Masters

Peter Weir, one of the most consistent innovators in Australian cinema, and Claude Lelouch, a legend of French cinema. Today, they are both honored with significant awards: the first with a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and we will see again his maritime epic Master & Commander (2003) starring Russell Crowe; the second receives the Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker Award and presents his brand-new Finalement, starring Kad Merad and Sandrine Bonnaire. There is great anticipation for the English-language debut of the indomitable Pedro Almodóvar, who is competing with the family drama The Room Next Door, featuring Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, and John Turturro. Also in Competition is the second Italian film, Vermiglio, by Maura Delpero from Bolzano, a (neo)realistic story about three sisters in Trentino during 1944-1945. In the Orizzonti section, standout films include the documentary Mistress Dispeller by Hong Kong director Elizabeth Lo, which explores unpredictable sexual-marital customs in modern China, and the (almost) dystopian Happyend by Japanese director Neo Sora, son of the great composer Ryūichi Sakamoto. In the International Critics’ Week, there’s No Sleep Till by 27-year-old Franco-American Alexandra Simpson, and in the Venice Days, Selon Joy by French director Camille Dugan, both female-driven narratives of disorientation and loneliness set against the backdrop of natural threats or urban desolation. For the more adventurous, there is the over four-hour-long visionary Phantosmia by the multi-award-winning Filipino director Lav Diaz.