All posts tagged: Venice

Three Artists Drop Out of Show at Scuola Piccola Zattere

Three Artists Drop Out of Show at Scuola Piccola Zattere

Last week, Swiss artist Reto Pulfer, Iranian artist Maryam Hoseini, and German artist Anna Witt demanded their work be removed from the inaugural exhibition at nonprofit Scuola Piccola Zattere in Venice. The show, titled  “One Year Score: Primo Movimento,” opened on November 22 and is scheduled to run until March 30, 2025. Three artists remain in the exhibition: Agnieska Mastalerz from Poland and Italians Ludovica Carbotta and Tomaso De Luca.   Scuola Piccola Zattere was founded in November by Victoria Mikhelson, the daughter of Russian billionaire Leonid Mikhelson, a close ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin and a public supporter of the ongoing war in Ukraine. Leonid Mikhelson was sanctioned by the UK government in 2022 and, while he has not been sanctioned by the US, several companies supplied by his operations have been. He is the founder and chairman of Russian natural gas producer Novatek, which supplies gas to Russia’s Sverdlov Plant. That plant was sanctioned by the US in 2023 and makes explosives and ammunition used by the Russian military in Ukraine. He …

The Guggenheim Foundation Rebrands and Adopts New Font

The Guggenheim Foundation Rebrands and Adopts New Font

On Thursday, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation unveiled the new “visual identity” for its growing network of museums, a custom-designed, open-source typeface including both Latin and Arabic characters. The new Sans font is now protocol for the branding of the foundation’s museums in New York, Venice, Bilboa, and the forthcoming Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. “Created in collaboration with the renowned design firm Pentagram, the visual identity reinforces the Guggenheim’s position as a global cultural institution while celebrating the unique local character of each of its museums,” the foundation said in a statement. It added that the use of both Latin and Arabic characters reflects “the institution’s museum locations and its commitment to accessibility and international dialogue.” The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi art museum will be located in the United Arab Emirates’ Saadiyat Island cultural district. It will be the largest of the Guggenheim museums, standing almost 1,000 feet tall and spanning more than 300,000 square foot of floor space. It stems from the UAE’s 2005 plan to diversify its economy by pumping billions into cultural tourism. The institution’s …

‘I have to go to my family’: Nicole Kidman unable to receive Venice best actress award after mother dies | Ents & Arts News

‘I have to go to my family’: Nicole Kidman unable to receive Venice best actress award after mother dies | Ents & Arts News

Nicole Kidman was unable to receive her award for best actress at the Venice Film Festival after finding out her mother died. Kidman, 57, won the prize for her performance in Babygirl. But she was unable to pick up the accolade in person on Saturday, with the film’s director Halina Rejin reading out a message from her instead. It said: “Today I arrived in Venice to find out shortly after, that my beautiful, brave mother Janelle Ann Kidman, has just passed. “I am in shock and I have to go to my family, but this award is for her, she shaped me, she guided me, and she made me. “I am beyond grateful that I get to say her name to all of you through Halina, the collision of life and art is heart-breaking, and my heart is broken. We love you all.” Image: Director Halina Reijn and Nicole Kidman at the Venice Film Festival last Friday. Pic: AP Kidman’s mother was 83 and had appeared with her on the red carpet over the years. …

Nicole Kidman announces mother’s death after missing Best Actress win in Venice

Nicole Kidman announces mother’s death after missing Best Actress win in Venice

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Nicole Kidman missed out on receiving the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at Venice Film Festival on Saturday (September 7) due to the death of her mother, Janelle Ann Kidman. She was 84. The actor received the award for her role in Babygirl, Halina Reijn’s erotic thriller in which Kidman stars opposite Harris Dickinson (Triangle of Sadness). Reijn read a statement on Kidman’s behalf, saying she had flown into Venice, only to find out “shortly after that my beautiful, brave mother, Janelle Ann Kidman, has just passed.” “I’m in shock and I have to go to my family, but this award is for her. She shaped me, she guided me and she made me. I am beyond grateful that I get to say her name to all of you through Halina,” the statement continued. “The collision of life and art is heartbreaking, …

Critics Are Calling This Three-and-a-Half-Hour Venice Film Festival Movie a Monumental Masterpiece

Critics Are Calling This Three-and-a-Half-Hour Venice Film Festival Movie a Monumental Masterpiece

