{"id":177323,"date":"2025-08-26T15:17:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T15:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/177323\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T15:17:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T15:17:09","slug":"venices-alberto-barbera-on-oscars-race-gaza-protests-his-mandate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/177323\/","title":{"rendered":"Venice’s Alberto Barbera on Oscars Race, Gaza Protests, His Mandate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tVenice Film Festival<\/a> artistic director Alberto Barbera<\/a> does not want to overplay his hand this year, despite having assembled an embarrassment of cinematic riches.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith a rich roster of hotly anticipated new movies<\/a> featuring high-caliber stars like Julia Roberts, Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Andrew Garfield, George Clooney, Cate Blanchett and Emma Stone \u2014 as well as smaller titles with awards potential \u2014 Barbera is sitting pretty.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut, as he puts it, when you\u2019ve got lots of buzzy movies, \u201cthe risk of generating disappointment is greater.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAhead of the fest\u2019s kickoff on Wednesday, Barbera answered seven burning questions from Variety (plus a few follow-ups) regarding this year\u2019s 82nd edition. Read on for more about his fear that the buzz could fizzle out, criticism over the lineup\u2019s scarce gender representation ratio and the issue of his mandate expiring at the end of next year\u2019s event.<\/p>\n

\t\tNow that you are in the final countdown, what is your main concern?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tMy main worry is that when you create very high expectations, the risk of generating disappointment is greater. The mistake people make when they go to a festival, and they have a certain list of titles in mind for which they have huge expectations, is that everyone expects them to be completely satisfying masterpieces. But unfortunately that\u2019s not always the case \u2014 in fact, it\u2019s never the case.<\/p>\n

\t\tBoatloads of stars are expected. Any last-minute no-shows?<\/strong>\u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tNo, not that I know of. I am still waiting for the definitive list. But I have not had any announcements regarding absences of stars that were expected. To give you an example, we knew Al Pacino was not coming [for Julian Schnabel\u2019s \u201cIn the Hand of Dante\u201d]. That aside, most of the key cast of the selected movies will be attending with very few exceptions due to conflicts with on-set obligations.<\/p>\n

\t\tIs Gal Gadot, who has come under fire from pro-Palestinian protesters for her pro-Israel stance, coming for the Schnabel film?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tNo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tI know you don\u2019t have a crystal ball, but do you think it\u2019s likely Venice will launch more Oscar winners this year than any other festival, including Cannes?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tLook, I really don\u2019t know. The Oscar race is so unpredictable and long! It goes on for months and months; it\u2019s fought tooth and nail to the tune of promotional investments and the outcome is totally uncertain. I\u2019ve stopped making predictions because they often turn out to be, at least partly, wrong. Last year, for example, I was sure that Daniel Craig would have landed a best actor nomination [for Luca Guadagnino\u2019s \u201cQueer\u201d] and that didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n

\t\tIn terms of movies, you have an embarrassment of riches. That said, as you recently lamented to Venice daily \u201cIl Gazzettino,\u201d the cost of accommodations at the Lido has skyrocketed this year. And getting a meal on the Lido can also be problematic. Any improvements on the horizon in terms of the Lido becoming more festival-friendly?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWe are well aware of this. I get people complaining to me that last year they were paying \u20ac2,500 ($2,900) a week for an apartment and this year the price is \u20ac3,500 ($4,100), which is an absolutely unjustified increase. Unfortunately, it\u2019s the savage law of supply and demand. Demand grows because, year after year, the number of festival attendees grows, and available accommodations remain the same. We can only hope that the state-announced renovation project for the Hotel Des Bains will be successful. We are talking about 2030, so we\u2019ll have to wait another five years before the project is completed. But it\u2019s clear that the day the Des Bains, with its 800 rooms, opens the profile of hospitality on the Lido will change, especially the high-end ones, because it will obviously be a five-star hotel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tPolitics, as always, will play out. Jude Law is playing Vladimir Putin in\u00a0Olivier Assayas\u2019 \u201cThe Wizard of the Kremlin\u201d and\u00a0the plight of the people of Gaza is represented in competition by\u00a0<\/strong>Kaouther Ben Hania\u2019s\u00a0\u201cThe Voice of Hind Rajab,\u201d a film you said greatly moved you. How is Law as Putin? And are you expecting pro-Palestinian activists on the Lido?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tJude Law is really surprising. He underwent an impressive physical transformation. He reaches an incredible level of resemblance with the image we have of Putin and on top of that he\u2019s a great actor, so he manages to make his character totally believable.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for pro-Gaza demonstrations, I would be surprised if this didn\u2019t happen, since they are taking place all over the world, in all types of contexts. The pro-Palestine association in Venice has already asked, very politely, to be present in some way at the festival. The pro-Gaza priest from Venice [Don Nandino Capovilla], who was recently denied entry into Israel, has already called for his faithful to hold a pro-Gaza demonstration [at the festival]. So I expect there to be \u2014 how shall I put it \u2014 attempted intrusions that we will try to contain and limit because we don\u2019t want the festival to become a partisan stage for one side or the other. That said, it seems quite obvious to me that there will be [pro-Gaza] demonstrations in some form.<\/p>\n

