Venice Film Festival’s artistic director on the boldest films and biggest stars in this year’s lineup

The Venice Film Festival 2024 lineup is one of the most star-studded fall festivals we’ve seen in a long time. Lady Gaga (Joker: Folie à Deux (Madness with Two), George Clooney And Brad Pitt (Wolf), Nicole Kidman (Baby girl), Angelina Jolie (Maria), Julianne Moore (Next door), And Cate Blanchett (Disclaimer) are scheduled to perform on the Lido red carpet at the event, which runs from August 28 to September 7.

Art Director Alberto Barbera is the man responsible for turning the Venice Film Festival into the Oscar launchpad that every studio covets. When he took over the role in 2012 (he previously held the same position from 1998 to 2001), Venice did not have the same level of prestige that it has today, Barbera says. Vanity Fair. But in just a few short years, he has helped build the festival into the glamorous resort it is today, where dozens of films have begun their journey to the Oscars in recent years.

Ahead of this year’s festival, Barbera spoke with Vanity Fair on what it takes to get Venice back on track, the competition between festivals, and how they’ll handle Brangelina at this year’s event.

Vanity Fair: There’s often talk of a rivalry between the fall festivals—Venice, Telluride, and Toronto—for the world’s biggest film premieres. Do you think this is getting worse or better?

Alberto Barbera: It was worse in previous years. In 2012, most American films preferred to go to Toronto rather than Venice, because Venice is of course more expensive. Toronto is much cheaper and easier for them. In most cases, it is the choice of the major studios. So it is not easy to convince them all to go back to Venice. There were no studio films in Venice in 2012.

Next year we open the festival with Gravity. That movie won the Oscar, and that was the beginning of a change in the relationship with the studios. After that, every year we had one or more movies that were nominated for an Oscar, then won an Oscar—like Birdman, Spotlight, La La Land, Shape of Water, Joker. So of course it’s very easy to get a film now, because the studios and the Americans understand that they can use the platform of Venice to launch the film worldwide and start the Oscar campaign, with all the press that we have in Venice. There’s hardly any press in Toronto, other than the trades. We have about 3,000 media representatives from all over the world, so they can really promote the film, market the film properly, starting in Venice.

How much consideration do you put into the balance between commercial films and Oscar-winning films in your filmography?

I don’t like the idea of ​​casting a commercial film if it doesn’t have, how can I say, a personal approach to the content. It has to be oriented with some specific concerns from the filmmaker’s point of view and from the production side. There are a lot of films that I would rather give a chance to a more personal film to be cast, rather than just a commercial film.

Every year, there are remarkable moments in Venice like Lady Gaga on a boat. Do you have any favorite moments like that from the past few years?

Yeah, you mentioned Lady Gaga. I think that’s a perfect example of a very special moment. Do you remember the red carpet of A Star Is Born? It was magical, because she was on the red carpet in this beautiful white dress with feathers and all that, and then it started raining, but she didn’t want to leave the red carpet. She stayed on the red carpet to take pictures and sign autographs and things like that. And then she got soaked. So she came into my office, trying to dry herself and her dress. And Bradley Cooper was outside with me, talking about the movie and the hype around the movie. And then she came out of the office, she was shaking, and he said, “Oh, I don’t know why. You should get used to this, being in a concert with hundreds of thousands of people waiting for you.”

She said to me, “Yeah, of course, but this is my first time in a movie.” So she was shaking, but then of course the reaction from the critics and the audience to the movie was amazing. It was a great evening for everyone.