Award-winning Argentine film director, screenwriter and producer Lucrecia Martel, the president of the jury at this year's Venice Film Festival, admitted Wednesday that she was "uncomfortable" with the inclusion of Roman Polanski's latest film in this year's edition of the world's oldest film festival.
The star-studded Venice film festival began Wednesday with Brad Pitt among a glittering array of A-listers arriving by boat for the 11-day celebration of cinema, which is already clouded by scandal.
The festival, which has become the launchpad for the Oscar race, has a host of Hollywood heavyweights in a stellar line-up including Johnny Depp, Kristen Stewart, Meryl Streep and Scarlett Johansson. But the world's oldest film festival is already embroiled in a second year of controversy over a lack of women up for its top prize, with two female directors out of 21 in the running this year compared to one in 2018.
The row has been further ignited by the inclusion of Polanski, as well as director Nate Parker who was embroiled in a rape trial while still at university, with campaigners saying the festival is out of touch in the era of '#MeToo.'
Festival director Alberto Barbera defended his decision to include Polanski, calling him "one of the last masters still active in European cinema", at an opening press conference for the festival dominated by the issue. The Rosemary's Baby director fled the US after pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl and has been a fugitive for over 40 years.
Barbera said that he "never had doubts" about including the Polanski film, adding "we have to distinguish between the art and the man" when judging the works of the filmmaker, who was convicted in 1978.
But Martel, president of the judging panel for this year's Golden Lion top award evaluating the 21 films in competition, said the inclusion of Polanski had made her "uncomfortable."
"The presence of Polanski with news of the past was very uncomfortable for me ," Martel said at the opening press conference of the event.
She said she would not attend the gala celebration for his film, due to be held without the director, but added the work deserved a chance and raised an important debate.
"I will not take part in the gala dinner organised by Polanski because I represent many women who are fighting in Argentina on these type of issues and I will not be there to congratulate him. But I think it is correct that Polanski's movie is here at this festival," said Martel, the director of four feature films, including La Ciénaga and Zama. "We have to develop our dialogue with him and this is the best possible place to go on with this type of discussion."
She noted that Polanski's victim, Samantha Geimer, has long called for an end to the case that limits the director's movements to three European countries. But she also said that unlike Barbera, she does not separate the artist from the actions of the man.
"I do not separate the work from man, but I think his work deserves an opportunity because of the reflections it raises," the filmmaker acknowledged.
Martel, considered to be among the best active film directors in the world, also indicated support for quotas, which Barbera has vociferously rejected.
"Do I like them? No. However, I don't think I know of any other things that would force this industry to think differently."
Martel challenged the notion that a festival programming quota would mean sacrificing excellence.
"Are you sure that the quality would decrease?" Martel asked. "This transformation is so deep that perhaps it wouldn't be too bad if a couple of years we could introduce and experiment with this."
Starry selection
The 76th Venice festival opens Wednesday evening with Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda's The Truth, starring French stars Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche, about an actress whose decision to publish her memoirs prompts a mother-daughter reunion which turns fiery.
Binoche and Pitt were among a host of big-names whizzing across the city's waterways on taxi boats to the glamorous Lido island. Stars Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz and Robert De Niro are also due on the red carpet.
The festival's blockbuster centrepiece is likely to be the new DC Comics The Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix, which traces the origins of Batman's nemesis. Trailers for the film have already been viewed more than 80 million times.
Among the other potential Oscar hopefuls at the festival, US director Steven Soderbergh's take on the Panama Papers investigation, The Laundromat, is set to premiere, while Brad Pitt plays an astronaut in James Gray's highly anticipated sci-fi drama Ad Astra.
Saudi Arabia's Haifaa al-Mansour, the maker of the acclaimed Wadjda, is one of the two women directors vying for the top prize. Her film The Perfect Candidate tells the story of a doctor trying to become her town's first female candidate in elections in the conservative kingdom.
Newcomer Shannon Murphy is the other female contender, with her Australian comedy-drama Babyteeth.
Polanski divisions
Barbera, who is credited with revitalising the festival, first held in 1932, stressed that the selection panel for this year's films was half made up of women, adding "there was no prejudice on our behalf."
Polanski's historical thriller about the persecution of the French Jewish Army officer Alfred Dreyfus, An Officer and a Spy, is due to premiere Friday.
The 86-year-old, who is suing the Academy of Motion Pictures for stripping him of his membership, will not appear in Venice, representatives for the film told AFP.
Deneuve has often defended the director, saying in a recent interview with AFP that the criticisms of him were "totally excessive,"
"Time has passed," she added.
Meanwhile, Spike Lee has said he will travel to Venice to support Parker, whose film American Skin tells the story of a Marine veteran whose son is killed by police.
Parker 2016 debut film about a slave revolt, The Birth of a Nation, was derailed after it emerged that he was accused of raping a fellow student, who later killed herself.
Parker was acquitted, but he later said, "I look back on that time as a teenager and can say without hesitation that I should have used more wisdom."
The festival opens as the accusations that sparked America's '#MeToo' movement are back in the spotlight.
Harvey Weinstein, once one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, pleaded not guilty to two new charges of sexual predatory assault Monday, as a judge postponed his trial to 2020.
– TIMES/NA/AFP/AP
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