Venice Film Festival kicks off with Paolo Sorrentino’s ‘La Grazia' and questions about Gaza

VENICE, Italy (AP) — The Venice Film Festival kicked off with the world premiere of Paolo Sorrentino’s “La Grazia” Wednesday night on the Lido. The opening ceremony of the festival also saw Francis Ford Coppola presenting filmmaker Werner Herzog with a lifetime achievement prize.

The 82nd edition of the glamourous international film festival is playing host to many Hollywood stars, including George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Dwayne Johnson, and famed auteurs, from Guillermo del Toro to Kathryn Bigelow, who all have films debuting over the next 10 days. The conflict in Gaza has also already been an everpresent topic both outside the festival's walls, where protesters gathered, and during the news conferences.

The festival, which takes place on the Lido, chose to open with the newest film from one of Italy’s most revered working filmmakers. “La Grazia” stars Sorrentino’s longtime collaborator Toni Servillo as a fictional Italian president who is paralyzed by indecision near the end of his term, grappling with signing a bill that allows euthanasia and mourning his late wife.

Sorrentino said that he was inspired to write the film by a real case of an Italian president who pardoned a man that had killed his wife, who was suffering from Alzheimer's. The title of the film, can be translated to “the pardon” in English, he said.

“This was a moral dilemma that was interesting to tell,” Sorrentino said. “I have thought for years that moral dilemmas are very interesting for storytelling.”

Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera told The Associated Press that “La Grazia” took them by surprise.

“It’s a different Sorrentino from what we are used to,” Barbera said. “Far less baroque and formalistic than the previous films he made. It’s a very unexpected story.”

Sorrentino, best known for his Oscar-winning film “The Great Beauty,” made his debut at the Venice Film Festival 24 years ago with the film “One Man Up.” He also won the Silver Lion prize in 2021 for “The Hand of God,” which went on to be nominated for an Oscar. Many films that premiere at Venice go on to Oscar nominations and wins.

“La Grazia” is one of the 21 films playing in the festival’s main competition. Other titles vying for the prestigious Golden Lion prize include del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” Bigelow’s “A House of Dynamite,” Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Bugonia,” Benny Safdie’s “The Smashing Machine” and Kaouther Ben Hania’s “The Voice of Hind Rajab."

Winners are decided on by a jury of international filmmakers and actors, including “Sideways” director Alexander Payne and Brazilian actor Fernanda Torres. Payne, who is president of this year's jury, said he arrived to Venice yesterday and was soon seated next to Francis Ford Coppola watching a restoration of a 1920s silent film.

“I thought, ‘I’m in heaven,” Payne said. “This is heaven.”

News about the real world has also been top of mind at the festival, where steps away from the main headquarters, anti-war protesters gathered earlier Wednesday to turn the spotlight to Gaza. A march is also planned for Saturday evening.

Martina Vergnano, an activist with the Social Centers of the Northeast, one of the protest organizers, said hundreds of associations, social centers and film festival participants had signed onto the petition to participate in the protest Saturday. Vergnano spoke in front of the red carpet alongside about a dozen protesters flying Palestinian flags and holding a banner that read: “Free Palestine, Stop the Genocide” with the time and date of Saturday’s protest.

There have been calls to disinvite actors like Gal Gadot and Gerard Butler from attending the festival for their views, but Barbera said that the festival does not boycott artists, nor does it make political statements.

Sorrentino, who recently called the situation in Gaza a “genocide” was asked about Mubi, the company that is distributing his film. Mubi, the indie film shop behind last year's “The Substance,” has come under scrutiny because of funder Sequoia Capital's ties to the Israeli military. The filmmaker redirected the floor to “somebody from Mubi," who declined to speak. A moderator redirected the conversation back to the film.

Payne also faced questions Wednesday afternoon about the conflict and Hollywood's responsibility to address it.

“I feel a little bit unprepared for that question,” Payne said. “I’m here to judge and talk about cinema.”

The festival runs through Sept. 6.

For more coverage of the 2025 Venice Film Festival, visit https://apnews.com/hub/venice-film-festival.

Francis Ford Coppola, left, presents the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement to Werner Herzog during the opening ceremony and the premiere of the film 'La Grazia' during the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Lena Herzog, from left, Francis Ford Coppola, and Werner Herzog pose for photographers on the red carpet for the opening ceremony and the premiere of the film 'La Grazia' during the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Toni Servillo poses for photographers on the red carpet for the opening ceremony and the premiere of the film 'La Grazia' during the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Jury member Fernanda Torres poses for photographers at the Jury photo call during the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (Photo by Alessandra Tarantino/Invision/AP)

Jury president Alexander Payne, sixth from left, and jury members Zhao Tao, from left, Fernanda Torres, Mohammad Rasoulof, Cristian Mungiu, Stephane Brize and Maura Delpero pose for photographers at the Jury photo call during the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (Photo by Alessandra Tarantino/Invision/AP)

