Miu Miu Women's Tales returns to the Venice Film Festival's Giornate degli Autori for the seventh year with a dedicated program of film screenings and revealing conversations by some of the most exciting women directors and actresses today. The essence of the acclaimed Women's Tales film project is inviting today's most profound and original female directors to investigate vanity and femininity in the 21st century. This essence - always curious, critical and celebratory - inspires the topics and guests staged in Venice for three special days.
On Sunday 2nd September 2018, the latest episode of Women's Tales, directed by Saudi Arabian filmmaker Haifaa Al-Mansour, will be premiered. The Wedding Singer's Daughter is set in 1980s Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and tells the story of a young girl's charming ingenuity set against society's sometimes-harsh judgment between women. Also being screened is the last addition to Miu Miu's short-film series, directed by Dakota Fanning. Hello Apartment is a tender portrait of a young woman's emotional evolution, told from the perspective of where she loves and lives.
"The women invited by Miu Miu from year to year to make up this astonishing album of tales," declares Giorgio Gosetti, director of Giornate degli Autori, "are doubly blessed - with determination as well as talent. They are actresses who raise the stakes by moving behind the camera, as in the case of Dakota Fanning; or women who challenge the culture they were born in to shake it up and try to change it, like Haifaa Al-Mansour. They are multi-faceted artists who mix media - flitting from film to fashion or art - and weave narratives out of their passions and fears, unafraid of any judgments they may receive. Against the backdrop of this crucial year for the role of women, as they defend and reclaim their rights, Giornate is delighted to welcome these artists who, with Miu Miu's invaluable support, have been sprung from the pigeonhole their gender assigned them and are free to create their art using a full palette of colors and experiences."
Following these screenings is a series of curated conversations at Spazio della Regione del Veneto (Hotel Excelsior, Lido), with Penny Martin (director of The Gentlewoman) as affable host. These talks delve into the first-hand experiences of diverse women working in film and television.
The morning of Monday September 3rd brings together Haifaa Al-Mansour and Dakota Fanning. Haifaa Al-Mansour is considered the first female filmmaker in Saudi Arabia. Her features include the critically acclaimed Wadjda; the forthcoming Nappily Ever After; and Mary Shelley, starring Elle Fanning, which comes out this year. Dakota Fanning can be most recently seen in TNT's series The Alienist, and she stars in the forthcoming feature, Please Stand By, portraying an autistic woman determined to submit her manuscript to a Star Trek competition.
On Monday afternoon, the following actresses join Penny Martin:
Kristine Froseth stars in two Netflix features that will be released this fall: Sierra Burgess is a Loser - September 7th -, and Gareth Evan's Apostle, opposite Dan Stevens, Michael Sheen, and Lucy Boyton - October 12th -. Next up, she can be seen in MGM Television's limited series The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair opposite Patrick Dempsey and Ben Schnetzer for Director Jean-Jacques Annaud. Kristine recently wrapped the female lead in Kevin McMullin's feature Low Tide that Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Rian Cahill of Automatik produced for A24.
Stacy Martin came to attention as Young Joe in Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac, and starred in Ben Wheatley's adaptation of J.G. Ballard's novel, High-Rise. She will be seen in the forthcoming Vox Lux, which stars Nathalie Portman and Jude Law, debuting at the 2018 Venice Film Festival; and in the French drama, Treat Me Like Fire, which was shown at the Directors' Fortnight at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
The morning of Tuesday September 4th brings together:
Gugu Mbatha-Raw's notable roles have been in Belle, Beyond the Lights, the Emmy Award-winning San Junipero episode of Black Mirror, Disney's live-action Beauty and the Beast, and the science fantasy adventure film A Wrinkle in Time. Her forthcoming films include Motherless Brooklyn directed by Ed Norton and Fast Colour directed by Julia Hart.
Bel Powley is best known for her starring role in The Diary of a Teenage Girl, which she won the Gotham award for Best Actress and was nominated for BAFTA and Independent Spirit Awards. She recently starred on Broadway in the Kenneth Lonergan's Tony-nominated Lobby Hero and will next be seen opposite Matthew McConaughey in Sony's White Boy Rick.
Alison Sudol made her debut in the Golden Globe winning series Transparent, after which she played "Queenie Goldstein" in the first of the Harry Potter prequels, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Alison will be reprising the role this winter in the second installment, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, and has recently finished shooting The Last Full Measure, which tells a Washington true story political cover-up.
In 2018, a watershed year for women's creativity and dignity, the value of Women's Tales at Giornate degli Autori shines all the brighter. The date to save is September 2nd, in Venice, for the films by Dakota Fanning and Haifaa Al-Mansour and the conversations moderated by Penny Martin on the two days following.