Another very, very long movie has arrived, welcomed after its premiere at the Venice Film Festival by a torrent of hyperbole that could fill the Grand Canal: The Brutalist, the third feature film directed by Brady Corbet, following his Natalie Portman-starring pop-star-school-shooter psychodrama (really, watch it) Vox Lux. It is 215 minutes long. Over three and a half hours. Such is its whopping length, it screened at the festival with a 15-minute intermission, a move that may draw the ire of movie fundamentalists but comes very much approved by the British Chiropractic Association. If the reviews are anything to go by, it’s worth the numb bum. In his five-star review, for example, The Telegraph’s Robbie Collin compares it to such canonized American epics as Once Upon a Time in America and There Will Be Blood. The Hollywood Reporter calls it a “monumental symphony of immigrant experience.” But what is The Brutalist actually about, you ask? To summarise in less than 215 characters: Holocaust survivor László Toth, a visionary Hungarian architect played by Adrien Brody, carves …

Lady Gaga and Michael Polansky steal the show with loved up display at the Venice Film Festival

Lady Gaga and Michael Polansky steal the show with loved up display at the Venice Film Festival

Lady Gaga has always known how to turn heads, whether it’s with her bold fashion choices, her powerful voice, or her ever-changing hair color.  This week, the Die with a Smile singer, 38, made a grand entrance at the Venice Film Festival, where she was spotted sharing a tender kiss with her fiancé, Michael Polansky, as they cruised through the romantic waterways of Venice. Arriving on Monday, Lady Gaga graced the festival with her signature blonde locks, a striking contrast to the dark hair and bleached brows she flaunted just weeks ago.  You may also likeLady Gaga welcomes new family member The Oscar-winning performer, who is in Venice to promote her latest project Joker: Folie à Deux, was the picture of elegance as she stepped off a gondola at the Hotel Cipriani dock, arm-in-arm with Michael.  The couple, who have been together for nearly five years, couldn’t resist a sweet kiss as they disembarked, much to the delight of onlookers. © Franco Origlia Lady Gaga and Michael Polansky are seen arriving at the Venice’s airport …

Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult bring suave sophistication to fourth day of Venice Film Festival

Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult bring suave sophistication to fourth day of Venice Film Festival

The Venice Film Festival has entered its fourth day, and while we’ve already seen some of Hollywood’s leading ladies like Nicole Kidman, Angelina Jolie, and Cate Blanchett, for the fourth day it was time for the gents. Jude Law and Nichols Hoult were leading the way for the festival’s fourth day, for their upcoming crime thriller, The Order, which is based off the non-fiction book, The Silent Brotherhood. See below for the stars who were out for day four… © Vittorio Zunino Celotto Jude Law Jude was just like a suave action star with the actor in a black suit jacket, white shirt and matching trousers. © Daniele Venturelli Nicholas Hoult Nicholas will be Jude’s adversary in their new film, and he rocked a stylish tan jacket with a white shirt and casual pair of jeans. © Franco Origlia Emma Corrin & Rami Malek Rami and Emma were the ultimate couple goals at Venice. No Time to Die star Rami wrapped his arm around his partner Emma, who styled out a luscious green outfit and …

In ‘Separated,’ a Tragic Trump Policy Meets One of America’s Toughest Filmmakers

In ‘Separated,’ a Tragic Trump Policy Meets One of America’s Toughest Filmmakers

Errol Morris has made documentaries about some of the most consequential figures of American politics, from Robert S. McNamara (The Fog of War) to Donald Rumsfeld (The Unknown Known) to, more recently, Steve Bannon (American Dharma). He’s taken on global conflicts, biological warfare, and the horrific images and stories to come out of Abu Ghraib. But hearing the Oscar-winning filmmaker talk about his new movie, Separated (premiering Thursday at the Venice International Film Festival), one senses a particular emotional investment in the material. “It’s hard for me not to believe that these policies were motivated by meanness,” he says of the subject covered by the film. “There’s no pragmatic element in it at all.” Separated examines the origins, impact, and aftermath of the family separation policy instituted during Donald Trump’s presidency. To execute this extreme measure of immigration border control, as Morris explains, “parents were forced to betray their children.” The film—a coproduction between NBC News Studios, Participant, Fourth Floor, and Moxie Pictures—presents interviews with figures intimately involved with the policy, both those who regret …

Will Italy’s Right Wing Take Revenge on the Venice Film Festival?

Will Italy’s Right Wing Take Revenge on the Venice Film Festival?

On May 26, 2023, nearly a year after winning the 2022 national election to become Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni addressed a political rally in Catania, Sicily. The first woman to govern Italy, and the most far-right politician to do so since fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, Meloni told her cheering supporters that despite her electoral success, victory was not yet complete. There was one last left-wing holdout in Italian society, she said: the cultural sector. “I want to liberate Italian culture from a system that you can only work in if you are from a certain political camp,” she said. It was a clear signal of intent, a threatening shot in the country’s culture wars, and the promise of a right-wing counteroffensive to the supposed left-wing hegemony over Italy’s film, television and arts scenes. Meloni has appeared to be true to her word. One of her first acts as prime minister was to appoint Giampaolo Rossi, a journalist known for defending Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Hungarian far-right leader Viktor Orbán, as head of Italian public …