Venice Film Festival revealed the lineup for its 80th edition Tuesday morning, and its official competition included the work of five women filmmakers ava duvernayWho created history as the first African American woman in the selection.
Selected films and filmmakers Priscilla (Sofia Coppola), Original (Ava DuVernay), green border (Agniska Holland), woman of (Malgorzata Szumowska, Michael Englert), and holly (Fien Troach).
There are 23 films in competition in total, meaning the festival falls well short of any kind of gender equality mark. The festival said that 32% of submissions this year were from women filmmakers. Nevertheless, DuVernay̵7;s Original As the first African American filmmaker to participate in the competition would mark an important milestone for Venice.
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The picture, directed by DuVernay from a screenplay he co-wrote with Isabel Wilkerson, is an adaptation of Wilkerson’s seminal, Pulitzer Prize-winning nonfiction book, Caste: The Origin of Our Resentment, The text has a strong philosophical significance because it describes racism in the United States as one aspect of the rigid caste system of arbitrary hierarchy that stratifies society and still divides us today. The film stars Anjana Ellis-Taylor, Jon Bernthal, Vera Farmiga, Niecy Nash-Bates, Audra McDonald, Nick Offerman, Connie Nielsen.
Actor-filmmaker Regina King was the first African American woman to play Venice in her acclaimed biopic in 2020 one night in miami, However, the picture went out of competition before receiving three Oscar nominations, including Best Adapted Screenplay for Kemp Powers. Black male filmmakers and artists such as Steve McQueen, Isaac Julian, John Akomfrah, Spike Lee and Ousmane Semben have exhibited more frequently in Venice as part of the film festival and the wider Biennale.
DuVernay’s last feature project was Disney’s a wrinkle in time, starring Storm Reid, Oprah Winfrey and Reese Witherspoon. Other DuVernay directing credits include Netflix’s 13th and the MLK-biopic Selma, The California native is a rare presence on the festival circuit. In 2012, she became the first black woman to win Sundance’s Dramatic Competition with her second feature middle of nowhereAnd in 2018 he served on the Cannes Competition Jury.
This year Venice will run from 30 August to 9 September.