Venice Film Festival jury president Maggie Gyllenhaal has urged filmmakers and audiences to approach cinema with empathy as the 83rd edition of the festival opened on Wednesday amid a politically charged global climate, states Deadline.
Speaking at the opening press conference, Gyllenhaal was asked whether films should be political.
She said cinema should remain open to different voices, filmmakers and stories, stressing the importance of understanding experiences beyond one’s own.
“For me, the answer is empathy,” Gyllenhaal said, arguing that films can create an opportunity for people to discover empathy within themselves.
She said she did not believe any subject or filmmaker should automatically be excluded from being heard.
Gyllenhaal also defended the idea of confronting difficult and uncomfortable stories through cinema.
She said audiences could challenge themselves by engaging with films about deeply corrupt or disturbing individuals, as such stories can encourage viewers to recognise elements of themselves in others.
The jury president further described cinema as inherently political because films can offer an honest window into other people’s experiences.
Gyllenhaal is leading this year’s main competition jury alongside Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, composer and artist Daniel Blumberg, Italian academic Francesco Casetti, French filmmaker Xavier Giannoli, Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat and Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To.
The shortage of women directors in the festival’s main competition was another major topic during the press conference.
Only two female directors are competing in the main section this year, prompting questions about the continuing gender imbalance in the film industry.
Gyllenhaal initially responded with a joke suggesting the line-up might indicate that male directors were better than female directors, before addressing the issue more seriously.
“There’s a systemic problem,” she said.
According to Gyllenhaal, women continue to face greater difficulties in securing financing for their films.
She also pointed to a broader problem involving the kinds of stories made by women and how the industry judges their artistic value.
She questioned whether stories rooted in women’s different experiences are always considered “high art” and challenged the industry’s assumptions about what constitutes valuable cinema.
“Who decides what’s good? Who decides what’s valuable?” she asked.
The comments came as the Venice festival began its latest edition, with the debate over representation and the political role of cinema once again taking centre stage.
