Venice Film Festival: Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton headline red carpet for Paolo Sorrentino's La Grazia
Aussie acting royalty Cate Blanchett was a picture of glamour and grace on the red carpet as the Venice Film Festival kicked off overnight with the world premiere of Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grazia.
The premiere was also attended by a bevy of A-listers, including film legends Francis Ford Coppola and Werner Herzog, model mother and daughter pair Heidi and Leni Klum, film stars Anna Ferzetti, Tilda Swinton, Claire Holt and fellow Australian actress Claire Holt.
Apart from Coppola and Herzog, the 82nd edition of the glamourous international film festival will host a range of famed auteurs, from Guillermo del Toro to Kathryn Bigelow, who all have films debuting over the next 10 days.
Sign up to The Nightly's newsletters.
Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.
By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.The festival, which takes place on the Lido, chose to open with the newest film from one of Italy’s most revered working filmmakers. La Grazia stars Sorrentino’s longtime collaborator Toni Servillo, although the plot has remained under wraps.
Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera told The Associated Press that La Grazia took them by surprise.
“It’s a different Sorrentino from what we are used to,” Barbera said. “Far less baroque and formalistic than the previous films he made. It’s a very unexpected story.”
Sorrentino, best known for his Oscar-winning film The Great Beauty, made his debut at the Venice Film Festival 24 years ago with the film One Man Up. He also won the Silver Lion prize in 2021 for The Hand of God, which went on to be nominated for an Oscar. Many films that premiere at Venice go on to Oscar nominations and wins.
La Grazia is one of the 21 films playing in the festival’s main competition. Other titles vying for the prestigious Golden Lion prize include del Toro’s Frankenstein, Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite, Yorgos Lanthimos’s Bugonia, Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine and Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab.
The festival runs through to September 6.
