The Venice Film Festival roared back to life this year with a starry and feminist-tinged selection that leaves the competition wide open for who will take home the Golden Lion on Saturday.
The MeToo movement appears to be making its mark on the film industry if the Venice premieres were anything to go by. The festival closed with ‘The Last Duel’ (playing out of competition), a medieval jousting drama starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck that went heavy on its message of historical injustice towards women.
Slasher pic ‘Last Night in Soho’, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, took a similar approach to Swinging Sixties London, revealing the misogyny beneath our nostalgia. Other films at the festival -- from French abortion drama ‘Happening’ to Maggie Gyllenhaal's unflinching look at motherhood in ‘The Lost Daughter’ (starring Oscar-winner Olivia Colman) -- suggested some progress in the effort to bring more female stories to the screen. —AFP
One woman who seems destined to grab the headlines in the coming months is Kristen Stewart, who wowed critics at Venice with her turn as Princess Diana in ‘Spencer’.
Stewart is already picking up Oscar buzz, as is New Zealand director Jane Campion for her emotionally complex Western, ‘The Power of the Dog’.
Its star Benedict Cumberbatch is also being tipped for awards for his part as the conflicted cowboy at the centre of the film.
He praised Campion and the women's movement ahead of the premiere last week, saying: "There's such rich female talent to nurture and enjoy. Jane is such a key icon in that movement." —AFP
