Paris (AFP)
2019: Brad Pitt, Meryl Streep or Joaquin Phoenix featured on the Lido. 2020: the Venice Film Festival must do without Hollywood stars, the fault of the coronavirus, thwarting the ambition of the festival to become a launching pad for the Oscars.
The oldest festival in the world, which in 77 editions has seen American legends like Marlon Brando, Martin Scorcese and Robert de Niro pass, is the first international film meeting to be held since the start of the global health crisis. , after the cancellation of the most prestigious of them, its direct competitor, Cannes, in May.
18 films are in the running to succeed Todd Phillips' "Joker", 2019 Golden Lion, before winning two Oscars five months later, including Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix. Among them, a French film, an Indian, four Italians ... but very few Americans.
No big name from Hollywood and only two female directors to represent the United States.
The Chinese-American Chloé Zhao, author of the independent film "The Rider" and chosen by Marvel for one of her next opus, will present "Nomadland" the story of a modern-day nomad in Nevada, played by an Oscar-winning actress , Frances McDormand, while a more confidential director, the Norwegian Mona Fastvold, presents "The World to Come".
Out of competition, the African-American actress Regina King goes behind the camera for "One Night in Miami", which features the young Cassius Clay (who will become Mohamed Ali) and Malcolm X, and could be talked about while the Race issue is once again hot in the United States.
Despite everything, the contrast is complete with last year, where, in addition to "Joker", Venice had known how to attract the space odyssey of James Gray "Ad Adtra" with Brad Pitt, or "The Laundromat" of Steven Soderbergh. It is in the jury that we will find this year a Hollywood star, the Australian Cate Blanchett, as president.
- Oscars Antechamber -
"Some spectacular films will be missing, blocked by the confinement which still weighs on the programming of the most awaited Hollywood releases", had to note before the launch of the festival its artistic director, Alberto Barbera, craftsman of the love story of the Mostra with Hollywood in recent years.
At the cost of opening up, decried by part of the profession, towards American video-on-demand platforms like Netflix.
The bet had paid off, to the point that Venice, ideally placed as the Toronto festival in September, in the festival calendar before the Anglo-Saxon awards season, was seen as an anteroom for the Oscars. Cannes takes place upstream, and Berlin too late, in February.
"Gravity" and "Roma" by Alfonso Cuaron, "La la land" by Damien Chazelle, "3 Billboards, Les Panneaux de la vengeance" by Martin McDonagh ... so many films presented or awarded on the lagoon before being Oscar winners a few months later. But this year, between the health restrictions of movement, and the cinemas stopped for three months in the United States, the American studios have their heads elsewhere.
In this slump, the biggest productions have all been postponed, starting with "Tenet" by Christopher Nolan, finally released in more than 70 countries this week, the James Bond "Die Can Wait", the ninth episode of "Fast and Furious "or" Wonder Woman 1984 ". Disney studios have redirected their flagship product "Mulan" to platforms, and the Oscars themselves have been postponed two months, to April 25.
Ironically, the Cannes rival, forced to physical cancellation and with whom a "shared gesture" had for a time been mentioned, was still able to hang Hollywood productions on his hunting table of the year: the Animated film "Soul" from Pixar studios and "The French Dispatch" by Wes Anderson appear in its "official selection".
© 2020 AFP