The Venice Film Festival is known for picking future Oscar winners.
77th Venice International aFilm Festival
The 77th Venice Film Festival is at the Venice Lido in Venice, Italy from September 2-12, 2020.
It’s the first major film festival to carry on more or less normally since the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Festival is screening fewer films and screening them outdoors with COVID-19 precautions.
Opening Night Film
The opening night movie is “Lacci” by Daniele Luchetti.
The synopsis is: Naples, early 1980s: the marriage between Aldo and Vanda begins to break down when Aldo falls in love with young Lidia. Thirty years later, Aldo and Vanda are still married. A mystery about feelings, a story of loyalty and faithlessness, of resentment and shame. Betrayal, pain, a secret box, a home laid waste, a cat, the voice of people in love and that of people out of love.
That’s a hard choice for a couple to make, especially when you have kids. It often becomes a choice of being whole with your children or having a life you desire. Whichever choice you make, you’ll regret it for sure.
The film stars Alba Rohrwacher, Luigi Lo Cascio, Laura Morante, Silvio Orlando, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Adriano Giannini and Linda Caridi.
The selection is an interesting statement. It’s the first Italian opening night film in over a decade. So people are returning home in a way.
The film’s story in a way parallel’s the double-bind of COVID-19. We have to carry on with our lives, but we have to live our lives in a completely different way. In the end, where does that leave us?
Don’t get us wrong, we’re all for masking, distancing, washing and so on. But the void makes life feel a bit empty in a way.
The Film Industry Screens On
This year’s festival is especially important because Cannes and the Tribeca Film Festival were disrupted by the COVID-19 Pandemic. There is a feeling that while we must behave responsibly, life must go on. Culture is how humans make sense of the mystery of life and death. Without culture, we’re already dead, the living dead.
The Festival’s top prize is the Golden Lion.
