on the other side of the Atlantic. In Venice, official section jury president Damien Chazelle yesterday sported a t-shirt in favor of the screenwriters, a piece also proudly displayed by filmmakers and jury members Martin McDonagh and Lion d’Or winner Laura Poitras Gold last year for his documentary La belleza y el dolor. The director of La La Land or First man, films that had previously brought him to the Mostra, began his speech at the press conference by recalling that the screenwriters’ strike completed 120 days and the actors’ strike 48 before defend “the basic idea that every work of art has value and is not just a piece of content to feed a channel, as seems to be the prevailing idea in Hollywood now”.
The Oscar-winning director expressed that “people must be remunerated appropriately for each work of art” and also regretted the absence of “a lot of people who would love to be here” in the competition. “These are difficult times in Hollywood for screenwriters and actors but also for technicians,” he clarified. For the director of Babylon, “everyone is affected and we must not forget that while we celebrate the art of cinema here in Venice”. The 38-year-old filmmaker considers the Italian festival “the best in the world”. “There’s something about Venice that lends itself to film and the idea of ??films as a dream state, it’s like a city that’s not quite real, but of course it’s real, which makes it particularly appropriate for a celebration of cinema”.
Regarding his responsibility as president of the jury, he says that he will try not to be swayed by the opinions of the filmmakers who will evaluate the 23 films in competition with him and that he hopes that there will be “a debate”.
Chazelle was accompanied in his meeting with the press by filmmakers Alice Diop and Jonas Carpignano, presidents of juries of parallel sections, and the director of the Mostra, Alberto Barbera, who confirmed the absence of Penélope Cruz for “reasons personal”. The Spaniard co-stars alongside Adam Driver Ferrari, by Michael Mann. Both the director and the American actor will parade on the red carpet today to present the premiere of this film about the stormy marriage of Enzo and Laura Ferrari. “The impact of the strike will be felt but not as much as it initially seemed. In the first days, we ran the risk of losing the American component of the festival”, said Barbera, who saw how the opening film, Rivales, by Luca Guadagnino and starring Zendaya, was postponed to 2024.
Instead, yesterday gave the start to this 80th edition of Comandante, about the true story of Salvatore Todaro, commander of an Italian Navy submarine, who in 1940 rescued the castaways of a Belgian ship who had previously opened fire on them. The film launches a clear humanist message by a man for whom the law of the sea was above all else. The story emerged as a response to what was happening in Italy in 2018, when the vice president of the Italian government, Matteo Salvini -present yesterday at the Mostra-, tightened the measures against immigration by limiting humanitarian protection to asylum seekers . “Comandante symbolizes an idea of ??strength and also the true sense of being Italian, something that has been neglected in recent years”, reported director Edoardo de Angelis.
