UK and Irish directors, actors, producers and locations are peppered throughout the official selection of the 2024 Venice Film Festival, which was unveiled today.
Harvest, produced by Rebecca O’Brien of the UK’s Sixteen Films, alongside New York-based Louverture Films, and Germany’s The Match Factory, is in competition. It is directed by Greek filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari and shot in Scotland, with a UK cast including Harry Melling, Rosy McEwen and Thalissa Teixeira. BBC Film and Screen Scotland are among the backers.
Another competition title with UK ties is US filmmaker Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, which is co-produced by Joshua Horsfield and Saskia Duff’s UK-based Intake Films and backed by US-UK producer-financier Brookstreet, with a cast including Felicity Jones and Joe Alwyn. London-based Protagonist Pictures is handling sales.
UK director Asif Kapadia’s docu-drama 2073 is playing out of competition, with Film4 among its backers. Kapadia is joined by UK filmmaker Kevin Macdonald, with his One To One: John & Yoko, produced through MacDonald’s joint venture with Brad Pitt’s Plan B Productions, Plan B/KM Films, and London-based Mercury Studios.
Critics’ Week has one UK feature – dark comedy Paul & Paulette Take A Bath, directed by UK-France filmmaker Jethro Massey, and produced through his outfit Film Fabric.
Horizons has a UK nod through Giovanni Tortorici’s Diciannove, about a 19-year-old who leaves London for Siena, Italy, with Pinball London as its UK producer.
Another UK director present is Joe Wright, with out of competition, Italian-language series, Son Of The Century.
However, there are no female UK directors in the line-up, and no features from Irish directors or producers.
On-screen, UK talent fares well, with out of competition Apple TV+ series Disclaimer packed full of UK-born actors including Sacha Baron Cohen, Lesley Manville and Louis Partridge. The show also partly shot in London. Australian director Justin Kurzel’s competition thriller The Order stars Jude Law alongside fellow UK actor Nicholas Hoult, with Law also a producer on the project through his Riff Raff Entertainment.
Elsewhere in competition, Daniel Craig and Manville can be seen in Queer, Tilda Swinton in The Room Next Door and Harris Dickinson in Babygirl.
Irish on-screen talent includes Alison Oliver in The Order and Brendan Gleeson in Joker: Folie à Deux.
And while not a UK co-production, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice partly shot last year in Hertfordshire.
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