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VENICE 2019 Opening / Competition

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s The Truth will open the Venice Film Festival

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- Two French stars, Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche, will feature alongside Ethan Hawke in the first film shot outside of Japan by the director who won Cannes’ 2018 Palme d’Or for Shoplifters

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s The Truth will open the Venice Film Festival
Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve and Ethan Hawke in The Truth

The Truth [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hirokazu Kore-eda
film profile
]
, by Hirokazu Kore-eda, is set to open the 76th Venice Film Festival (28 August – 7 September). It is the first work which the 57-year-old Japanese director has filmed outside of his homeland, having previously triumphed in Cannes in 2018, bagging himself the Palme d’Or for Shoplifters as well as scooping dozens of other awards in other international festivals.

The Truth stars Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche and Ethan Hawke: Fabienne (Catherine Deneuve) is a French film star surrounded by men who love and admire her. When she publishes her autobiography, her daughter Lumir (Juliette Binoche) returns from New York to Paris with her husband (Ethan Hawke) and her own daughter. But the mother-daughter reunion rapidly deteriorates, and a confrontation ensues: truths will be told, accounts settled, loves and resentments confessed.

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“Filming took place last autumn in Paris over the course of ten weeks”, Hirokazu Kore-eda commented, having stressed how honoured he felt to have been chosen to open the Festival. “As officially announced, it’s a prestigious cast, but the film itself recounts a small family story that primarily takes place within a house. I’ve tried to bring my characters to life within this small universe, with all their lies, pride, regrets, sadness, joy, and reconciliation. I truly hope that you will like this film”.

For his part, the Festival’s director Alberto Barbera emphasised that “the encounter between the universe of the most important Japanese filmmaker of the moment and two beloved actresses such as Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche has given rise to a poetic reflection on the relationship between a mother and her daughter and the complex acting profession. It will be a pleasure to present this movie as the opening film of this year's Venice Film Festival”. The Truth will be screened in a world premiere on Wednesday 28 August in the Sala Grande of the Palazzo del Cinema, on the Lido di Venezia.

The Truth is co-produced by Muriel Merlin alongside Miyuki Fukuma and Matilde Incerti for 3B Productions, Bunbuku (Japan) & M.I. Movies and France 3 Cinéma, with the support of France Télévisions, Canal+, Ciné+, Le Pacte, Wild Bunch and Gaga Corporation. International sales are in the hands of Wild Bunch, while distribution in Italy is entrusted to Bim Distribuzione.

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(Translated from Italian)

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