The Venice Film Festival celebrates its 80th edition, but a Hollywood strike means many stars may be missing, leaving the spotlight to controversial directors such as Roman Polanski and Woody Allen.
ADVERTISEMENTThe festival, which runs from Wednesday, 30 August to 9 September, has become a key launchpad for Oscar campaigns, helped by glamorous shots of stars arriving by gondola.
But an ongoing strike by Hollywood actors and writers, the biggest industry walk-out in more than 60 years, means most are banned from publicity work.
Missing from their Venice premieres will be Emma Stone, who plays a Frankenstein-like creature in “Poor Things”, and Bradley Cooper, who directs and stars in “Maestro” about the legendary conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein.
Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz, who play the leads in the biopic “Ferrari” by director Michael Mann (“Heat”), have an exemption from the Screen Actors’ Guild (SAG-AFTRA) because the film was made outside the studio system, but may still stay home in solidarity.
Nonetheless, the films are still showing and many top-name directors are due to attend as they compete for the top prize, the Golden Lion, to be announced on 9 September.
For more watch Euronews Culture journalist David Mouriquand’s report above.
