Hollywood's elite gathered on Wednesday for the opening of the 83rd Venice Film Festival. George Clooney, who received the Lion of Honor for his entire career, strongly denounced the action of the American government. The festival is criticized this year for the low number of women selected in competition.
Published on: 09/02/2026 - 11:17 Modified on: 09/03/2026 - 07:58
The 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival opened on Wednesday September 2 by awarding an honorary prize to George Clooney. A consecration for this regular at the oldest film festival in the world, which is criticized this year for the low number of women selected in competition.
The 65-year-old megastar, now a French citizen, took advantage of the platform offered by the Mostra to attack the American government, described as a "kakistocracy", or "a country run by the least qualified people".
Read alsoCinema returns: tribute, Venice Film Festival and Turkish western
“We live in a time where the people who run us, the people who have the most money, are telling us to be afraid of each other,” Clooney lamented when receiving his Honorary Golden Lion.
On the festival side, American actress and director Maggie Gyllenhaal will have the difficult task of deciding between the 21 films in competition as president of the jury.
She did not hesitate to criticize the Mostra's choice to program only two films directed by women – including one co-directed with a man and added late to the selection.
“I suppose it is now clear once and for all that men make better films than women,” she quipped in front of the artistic director of the festival Alberto Barbera, who justified the absence of female directors by the lower quality of the films offered.
"There's obviously a systemic problem. I definitely think it's a lot harder for women to get their films financed," she added.
Fewer blockbusters, more controversial films
Another notable absence is that of big American studios, a trend already observed in Cannes and Berlin. That leaves room for independent films like “Ink,” from British filmmaker Danny Boyle.
Also read: The Cannes Film Festival, originally a tool to counter Nazism
Screened as an opening, it looks at the history of the English tabloid The Sun and its owner, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who is "very happy" to be played by Guy Pearce, the actor said on Wednesday.
Robert Pattinson will play an unscrupulous TV presenter in "Primetime", inspired by Chris Hansen, the creator of the program "To Catch a Predator".
Several documentaries screened out of competition will also be devoted to charismatic figures such as "Musk", a 3h45 film on the chaotic trajectory of the owner of Tesla and SpaceX or "Don't Look Back in Anger" on the Gallagher brothers and the group Oasis.
At the center of debates last year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will once again be much discussed on the Lido with four films dealing with this issue, including "NAZA", by Oscar-winning Israeli directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, which reveals "the systems behind the calculated massacre of Palestinian civilians in Gaza by Israel".
To display this YouTube content, it is necessary to authorize audience measurement and advertising cookies.
An extension in your browser appears to be blocking the loading of the video player. To be able to watch this content, you must disable or uninstall it.
The Mostra, on the other hand, came under criticism for having programmed “Dau”, by director Ilya Khrzhanovsky. The Ukrainian Ministry of Culture has denounced a project linked to Russian interests and oligarchs. The Mostra defended the film, emphasizing the exiled status of its director, a long-time political opponent of Vladimir Putin who renounced his Russian nationality.
French films in the spotlight
In the absence of American studios, pride of place was given this year to French cinema with four feature films in the running.
Florian Zeller ("Father") is eagerly awaited with his thriller "Bunker" featuring the Spanish star couple Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz.
Cédric Kahn will present “15/18”, a dive into the daily life of a child psychiatric care unit.
Nicolas Pariser ("Alice and the Mayor") will defend "A Little Before Midnight" with Melvil Poupaud, Chiara Mastroianni and Golshifteh Farahani, and Stéphane Brizé ("La Loi du Marché") will offer a new x-ray of contemporary capitalism and its failings with "A Good Little Soldier".
Five feature films by Italian directors are also in competition, including "Succederà questa notte" marking the return to Venice after 37 years of absence of Nanni Moretti, with Louis Garrel on the bill.
With AFP
The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.
