Hirokazu Kore-eda’s new French film to open Venice Film Festival

The Venice Film Festival will open with Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s The Truth on 28 August (19).
The film, starring French actresses Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche and Ethan Hawke, is the director’s first project outside of his native Japan.
The Truth will also screen in competition at Venice, a year after Kore-eda picked up the 2018 Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in France for Shoplifters.
Announcing the news on Thursday (18Jul19), festival director Alberto Barbera says, “The encounter between the universe of Japan’s most important filmmaker today and two beloved actresses like Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche, brought to life a poetic reflection on the relationship between a mother and her daughter, and the complex profession of acting. It will be a pleasure to present this movie as the opening film of this year’s Venice Film Festival.”
Kore-eda adds, “It is with great joy that I have learned that my new film has been selected to open the Official Competition of the Venice Film Festival. I am extremely honoured. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the entire staff of the festival. We shot the movie in 10 weeks last fall in Paris. As officially announced, the cast is prestigious, but the film itself recounts a small family story that takes place primarily inside a house. I have tried to make my characters live within this small universe, with their lies, pride, regrets, sadness, joy and reconciliation. I truly hope you will like this film.”
The director has tasted success in Venice before – his 1995 directorial debut, Maborosi, claimed the Golden Osella and he premiered The Third Murder in competition in 2017.
The Venice International Film Festival runs from 28 August to 7 September.