The 83rd Venice International Film Festival opened Wednesday on the Lido with the world premiere of Danny Boyle's newsroom drama "Ink" and a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement presented to George Clooney, the first of two such honors the festival is awarding this year. Ellen Burstyn will receive the festival's second Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement later in the 11-day event, which runs through Sept. 12.
Clooney was given the award at the opening ceremony, with actress Laura Dern delivering the tribute speech before handing him the trophy. "I've had so many extraordinary moments in Venice. This festival is without question my favorite," Clooney said, adding that the honor "probably means I'm old, but I'll take it." Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera, whose recommendation the Biennale's board follows in choosing lifetime-achievement recipients, called Clooney "a complete and charismatic artist" whose appeal rests on credibility rather than image alone.
Clooney, who won two Academy Awards and built his career on films including "Syriana," "Michael Clayton," "Up in the Air" and "Gravity" after breaking out on NBC's "ER," is scheduled to give a masterclass at the festival's Match Point Arena on Thursday. He has also directed "Good Night, and Good Luck," "The Ides of March" and "Suburbicon," and has been active for years in humanitarian advocacy tied to Darfur, including as a United Nations Messenger of Peace.
A Second Lion for Ellen Burstyn
Burstyn, 93, will collect her own Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement around a masterclass set for Sept. 8. Barbera, announcing the honor earlier this summer, described her as an actress "of rare intensity and truth" who has appeared in roughly 150 films over more than five decades, working with directors including Alain Resnais, Paul Schrader, Darren Aronofsky and Christopher Nolan. Burstyn, who won an Oscar for "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" and was nominated for "The Exorcist" and "Requiem for a Dream," is also president of the Actors Studio.
An actress of rare intensity and truth, Ellen Burstyn has been a presence in American cinema for over fifty years, bringing depth and complexity to unforgettable female characters.
Alberto Barbera, Venice Film Festival artistic director
A Newsroom Drama Opens the Lido
The festival's opening slot went to "Ink," Boyle's account of how Rupert Murdoch's 1969 acquisition of The Sun, handed to editor Larry Lamb, turned the paper into Britain's best-selling tabloid at the expense of the Daily Mirror. The film, written by James Graham and adapted from his own Tony-nominated play, stars Jack O'Connell as Lamb, Guy Pearce as Murdoch and Claire Foy, and premiered Wednesday evening at the Sala Grande.
Boyle called it "a huge honour to be in a city of such extraordinary art and opening this great festival" with a story about two men who "created a new tabloid which against all the odds became the biggest selling newspaper in the world." Barbera praised the pairing of "an Oscar-winning director, one of the leading playwrights on the London theater scene, and three of the most acclaimed actors in contemporary British cinema." Boyle won the best-director Oscar for "Slumdog Millionaire" in 2009; "Ink" is also set to screen at the Toronto International Film Festival later this month.
The lifetime honors and the opening premiere set the tone for a festival that will spend the next 10 days weighing new work rather than looking back. Maggie Gyllenhaal presides over the main competition jury, which is due to hand down its awards, including the Golden Lion for best film, when the festival closes on Sept. 12.
Venice's opening day drew heavy attention this year after last year's edition was clouded by criticism over festival transparency; organizers restored a jury press conference this week that had been a point of contention. Against that backdrop, Wednesday's ceremony leaned on two generations of American screen actors — Clooney, 65, and Burstyn, 93 — to anchor an edition built around new work from directors such as Lee Chang-dong, Martin McDonagh and Werner Herzog.
Attention now turns to the competition slate itself, where 20 films will vie for the Golden Lion over the coming week, with juried prizes for acting, direction and screenwriting to be announced alongside it at the closing ceremony.
