World Movie News: The Last 24 Hours
Movies and politics collide in Venice scraps over Gaza; Spider-Man closes in on $900 million in the US; and Liza Minnelli pays tribute to her friend Dolly Parton.
Morning… happy Sunday all. A properly charged one out of the Lido today, ahead of next week’s festival opening. Here’s what happened in the world of movies during the last 24 hours.
Venice scraps its jury press conference amid political pressure: The Venice Film Festival has confirmed it won’t hold its traditional opening jury press conference this year — a genuine break from festival protocol, and one that’s raising eyebrows given the context. Artistic director Alberto Barbera has called this year’s lineup Venice’s “most political” in recent memory, tackling war, Palestine, immigration and shrinking political freedoms. The jury decision comes as the campaign group Venice4Palestine circulates an open letter — signed by more than 200 industry figures including Guy Pearce and Céline Sciamma — urging the festival to spotlight Gaza and cut ties with Israeli-linked institutions. The festival maintains the cancellation is down to a “scheduling conflict” rather than any connection with that, offering a welcome cocktail hour with press instead. But given last year’s jury press conference was similarly dominated by Gaza questions that left then-chair Alexander Payne visibly on the back foot, the timing is doing the denial no favours. Jury chair Maggie Gyllenhaal and her fellow jurors — including Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, whose brilliant The Voice of Hind Rajab won Venice’s Silver Lion last year — will presumably field the same questions eventually; just not, it seems, in the usual format.
Spider-Man closes in on $900 million: Meanwhile, the more straightforward business of box office continues, with Spider-Man: Brand New Day nearing the $900 million mark in North America alone as it heads into its fifth weekend, while Coyote vs. Acme — finally free after years on Warner Bros.’ shelf — posted a solid opening in the region of $14 million off an ‘A’ CinemaScore (US exit poll metric). Ridley Scott’s The Dog Stars (my review to follow shortly), by contrast, is reportedly “going to the dogs” at the box office: excuse the pun for a film literally about a man and his dog. Full confirmed figures as ever in Monday’s edition once the weekend wraps.
Liza Minnelli remembers her friend Dolly Parton: On a warmer note, Liza Minnelli has paid tribute to Dolly Parton following her death last week, recalling in a statement how Parton was always there in her toughest moments: “When I was in trouble? Dolly knew it.” A lovely, understated coda to a loss that’s clearly still being felt right across the industry.
That’s all for today. I still have a lot of films to catch up on but more reviews to write!
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