“The White Lotus” star Sabrina Impacciatore and Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera play alternate versions of themselves on the final episode of the Italian adaptation of “Call My Agent," which was released this weekend on pay-TV Sky Italia. Shot in September 2023, during the real Venice event, the show sees Impacciatore play the fest’s master of ceremonies who, wearing a red gown, disembarks with her agent from a motorboat on the Lido at the Excelsior Hotel dock, greeted by throngs...
Venice Film Festival
Alberto
Barbera
Artistic Director
Barbera made sure this year’s 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival maintained its status as one of the key launching pads for awards season by lining up an impressive 21 world premieres. They included new films by major directors David Fincher (“The Killer”), Sofia Coppola (“Priscilla”), Michael Mann (“Ferrari”) and Ava DuVernay (“Origin”), who, unlike actors barred from promotional activities due at the time to the SAG/AFTRA strike, were available to attend the festivities. He generated some controversy by choosing to debut new films by Woody Allen (“Coup de Chance”), Luc Besson (“Dogman”) and Roman Polanski (“The Palace”) — all three living under a cloud of sexual assault allegations, with Polanski’s resulting in a 1977 criminal conviction — inspiring both protests and standing ovations at their respective screenings.
