That Sinking Feeling: Getting My Feet Wet at The Venice Film Festival
The 73rd edition of the glamorous Venice Film Festival has been characterized by fashion. The realm of dazzling catwalks － that often walks a step behind the more intellectual world of motion pictures － finds endorsement at the Italian kermesse.
Many are the movies that featured former models, such as the French Ludivine Sagnier, cast member of Paolo Sorrentino’s The Young Pope; Suki Waterhouse who appears as an amputated outcast in The Bad Batch; Matilda Lutz in Gabriele Muccino’s lame road trip flick Summertime; and Lily-Rose Depp who was Chanel’s testimonial and is most commonly known for being the daughter of two major stars (Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis), starring in Planetarium. Another established actress who first approached showbiz from the catwalk is Monica Bellucci, shining in Emir Kusturica’s On The Milky Road; as well as Rachel Weisz (starring in The Light Between Oceans) who abandoned the fashion world to become an Academy Award winning actress.
There are also several men from the runway who have moved their career to the silver screen and presented some films at the Lido. Some may recall that Jason Momoa, was selected as Model of the Year in Hawaii in 1999, and now he starred with Waterhouse in The Bad Batch. Even a model from the Far East stars in a film at the 2016 festival edition: South Korean Byung-Hun Lee in The Magnificent Seven. Just as worthy of mention is actor Pierre Niney with Ozon’s film Frantz, who interpreted Yves Saint Laurent, providing a great example of a magnificent fashion biopic.
But the most relevant fashion-male at Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica is designer Tom Ford, who has bewitched audiences with his second feature film, Nocturnal Animals. He majestically intertwines the life of an author and his creative writing process, just as effectively as if he were tailoring a piece of raw silk on a silhouette.
Another notable great protagonist of fashion (in this case from the editorial field) who has made a grand entrance at Lido is Franca Sozzani, the Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Italia. Her son, the Italian photographer and filmmaker Francesco Carrozzini, based in New York, has made a very poignant documentary about his mother. Franca: Chaos and Creation shows the gut and softness of a woman considered an Iron Lady.
L’Uomo Vogue celebrated with Lamborghini cars its 10th issue dedicated to the film festival. For the occasion Franca Sozzani and Stefano Domenicali (Chief Executive Officer of Automobili Lamborghini) opened the exhibit The 10th Starry Year in Venice, at Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista. The beautiful setting became the stage for majestic supersize photos on display, depicting the most famous faces of contemporary cinema: Jude Law, Sam Mendes, Michael Fassbender, James Franco, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paolo Sorrentino and Kit Harrington to mention a few.
The cherry on top of this “fashion-film” festival edition is the habitual collection of Prada Shorts – Women’s Tales by Miu Miu. An exclusive dinner party introduced one of the stories, directed by Crystal Moselle － That One Day. The location couldn’t be but the grandiose Ca’ Corner della Regina, where the Prada Foundation is set. Nicolas Winding Refn and Dakota Fanning were some of the distinguished guests who attended.
Amongst the proliferation of film festivals worldwide, many are specifying in the field of fashion, such as the Fashion Film Festival In Milan, Italy, or the Jolla International Fashion Film Festival in California. This year, the oldest Film Festival in the world － that was founded in 1932 by Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata － has acknowledged this trend. As a result, the 73rd edition of Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica has managed to combine iconic runway testimonials with compelling stories, initiating a very promising dialectic between the mediums of cinema and fashion.
