The 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival will open with the American work, Challengers, on August 30. The Festival held on the island of Lido, off mainland Venice, will wrap up on September 9.
Challengers, helmed by Luca Guadagnino, will star Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist. It will be a world premiere but will play out of competition.
Handled by MGM and Amazon, one can hope to see the movie soon on the streaming platform.
About a former tennis prodigy Tashi (essayed by Zendaya), she is married to a champion (Mike Faist), who is on a losing streak. She tries her best to get him back on the run, and when he faces against a washed-up Patrick (Josh O’Connor), once his best pal and her former boyfriend, the film takes a thrilling turn.
Challengers is penned by Justin Kuritzkes and produced by Amy Pascal, Luca Guadagnino, Zendaya, Rachel O’Connor.
Last year, Guadagnino won Venice’s Silver Lion for Best Director with Bones and All. He competed for the Golden Lion there in 2018 with Suspiria and in 2015 with A Bigger Splash.
Venice Film Festival Director Alberto Barbera said: “Luca Guadagnino is one of the few Italian directors who has always been accustomed to working with both Italian and foreign actresses and actors, getting top results from all of them each time. Even when he is filming abroad as is the case with Challengers.”
The 2022 edition of the Festival opened with Noah Baumbach’s White Noise. It was a Netflix original, and it was the first time that the streaming giant was given this pride of place.
White Noise played in Competition, with a great star cast of Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig and Jodie Turner-Smith. Based on a 1985 novel by American author Don Delillo, it follows Jack (Driver), who becomes renowned as a professor of Hitler studies at a liberal arts college. Married to Barbette (Gerwig), they and their children are shaken when an “airborne toxic event” brings them at the doorstep of death.
Lately, Venice has become a privileged launching pad for Netflix’s Oscar hopefuls, because tough laws in France do not allow a streaming site to showcase its titles unless it agrees to a theatrical release followed by a waiting period of 15 months. So Cannes’ losses had been Venice’s gains.
The Italian festival, the oldest in the world predating Cannes by several years, unfolds on the Lido, a quaint island with boutique hotels, interesting pizza joints and plush restaurants.
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