Venice Film Festival Jury Press Conference Confirmed After Scheduling Conflicts Resolved
According to CinemaDrame News Agency, the Venice Film Festival will, after all, hold its traditional opening jury press conference on the Lido as scheduled.
In addition to the jury press conference, set for 12 p.m. on September 2, a pre-festival media cocktail and meet-and-greet has been scheduled for 6 p.m., where festival director Alberto Barbera will be available to answer questions from reporters.
Festival officials had previously stated that they were considering canceling the jury press conference due to scheduling conflicts. After some media outlets prematurely reported the cancellation as definitive, the festival faced a sharp backlash online, particularly given the mounting political tensions surrounding Venice this year.
In recent days, Nobel Prize-winning author Annie Ernaux, Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters, and filmmakers including Matteo Garrone and Isabel Coixet signed an open letter calling on the Biennale and the Venice Film Festival to take “concrete actions in support of Palestine.” The letter was organized by the group “Venice for Palestine,” the same coalition that targeted the festival last year, calling on organizers to rescind invitations to Gerard Butler and Gal Gadot over their past support for Israel.
Many online observers attributed Venice’s initial hesitation regarding the jury press conference to an attempt to shield jury members from political questioning. Last year, the opening jury press conference was dominated by questions about Gaza, with then-jury president Alexander Payne stating he felt “unprepared” to address the conflict, drawing criticism for what was perceived as dodging the issue.
Alberto Barbera has described this year’s lineup as the festival’s “most political” in recent memory, featuring films addressing war, Palestine, migration, climate change, and eroding political freedoms. Earlier this week, the festival added the highly anticipated, controversial documentary Naza—the latest project from Yuval Abraham and Basel Adra, creators of No Other Land—to the Venice competition.
Maggie Gyllenhaal serves as the president of the main competition jury this year. The panel includes Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, whose acclaimed work The Voice of Hind Rajab—about the killing of a five-year-old Palestinian girl in Gaza—premiered at Venice last year and won the Silver Lion Jury Prize. Other jury members include Daniel Blumberg, Francesco Costabile, Xavier Giannoli, Shahrbanoo Sadat, and Johnnie To.
The 83rd Venice Film Festival will open with the world premiere of Danny Boyle’s Ink and will feature a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement tribute to George Clooney, presented by Laura Dern.
