Paolo Sorrentino’s “La Grazia” to Open Venice Film Festival
According to cinemadrame news agency, Paolo Sorrentino’s film “La Grazia” (The Grace) will open the Venice Film Festival on August 27. The film, starring Toni Servillo, is set to screen in the competition section, vying for the Golden Lion.
No details about the plot of the latest work from the Italian director of “The Hand of God” have been revealed, but Sorrentino is expected to have written and directed a love story. Toni Servillo, who has collaborated with Sorrentino on films such as “Loro,” “Il Divo,” “The Hand of God,” and “The Great Beauty” (which won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film), is featured in the movie. Anna Ferzetti is also among the cast.
Alberto Barbera, director of the Venice Film Festival, stated: “I am extremely pleased that the 82nd Venice Film Festival will commence with Paolo Sorrentino’s wonderful and incredibly exciting new film. I would like to remind everyone that one of the most important and acclaimed Italian auteur filmmakers in international communities premiered his first film, “One Man Up,” right here at the Venice Film Festival in 2001, during my initial years as artistic director of the festival.”
“Parthenope” was Sorrentino’s seventh film to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Other films by Sorrentino that have premiered at Cannes include “The Consequences of Love” (2004), “Il Divo” (2008), which won the Jury Prize, “This Must Be the Place” (2011), “The Great Beauty” (2013), and “Youth” (2015). The 82nd Venice Film Festival will begin on August 27.