Festival director Alberto Barbera, left, and jury president Alexander Payne depart from the Hotel Excelsior en route to the Jury press conference at the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Paolo Sorrentino arrives at the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Pro Palestine demonstrators hold Palestinian flags during a press conference in front of the red carpet to announce a demonstration on Saturday, Aug. 30 during the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (Photo by Alessandra Tarantino/Invision/AP)

A view of the main cinema ahead of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. (Photo by Alessandra Tarantino/Invision/AP)

Film posters outside the Excelsior hotel ahead of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. (Photo by Alessandra Tarantino/Invision/AP)

A view of the main cinema ahead of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. (Photo by Alessandra Tarantino/Invision/AP)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Thousands of people rallied Saturday in the cradle of the modern Civil Rights Movement to mobilize a new voting rights era as conservative states dismantle congressional districts that helped secure Black political representation.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey called Montgomery “sacred soil” in the fight for civil rights.

“If we in our generation do not now do our duty, we will lose the gains and the rights and the liberties that our ancestors afforded us,” Booker said.

The crowd was led in chants of “we won’t go back” and “we fight.”

“We are not going down without a fight. We are not going down to Jim Crow maps,” Shalela Dowdy, a plaintiff in the Alabama redistricting case said.

A crowd of thousands gathered in front of the city’s historic Alabama Capitol, the place where the Confederacy was formed in 1861 and where the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke in 1965 at the end of the Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights March. The stage, set in front of the Capitol, was flanked from behind by statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and civil rights icon Rosa Parks — dueling tributes erected nearly 90 years apart.

Speakers said the spot was once the temple of the confederacy and became holy ground of the civil rights movement.

Some in the crowd said the effort to redraw lines has echoes of the past.

“We lived through the “60s. It takes you back. When you think that Alabama’s moving forward, it takes two steps back,” said Camellia A Hooks, 70, of Montgomery, Alabama.

The rally began in Selma, where a violent clash between law enforcement and voting rights activists in 1965 galvanized support for passage of the Voting Rights Act. It then moved to the state Capitol, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “How Long, Not Long” speech that same year.

A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving Louisiana hollowed out voting rights law that was already weakened by a separate decision in 2013 and then narrowed further over the years. That helped clear the way for stricter voter ID laws, registration restrictions, and limits on early voting and polling place changes, including in states that once needed federal preclearance before they could change voting laws because of their historical discrimination against Black voters.

Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement are alarmed by the speed of the rollbacks, noting that protections won through generations of sacrifice have been weakened in little more than a decade.

Kirk Carrington, 75, was a teen in 1965 when law enforcement officers attacked marchers in Selma on what became known as “Bloody Sunday.” A white man on a horse wielding a stick chased Carrington through the streets.

“It’s really just appalling to me and all the young people that marched during the ’60s, fought hard to get voting rights, equal rights and civil rights,” Carrington said. “It’s sad that it’s continuing after 60-plus-odd years that we are still fighting for the same thing we fought for back then.”

Montgomery is home to one of the congressional districts that is being altered in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.

A federal court in 2023 redrew Alabama's 2nd Congressional District after ruling that the state intentionally diluted the voting power of Black residents, who make up about 27% of its population. The court said there should be a district where Black people are a majority or near-majority and have an opportunity to elect their candidate of choice.

But the Supreme Court cleared the way for a different map that could let the GOP reclaim the seat. While the matter remains under litigation, the state plans special primaries Aug. 11 under the new map.

Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures, who won election in the district in 2024, said the dispute is not about him but rather people's opportunity to have representation.

“When Republicans are literally turning back the clock on what representation, what the faces of representation, look like, what the opportunities, legitimate opportunities for representation look like across this country, then I think it starts to resonate with people in a little bit of a different way,” Figures said.

Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, a Republican, said the Louisiana ruling provided an opportunity to revisit a map that was forced on the state by the federal court.

“People tend to forget what happened. When this thing went to court, the Republican Party had that seat, congressional seat two,” Ledbetter said last week. “There’s been a push through the courts to try to overtake some of these red state seats, and that’s certainly what happened in that one.”

Evan Milligan, the lead plaintiff in the Alabama redistricting case, said there is grief over the implosion of the Voting Rights Act but it is crucial that people recommit to the fight.

“We have to accept that this is the new reality, whether we like it or not,” Milligan said. “We don’t have to accept that this will be the reality for the next 10 years or two years or forever.”

A man sings a spirtual song during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

The State capitol is seen during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

A protestor holds a sign of the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

A man sings a spirtual song during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

A protestor holds a sign of the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

U.S. Sen Corey Booker, D-NY., has his photo taken during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

People gather during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

U.S. Sen Corey Booker, D-NY., has his photo taken during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Aaron McGuire sings a spirtual song during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)