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Did you know the last two Oscar winners for Best Picture have premiered at the Venice Film Festival? They were Spotlight in 2016 and Birdman the year prior. Today, Damien Chazelle’s metropolis Los Angeles based musical La La Land is looking to secure critic’s opinions as a sure-fire Academy Award winner in 2017. Or at least be listed as a prelude as to what we can expect on the golden statue short-list.
According to The Guardian, the festival’s director Alberto Barbera has described Chazelle’s offering as “a wonderful film, a classical musical, and a marvellous tribute to American cinema from a contemporary perspective.” The film centres around aspiring actress Mia (Stone) who falls in love with jazz musician Sebastian (Gosling). But as their romance progresses, the city’s grip and subsequent journey to fame threatens to tear them apart.
La La Land – opening the film gala today – will join Voyage of Time, Nocturnal Animals, Arrival, The Journey, Planetarium and Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender’s love story in The Light Between Oceans. (The two began shooting the latter in September 2014, director Dereck Cianfrance making them live together for six weeks. Vikander and Fassbender officially stepped out publicly as a couple in December of that same year.)
Will this year’s line-up continue Venice’s reign as the trusted forecaster of Oscars contenders? Or will these films fall short and buck said trend leaving Venice at the knees of cheaper festivals such as Telluride and Toronto? Yes, these films are just as important to the Italian city – and it’s 84-year-old festival – as they are the Oscar worthy-actors in them.
Cover Credit: Instagram @living_europe
