Venice International Film Festival 2024 – Asif Kapadia and Indira Varma – preview and bird bites – ‘Sky Peals’ and ‘Trap’

Tatiana Rosenstein looks ahead to Venice and see what will interest the asianculturevulture at at the festival known by locals as La Mostra Internazionale d’arte cinematografica…

OSCAR WINNING director Asif Kapadia’s latest film, ‘2073’ will have its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival which begins later this month – from August 28 – September 7.

Screening out of competition, it is an unusual documentary and takes its inspiration from a 1962 French New Wave classic called ‘La Jetée’. It depicted a time traveller attempting to alter history after a nuclear apocalypse – providing Kapadia with a way into current global concerns and what our future could hold.

Best known for his documentaries, the Oscar winning, ‘Amy’ (2015), ‘Senna’ (2010) and ‘Diego Maradona’ (2019), he now looks to use science fiction to address pressing global issues. In his directorial statement, he expresses a desire “to examine the huge questions we are facing as a species and hopefully find solutions, before it’s too late”.  

British actor Indira Varma is expected to be in Venice for the premiere of the debut TV series, ‘Disclaimer’ by Alfonso Cuarón. Varma is credited as the Narrator, and is a drama in which Cate Blanchett stars as a journalist whose dark past is threatened by a mysterious novel. The series also includes Kevin Kline, Sacha Baron Cohen, and ‘Squid Game’ icon, Hoyeon.

Nepali director Deepak Nepali director Deepak Rauniar’s ‘Pooja, Sir’, has been selected for the second big Competition section known as, Orizzonti (‘Horizons’), following his 2016 ‘White Sun’, which was the first ever Nepali film chosen for this section.

The recent production features Asha Magarati, former Miss Nepal Nikita Chandak, Reecha Sharma, Pashupati Rai and actors, Daya Hang Rai and Bijay Baral.

Set in Janakpur, the film tells the story of Detective Inspector Pooja, who is sent to solve the kidnapping of two boys in a politically unstable border town.

Amidst growing unrest and systemic discrimination, Pooja and local police woman Mamata work together, pushing through everyday misogyny to resolve the case. The film reflects real events from the 2015 protests in Southern Nepal when the region was beset by political turmoil.  

Also showing in Venice is Peter Brook’s 173-minute ‘The Mahabharata’, which opened the 46th Mostra del cinema in 1989, and is based on the nine-hour stage version. This distills the complex narrative of the ancient Indian epic.

Peter Brook, known for his work with the Royal Opera House and the Royal Shakespeare Company, brought the 3,000-year-old Indian poem to the screen, featuring a multiracial cast and using a minimalist visual style, making it accessible to a global audience.

Venice will see the first screening of the restored version, masterminded by Peter Brook’s son Simon, who was with his father on numerous recces for the film.

In the Classics Section, this year, is Kannada film director Girish Kasaravalli’s ‘Ghatashraddha’.

A four-time Indian National Film Award winner, Padma Shri recipient, this 1977 hit explores the ritual of ‘excommunication’ – formally declaring a person to be outside the community.

Yamunakka, is a child widow, living in a system that denies her normal life – widows are shunned and thought of as bad omens, by orthodox members, especially if their husbands die young. She has a relationship with the village schoolteacher and becomes pregnant. Her lover arranges an abortion and then disappears. The community reaction becomes ever more vehement even though her own elderly father has taken a young bride. Kasaravalli’s sensitive direction, impressive acting, and brilliant camerawork create a poetic atmosphere filled with dejection and suffering. 

Elsewhere, there is glitz and glamour as Angelina Jolie can be seen in Pablo Larrain’s ‘Maria’ – a biopic on the great opera singers of her time, Maria Callas. George Clooney and Brad Pitt team up together in ‘Wolfs’, while director Pedro Almodovar brings his latest, ‘The Room Next Door’, starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore to Venice. Also creating much buzz is Nicole Kidman in ‘Babygirl’ as an older woman who embarks on a relationship with a much younger man.

Director Tim Burton brings his own version and update on ‘Beetlejuice’ (1998) with ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ starring Monica Belluci in the lead role; and Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga will be seen in the latest sequel to ‘Joker’, ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’.

At the festival last year – British film, ‘Sky Peals’ premiered in Venice and we interviewed director Moin Hussain and lead actor Faraz Ayub. It screened at London Film Festival last year…

It is out in cinemas now…

Also out now in cinemas, is M Night Shyamalan’s (pronounced Sham-alan) ‘Trap’ starring Josh Hartnett. The film has opened to mixed reviews, with many praising it as a thriller but requiring too many flights of logic to be internally coherent. Shyamalan was in London recently to promote the film where Sailesh Ram, www.asianculturevulture.com editor was briefly able to meet the famous director. The film also features Shyamalan’s daughter, Saleka, who is a musician and singer. In the film, she plays the pop star Lady Raven. Shyamalan and Ram hail from the same southwestern state of Kerala, India.