Dubai Telegraph - Venice film fest launches with Netflix's Adam Driver flick 'White Noise'

EUR -
AED 3.865039
AFN 71.961868
ALL 97.885367
AMD 409.705534
ANG 1.898038
AOA 960.733931
ARS 1055.061215
AUD 1.613881
AWG 1.894109
AZN 1.787029
BAM 1.951539
BBD 2.126437
BDT 125.855234
BGN 1.956342
BHD 0.396578
BIF 3110.579445
BMD 1.052283
BND 1.414399
BOB 7.293078
BRL 6.086683
BSD 1.053191
BTN 88.848028
BWP 14.387453
BYN 3.446543
BYR 20624.740218
BZD 2.122845
CAD 1.469502
CDF 3014.78969
CHF 0.929776
CLF 0.037101
CLP 1023.776253
CNY 7.619996
CNH 7.625593
COP 4626.455438
CRC 534.824751
CUC 1.052283
CUP 27.885491
CVE 110.024795
CZK 25.350861
DJF 187.538784
DKK 7.458788
DOP 63.520417
DZD 140.573397
EGP 52.274979
ERN 15.78424
ETB 131.306162
FJD 2.388363
FKP 0.830585
GBP 0.832524
GEL 2.883571
GGP 0.830585
GHS 16.7185
GIP 0.830585
GMD 74.71233
GNF 9078.051459
GTQ 8.13025
GYD 220.338958
HKD 8.189863
HNL 26.613518
HRK 7.506205
HTG 138.346648
HUF 411.186809
IDR 16734.714279
ILS 3.929639
IMP 0.830585
INR 88.911049
IQD 1379.588093
IRR 44293.214291
ISK 145.520299
JEP 0.830585
JMD 166.933965
JOD 0.746386
JPY 162.676061
KES 136.007134
KGS 91.02957
KHR 4249.68174
KMF 491.94202
KPW 947.053999
KRW 1471.222726
KWD 0.323672
KYD 0.877684
KZT 523.167824
LAK 23125.51255
LBP 94319.785398
LKR 306.411046
LRD 190.622024
LSL 19.101997
LTL 3.107117
LVL 0.636515
LYD 5.138732
MAD 10.521031
MDL 19.167154
MGA 4930.189594
MKD 61.546561
MMK 3417.773046
MNT 3575.656436
MOP 8.443666
MRU 41.866002
MUR 48.839087
MVR 16.268296
MWK 1826.195708
MXN 21.380416
MYR 4.698412
MZN 67.293799
NAD 19.101997
NGN 1768.455747
NIO 38.755022
NOK 11.613586
NPR 142.154623
NZD 1.792324
OMR 0.40513
PAB 1.053101
PEN 3.996674
PGK 4.239684
PHP 62.126243
PKR 292.773138
PLN 4.342422
PYG 8247.914831
QAR 3.840515
RON 4.977085
RSD 117.020141
RUB 106.281009
RWF 1452.315514
SAR 3.95054
SBD 8.79238
SCR 14.332083
SDG 632.944958
SEK 11.610939
SGD 1.413951
SHP 0.830585
SLE 23.75528
SLL 22065.84631
SOS 601.88026
SRD 37.282669
STD 21780.126598
SVC 9.214882
SYP 2643.891613
SZL 19.091139
THB 36.458458
TJS 11.216013
TMT 3.682989
TND 3.324243
TOP 2.464553
TRY 36.27081
TTD 7.130433
TWD 34.270209
TZS 2791.031424
UAH 43.426878
UGX 3886.514989
USD 1.052283
UYU 45.021709
UZS 13526.469111
VES 48.861031
VND 26751.65603
VUV 124.929112
WST 2.937543
XAF 654.521833
XAG 0.033884
XAU 0.000395
XCD 2.843846
XDR 0.801343
XOF 654.521833
XPF 119.331742
YER 262.991742
ZAR 19.064031
ZMK 9471.810193
ZMW 29.146091
ZWL 338.834589
  • RBGPF

