This year’s Venice Film Festival will open with Paolo Sorrentino‘s La Grazia.
As the Oscar-winning director re-teams with Toni Servillo, the opening night film — which translates to “Grace” in English — will get its world premiere in competition on the lido on Wednesday, Aug. 27. While plot details remain unknown, Diamonds actor Anna Ferzetti will also star.
“I am very happy that the 82nd Venice International Film Festival will open with the new and highly anticipated film by Paolo Sorrentino,” said fest director Alberto Barbera.
“I like to recall that one of the most important and internationally acclaimed Italian auteurs made his debut right here at the Biennale di Venezia in 2001 with his first film, One Man Up, in my early years as the artistic director.”
He continued: “The relationship with the Venice Film Festival became consolidated over the years with the presentation out of competition of the first episodes in the series The Young Pope (seasons one and two) and, above all, with The Hand of God which, in 2021, won the Silver Lion-Grand Jury Prize.”
“Paolo Sorrentino’s return in competition comes with a film destined to leave its mark for its great originality and powerful relevance to the present time,” he added, “which the audiences of the Venice Film Festival will have the pleasure of discovering on opening night.”
La Grazia, written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino, is a Fremantle film produced by The Apartment, a Fremantle Company, by Numero 10, and by PiperFilm that will distribute it in Italy.
MUBI owns worldwide rights excluding Italy. The Match Factory is handling international sales.
