The 83rd Venice Film Festival has opened on the Lido with George Clooney as its undisputed centerpiece. Nearly three decades after his first appearance here in Out of Sight, the actor, director, and producer has become a familiar figure in this lagoon city, where he married at the Aman Venice and premiered Good Night, and Good Luck, which earned him his first Oscar nomination for best director.
Now 65, Clooney is set to receive a lifetime achievement award, but at the press conference ahead of the ceremony, he seemed less interested in reflecting on his career than in addressing the state of the world. He spoke at length about artificial intelligence, climate change, media ownership, and what he called a global crisis of leadership.
“There’s a great word, kakistocracy, which is a country run by the least qualified people,” Clooney said. “I think maybe we have a kakistocracy right now. But we’ll get through it.”
On AI, Clooney acknowledged that the film industry will have to adapt, adding that he would “like to avoid being in a tampon commercial 20 years after I’m dead.” He also criticized the concentration of media power in the hands of a few billionaires, noting that The Washington Post and X are owned by some of the world’s richest men. He expressed skepticism about the proposed Paramount–Warner Bros. merger, calling it “a complicated thing because I don’t know how this works out, I don’t know how it goes through.”
Jury president speaks out
Clooney was not alone in voicing concerns. Jury president Maggie Gyllenhaal also used the opening press conference to address sexism, politics, and global conflicts. When asked how she could focus on movies while the world faces emergencies, she replied: “Look, we could say how are we possibly here talking about movies right now when the world is in a state of emergency. To me the answer has something to do with empathy.”
Gyllenhaal also highlighted the underrepresentation of women in this year’s competition lineup, which includes only one film directed by a woman. She joked, “I guess it’s just finally become clear that men make better movies than women do,” before pointing to systemic barriers such as financing and preconceived notions about high art. In a late addition, the documentary NAZA, about Gaza and co-directed by a woman, was added to the program.
Over the next 11 days, the red carpet will see a parade of stars, from Robert Pattinson to Noel and Liam Gallagher of Oasis. The lineup also includes documentaries on Elon Musk (Musk) and independent Russian journalists covering the war in Ukraine (My Undesirable Friends — Part II: Exile), as well as Palestinian films and a short about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis.
The festival opens with Danny Boyle’s Ink, a competition title starring Guy Pearce as media baron Rupert Murdoch and Jack O’Connell as tabloid editor Larry Lamb. The film dramatizes Murdoch’s 1969 acquisition of The Sun and how Lamb transformed it from a failing venture into Britain’s bestselling daily.
As the festival unfolds, the conversations are as much about the world beyond the Lido as about cinema itself. For those planning their autumn viewing, our fall film preview offers a broader look at Europe’s must-see releases. And for a different kind of Venetian story, there’s the Napoleonic-era island for sale in the lagoon.