\t\tWomen in Film has pointed out that there are a mere 26% female directors in the selection (outside of Venice Immersive). And the situation is especially bad in the Italian selection. What\u2019s your response?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWhy should Venice Immersive not count? If [more] women are involved in VR projects instead of feature films, there must be a reason. It may have to do with the fact that it\u2019s easier for them to access financing for these types of films. But VR is still part of the film sphere and has a meaning and value. So we are [actually] at roughly 30% [female representation], which is roughly the same level as the percentage of female filmmakers around the world. <\/p>\n

\n\tFestivals come at the end of a long industry supply chain and that is where the real decision-making [in terms of gender representation] is made. I\u2019ve always said I\u2019m against quotas, because I think it\u2019s the wrong way to react to the discrimination that still exists toward women [in film]. I am against selecting a film dictated by the need for gender representation. Given that our selection is about 30% women directors, we are in line with the current global production trend. When we started talking about this topic the global percentage was 22%, so it\u2019s been growing. I\u2019m hoping the percentage of female filmmakers continues to grow and I\u2019m optimistic because the number of young female producers is growing and they are obviously less prejudiced.<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat about the Italian competition selection? The Italian press has underlined that there is an all-male, almost all \u201cover 50\u201d Italian contingent in competition, where you could have had films by younger female directors, like Laura Samani and Carolina Cavalli who are instead in Horizons.<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tHave they seen the films? Have you seen the films by Samani and Cavalli? They are both excellent, otherwise I would not have picked them. I believe in them and I will support them. But to judge whether a film should be placed in competition, you have to have seen all the [other] films. You have to go through a difficult, complicated, anxiety-inducing selection process and then decide the best spot to place a film to give it the best chance of being valued for what it is. So that it\u2019s not thrown out there in a context that\u2019s objectively too complicated, too difficult for that film. So let\u2019s talk about this later, after everyone has seen the five Italian films in competition and the two other Italian films made by women directors. At that point, there will of course be different opinions and everyone has a right to their opinion. As for us [the selection committee], we are a group of about 10 people \u2014 half of whom are women \u2014 who had no doubts about the choices we made. There is always the risk of making mistakes, as has happened in the past. But let\u2019s talk about it after the films have been seen.<\/p>\n

\t\tYour current mandate expires after the 2026 edition next year. Then what?\u00a0<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe decision is up to the Biennale board of directors, and first and foremost its president [Pietrangelo Buttafuoco], who will make proposals to the board. They don\u2019t allow me to speculate on their choices and decisions. As [former Biennale president] Paolo Baratta taught me, and as Buttafuoco recently reiterated, this is a job you don\u2019t apply for. It\u2019s job you accept if it\u2019s offered to you. So I have nothing else to say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera does not want to overplay his hand this year, despite having…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":177324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[100575,171,67,132,68,30989],"class_list":{"0":"post-177323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-alberto-barbera","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us","13":"tag-venice-film-festival"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115095735151106745","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}