George Clooney received a lifetime achievement award: "We must not be afraid to tell political and controversial stories"
The 83rd Venice Film Festival opened tonight, with George Clooney receiving a lifetime achievement award at the opening ceremony. Here is what we thought about Danny Boyle's opening film about the founding of the British tabloid 'The Sun'.
The 83rd Venice Film Festival, the oldest and one of the three most prestigious film festivals in the world, opened tonight, Wednesday, with a glittering ceremony and will run until the 12th of the month. It seems that, as with the Cannes Film Festival, the organizers are not content with European cinema alone but are carrying out a kind of Americanization of the festival, perhaps to attract back the major American studios that have barely shown a presence.
An example of this was seen when actor and director George Clooney received a lifetime achievement award at the opening ceremony, with actress Laura Dern praising his contributions. A visibly moved Clooney said in his acceptance speech:
"We must not be afraid to tell political and even controversial stories."
He also noted that he had not planned to be an actor at all, and here he is celebrating 45 years on the big screen. Even before the ceremony, at a press conference, he was asked about the storm surrounding Mark Ruffalo regarding the controversy over the looming merger between Paramount and Warner Bros., and about the comments Ruffalo made against the deal. Clooney replied: "It's ridiculous. We will not ban speech. I believe in freedom of speech even when I completely disagree with it. It's important. In fact, it's part of how democracy works."
Heading the jury this year is another American, actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, who stated that while the world is going through a difficult period, filmmakers have a duty to create, delight the audience, and give it hope. Among the judges in the main competition is also Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, who directed the Oscar-nominated film 'The Voice of Hind Rajab', based on the story of the death of a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by IDF fire.
After the ceremony, director Danny Boyle's new and intriguing film 'Ink' was screened, dealing with media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the founding of the British tabloid 'The Sun' fifty years ago. The film is fast-paced and immersive, attempting to present the origins of today's loss of sense and the evils of social media. Guy Pearce and Jack O'Connell are excellent in the lead roles.
At the film's press conference, Pearce said he was in contact with Murdoch's daughter to manage to portray him accurately, but the production did not receive the blessing of the 95-year-old media mogul. Boyle spoke about the loss of innocence in the media and said he is anxious about its fate, as well as the future of professions like teaching and acting in the age of artificial intelligence. Boyle ('Trainspotting', 'Slumdog Millionaire') also noted that despite the fascinating subject, the film was made on a relatively meager budget, which forced him to take risks and not do many takes, and according to him, it worked.
