The Venice Movie Competition has taken the bizarre step of scrapping its important jury press convention this 12 months, we are able to reveal.
The pageant, which will get underway subsequent week, hasn’t made a public assertion to substantiate the break from protocol however confirmed the transfer to us after a number of requests to know if it was going forward.
The transfer comes at a time of extremely charged press conferences at A-list festivals with jurors and expertise being quizzed by journalists repeatedly about international politics, particularly the Israel-Gaza conflict.
The pageant denied that the transfer was made with these concerns in thoughts and stated as an alternative it was a results of a “scheduling battle”.
This 12 months’s Venice Movie Competition worldwide jury is headed by Maggie Gyllenhaal with members comprising Tunisian director and screenwriter Kaouther Ben Hania, the English composer and artist Daniel Blumberg, the Italian professor Francesco Casetti, the French director and screenwriter Xavier Giannoli, the Afghan director and screenwriter Shahrbanoo Sadat, and the Hong Kong director and producer Johnnie To.
Ben Hania was on the pageant final 12 months with acclaimed drama The Voice Of Hind Rajab, in regards to the tragic killing of five-year-old Palestinian lady Hind Rajab.
Eventually 12 months’s Venice jury press convention, jury head Alexander Payne admitted he was “unprepared” to reply questions on Gaza as political points dominated.
This 12 months’s Berlin Movie Competition was a extremely charged version with the opening jury press convention proving to be a flashpoint after jury president Wim Wenders stated filmmakers ought to keep out of politics in reply to a query on the Israel-Palestine battle.
The pageant had to publicly defend jury members and name for a unique strategy to press conferences following them being dominated by questions on politics. The topic of censorship was introduced up by press at this 12 months’s Cannes jury presser and dominated column inches for the occasion.
The pageant will run September 2 – 12, 2026
