VENICE, Italy (AP) – Five words sum up this year’s Venice Film Festival: “Based on a true story.”
Movie screens exploded with the forces roiling our world: war, terrorism and the vast migration bringing hundreds of thousands of people to the shores of Europe.
As beachgoers lounged on the sands of Venice’s lush Lido island, filmmakers and actors expressed dismay at the plight of those fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.
Displaced people were onscreen in “A Bigger Splash,” where refugees plucked from the Mediterranean were background players to the story of a rock star (Tilda Swinton) and her emotional entanglements.
Luca Guadagnino’s film drew boos at its press screenings from some viewers, who found the juxtaposition crass. But Swinton said the Italian director was simply showing reality.