    -0.5000

    59.69

    -0.84%

  • CMSC

    0.1200

    24.64

    +0.49%

  • SCS

    0.0750

    13.145

    +0.57%

  • GSK

    -0.0790

    33.271

    -0.24%

  • RELX

    0.3400

    45.45

    +0.75%

  • AZN

    0.4550

    63.655

    +0.71%

  • NGG

    -0.5300

    62.74

    -0.84%

  • RIO

    -0.3000

    62.09

    -0.48%

  • CMSD

    0.1910

    24.451

    +0.78%

  • RYCEF

    0.1900

    6.8

    +2.79%

  • BTI

    -0.1600

    36.92

    -0.43%

  • BCE

    -0.4600

    26.54

    -1.73%

  • VOD

    -0.1100

    8.83

    -1.25%

  • JRI

    0.0400

    13.27

    +0.3%

  • BP

    0.2050

    29.285

    +0.7%

  • BCC

    1.7700

    139.18

    +1.27%

Venice film fest launches with Netflix's Adam Driver flick 'White Noise'
Venice film fest launches with Netflix's Adam Driver flick 'White Noise' / Photo: Vincenzo PINTO - AFP

Venice film fest launches with Netflix's Adam Driver flick 'White Noise'

The Venice Film Festival kicks off on Wednesday with Adam Driver starring in opening film "White Noise" -- one of several Netflix entries competing for the top prize Golden Lion as the streaming giant seeks to burnish its arthouse credentials.

Text size:

"White Noise" stars Driver as a Hitler studies professor in a town experiencing an "Airborne Toxic Event", reuniting him with director Noah Baumbach following their lauded "Marriage Story".

Netflix will also premiere the highly anticipated "Blonde", a dark retelling of Marilyn Monroe's tragic life, in the second week of the 10-day festival.

Its Australian director Andrew Dominik has, with typical modesty, declared it "a masterpiece" and it could propel Cuban actress Ana de Armas from rising star to fully fledged A-lister.

The streaming platform is also behind "Bardo", the latest from Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, who launched his previous films "Birdman" and "The Revenant" in Venice on their way to Oscar glory.

- Award-winning directors -

The world's longest-running film festival, now in its 79th edition, is held each year on the beach-lined Lido island.

It is well-timed to launch Academy Award campaigns, with a particularly strong track record for directors in recent years.

Eight of the last 10 Best Director Oscars have gone to films that premiered at Venice, including the most recent winner Jane Campion for "Power of the Dog" -- another Netflix production, even if the streaming platform is still waiting for its first Best Picture statuette at the annual Hollywood awards.

Also expected to grace the Lido on Wednesday is French actress Catherine Deneuve who is picking up a lifetime achievement award.

Among the other highly anticipated entries in the coming days is "Bones and All", featuring man-of-the-moment Timothee Chalamet as a love-sick cannibal on a road trip across America, reuniting him with "Call Me By Your Name" director Luca Guadagnino.

There is early buzz, too, for "The Whale" starring Brendan Fraser -- who has been largely absent from the screen since his heyday in films like "The Mummy" two decades ago -- as a morbidly obese man trying to reconnect with his daughter.

Its director, Darren Aronofsky, won the Golden Lion in 2008 for "The Wrestler" and launched his Oscar-winning "Black Swan" in Venice.

Hollywood and Western Europe dominate the selection of 23 films competing for the hearts of a jury led by US actress Julianne Moore.

One notable exception is Iran's award-winning filmmaker Jafar Panahi, whose "No Bears" is premiering barely a month after he was imprisoned in Tehran amid a crackdown on dissident directors.

- Styles fever -

Also bound to stir political controversy is a new documentary from Laura Poitras, who follows her films about whistleblowers Edward Snowden and Julian Assange with "All the Beauty and the Bloodshed" about the family pharma group behind the US opioid epidemic.

But the movie most likely to get tongues wagging is "Don't Worry Darling", playing out of competition on Monday, which features music megastar Harry Styles in his first leading role.

The tale of sinister goings-on in a seemingly idyllic 1950s community has so far been overshadowed by buzz about its sex scenes and supposed clashes between co-star Florence Pugh and director Olivia Wilde (also Styles' girlfriend).

Wilde has dismissed them as "invented click-bait".

F.Saeed--DT