Isabelle Huppert on the threats facing cinema prior to Venice Festival

“To me, they’re instrumental,” says Isabelle Huppert regarding film festivals. Huppert leads the jury at this year’s Venice Film Festival, which starts this Wednesday.

French actress Isabelle Huppert is heading to Venice, serving as Jury President at the 81st Venice Film Festival – which kicks off on Wednesday with the premiere of Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Prior to her arrival, the star of The Piano Teacher, 8 Women and Elle has shared what she thinks film festivals represent for cinema and its future, as well as her thoughts on the threats the artform faces.
“Festivals are more and more important,” Huppert said to The New York Times. “We all know that with the development of new ways of watching movies such as streaming platforms — which do have their virtues — movie theatres are somewhat threatened. So festivals are crucial ecosystems for the visibility of movies and for the film industry as a whole.”
“To me, they’re instrumental,” she added.
Starting on 28 August 28 until 7 September, Huppert and her jury will watch precisely 21 films selected in Competition before electing this year’s coveted Golden Lion. Among some of the hottest titles in Competition this year are Todd Phillips’ return to the Lido with Joker: Folie à Deux, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga; Pedro Almodóvar’s English-language debut The Room Next Door, with Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore; Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, which chronicles 30 years in the life of a Hungarian-born Jew who survived Auschwitz; the return of Luca Guadagnino with Queer, based on the 1985 novel of the same name by William S. Burroughs and starring Daniel Craig; and Pablo Larraín’s Maria Callas biopic Maria, starring Angelina Jolie.
Speaking on what makes Venice so special, Huppert mentioned the “magical setting,” which she thinks adds to the “overall magic of the event.”
Let’s hope the magic spreads, as theatres are still struggling in the wake of COVID-19 and the rise of streaming.
“I would like to stay optimistic,” she said. “My family and I look after two small art house movie theatres in Paris: the Christine and the Écoles. Paris remains a very privileged city in terms of movie theatres.”
“I believe people will still have a passion for going to the movies,” she continued. “One can sometimes ask oneself whether cinema is an everlasting art form and whether people will continue to go to the movies. My inclination would be to say yes.”
Huppert has won the Coppa Volpi for Best Actress at Venice two times – in 1988 for Story Of Women and in 1995 for La Cérémonie. She was also honoured by the festival in 2005 with a special Golden Lion for her overall work.
The Venice Film Festival starts on Wednesday 28 August and lasts until 7 September. Stay tuned to Euronews Culture for our full coverage, including the latest news, film reviews, and the lowdown on the Lido.
Additional sources • The New York Times