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Venice Film Festival comes to a close with awards ceremony

The 79th edition of the Venice International Film Festival came to a close Saturday

Via AP news wire
Saturday 10 September 2022 14:06 EDT

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The 79th edition of the Venice International Film Festival came to a close Saturday evening as the jury gathered to hand out prizes to the films in competition in a ceremony hosted by Rocio Munoz Morales.

The jury, led by Julianne Moore, is selecting the winners from 23 films in competition that included many Oscar hopefuls. The Oscar-winner presided over a jury that included French director Audrey Diwan, whose film ā€œHappeningā€ won the Golden Lion last year, author Kazuo Ishiguro (ā€œNever Let Me Goā€) and Iranian actor Leila Hatami (ā€œA Separationā€). Also on the main jury were Italian director Leonardo Di Costanzo (ā€œThe Inner Cageā€) Argentinian filmmaker Mariano Cohn (ā€œOfficial Competitionā€) and Rodrigo Sorogoyen (ā€œThe Candidateā€).

Premiering in competition at Venice has launched many successful Oscar campaigns in recent years, leading to nominations and even wins. Seven times in the last nine years the best director Oscar has gone to a film that world premiered at the festival, including ChloĆ© Zhao, Alfonso CuarĆ³n, Alejandro G. IƱarritu, twice, Guillermo del Toro and Damien Chazelle. Itā€™s also debuted a handful future best picture winners like ā€œNomadland,ā€ ā€œThe Shape of Waterā€ and ā€œBirdman.ā€

The festival cemented several films, actors and directors, as strong awards contenders for the season to come. Brendan Fraser moved many to tears for his portrayal of Charlie, a reclusive English teacher who weighs 600 pounds and is attempting to mend things with his estranged, cruel daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink) in Darren Aronofskyā€™s ā€œThe Whale.ā€ Cate Blanchett also got universal raves for her turn in Todd Fieldā€™s ā€œTƁR,ā€ an intelligent drama about a renowned conductor at the top of her game in the world of international whose reputation suddenly comes under threat.

Aside from awards, it was a Venice for the books, with high glamour from TimothĆ©e Chalamet, who stunned in a red backless halter neck from Haider Ackermann, and Florence Pugh, looking the part of a movie star in a sheer tulle off the shoulder Valentino that slyly evoked both classic romanticism and playful modernity, and high drama, mostly around Olivia Wildeā€™s ā€œDonā€™t Worry Darling.ā€ The behind-the-scenes intrigue on Wildeā€™s film led to some excessive silliness as the world watched the castā€™s every move for clues, from where people were seated, to who looked at who during the premiere.

Chris Pine even became an unlikely meme for various shots of him looking zoned out at a press conference. Then came ā€œspit-gateā€ where onlookers turned into amateur sleuths trying to determine whether or not Harry Styles spit on Pine before the world premiere of the film (he didnā€™t). As ever, Venice gets people talking.

ā€”-

Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr

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For more on the Venice Film Festival, visit: www.apnews.com/VeniceFilmFestival

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