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This year’s Venice Film Festival red carpet may not be crowded with American stars as the festival prepares to adjust to the unprecedented challenges posed by the writers’ and actors’ strike in the United States. United.
Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera is currently working on a plan B if American films don’t participate this year next 80th edition because of ongoing WGA and SAG strikes.
According to THR Italia, Barbera told its programmers that the 80th edition “will be a pan-European festival”, and although it is still too early to determine the outcome of the strikes, it seems unlikely that the dispute will be resolved. before September.
This could mean that an alternative program would consist mainly of European and Asian cinema, given that American talent would likely be banned from attending premieres.
Stars may have to step back from presenting and promoting their films, as SAG-AFTRA rules say studios can’t pay for actors to be sent to festivals and artists can’t attend any projection or promotional exercise.
“Let’s try to figure out what the American producers and directors intend to do,” Barbera said, according to people familiar with the matter. “In the meantime, we are taking steps to create an alternative program.”
Barbera also told his staff “to be ready for anything and take nothing for granted”.
This news could be both an opportunity and a blow to the festival, which is seen as the unofficial start of awards season and widely recognized as an awards launchpad. Lack of promotion by talent would mean premieres would suffer and, in turn, early Oscar buzz would be muted.
Venice relies on the presence of Hollywood talent and has been a bellwether when it comes to the premiere of future big winners.
A film in the line of sight is this year previously announced opening film – Luca Guadagnino Challengers. It features Zendaya, who would be unable to walk the red carpet or be available for interviews and promotional duties if the strikes continued.
Guadagnino confirmed that the situation is very uncertain: “Of course the actors will not promote,” he told THR Roma. “We have to understand from the studio what they want to do, and then we’ll decide how to proceed.”
Sources also told THR Roma that organizers of the Toronto International Film Festival – which runs September 7-17 – are also preparing for the possibility that there will be a limited presence of American films at TIFF.
The 80th Venice Film Festival runs from August 30 to September 9. by Luca Guadagnino Challengers is always ready to open the festival. A press conference to unveil this year’s full lineup is scheduled for July 25 and will still take place as planned.