{"id":179747,"date":"2025-08-27T12:54:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T12:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/179747\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T12:54:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T12:54:09","slug":"alexander-payne-dodges-gaza-conversation-at-venice-press-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/179747\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexander Payne Dodges Gaza Conversation at Venice Press Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe ongoing war in Gaza was the main topic of conversation at this year\u2019s Venice Film Festival<\/a> jury press conference, although director Alexander Payne<\/a> diplomatically chose to not offer his viewpoint on the matter.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cQuite frankly, I feel a little bit unprepared for that question,\u201d said Payne, the competition jury president, when asked about his personal stance on the humanitarian crisis. \u201cI\u2019m here to judge and talk about cinema. My political views, I\u2019m sure, are in agreement with many of yours.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPayne noted that questions about the festival\u2019s stance on Gaza \u2014 three of which were asked during the 20-minute conversation \u2014 would be better directed to Venice chief Alberto Barbera. Ahead of the festival, Venice organizers were urged by hundreds of international filmmakers and artists to take a \u201cclear and unambiguous stand [to] condemning the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing across\u00a0Palestine\u00a0carried out by the Israeli government and army.\u201d They were also called to disinvite Gal Gadot and Gerard Butler, both of whom star in Julian Schnabel\u2019s drama \u201cIn the Hand of Dante\u201d and have shown public support for Israel.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe have been asked to turn down invitation to artists; we will not do that,\u201d said Barbera. \u201cIf they want to be at the festival, they will be here. On the other hand, we have never hesitated to clearly declare our huge sadness and suffering vis-\u00e0-vis what is happening in Gaza and Palestine. The death of civilians and especially of children, who are victims, the collateral damage of a war which nobody has been able to terminate yet. I think there are no doubts in regard to the Biennale\u2019s position on this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPayne, the Oscar-nominated director of \u201cThe Holdovers\u201d and \u201cSideways,\u201d is presiding over this year\u2019s jury and will judge the films in competition along with Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres\u00a0(an Oscar nominee for \u201cI\u2019m Still Here\u201d), Iranian auteur\u00a0Mohammad Rasoulof\u00a0(\u201cThe Seed of the Sacred Fig\u201d), Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu (\u201c4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days\u201d),\u00a0French director St\u00e9phane Briz\u00e9 (\u201cOut of Season\u201d), Italian director Maura Delpero (\u201cVermiglio\u201d) and Chinese actor-producer Zhao Tao (\u201cCaught by the Tides\u201d). <\/p>\n

\n\tAll jury members were in attendance at Wednesday\u2019s press conference, but only Payne was among the speakers on the panel. Also on the panel were Scottish filmmaker Charlotte Wells (\u201cAftersun\u201d), Julia Ducournau (\u201cTitane\u201d) and Tommaso Santambrogio (\u201cClosing Time\u201d), who are heading up the festival\u2019s other juries.<\/p>\n

\n\tPayne also spoke about the relevance of movies at a time when the industry has been upended by the rise in popularity of streaming services and decline of theatrical attendance. Though he prefers to watch films in \u201cthe cathedral of the cinema,\u201d Payne admitted that even he\u2019s tempted by the convenience of the at-home moviegoing experience.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI watch a lot of movies at night on my stomach. But I much prefer to see them projected in the cathedral of cinema,\u201d Payne said. \u201cI lament that many great movies, both of artistic and political importance, don\u2019t become a larger part of the conversation \u2014 certainly part of the cinematic conversation \u2014 because of the means of distribution. As a film lover, it\u2019s typically films which have a theatrical release which become a part of cinema conversation and cultural conversation and then have some kind of impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe continued to muse on the topic, saying, \u201cCan a film change society and culture? I don\u2019t know, but at least when we make films that are relevant to the times, we leave a document.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOver the next 11 days, Hollywood stars including Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Jacob Elordi, Amanda Seyfried and Emma Stone are journeying to Venice to premiere such films as \u201cAfter the Hunt,\u201d \u201cJay Kelly,\u201d \u201cFrankenstein,\u201d \u201cThe Testament of Ann Lee\u201d and \u201cBugonia.\u201d During that time, Payne and his fellow jury members will watch those movies and dozens of others, a mission he seems delighted on which to embark.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI get to watch 22 films by incredible directors for the first time in a theater not knowing anything about them,\u201d Payne said. \u201cThis is heaven!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ongoing war in Gaza was the main topic of conversation at this year\u2019s Venice Film Festival jury…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":179748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[9],"tags":[101618,171,67,132,68,30989],"class_list":["post-179747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-alexander-payne","tag-entertainment","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-venice-film-festival"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115100835134109663","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179747","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=179747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}