In a statement, the festival’s director, Alberto Barbera, expressed his joy about featuring a new work by Sorrentino at the opening, recalling that the director made his feature debut in 2001 with ‘L’uomo in più’, also in Venice.
“Paolo Sorrentino’s return to the competition comes with a film destined to make its mark for its great originality and powerful relevance to the present time,” Barbera added.
‘La Grazia’ is written and directed by Sorrentino, with Toni Servillo starring.
Described as “a love story set in Italy”, the film had its global distribution rights acquired by the platform Mubi in February.
Born in Naples in 1970, Sorrentino’s work has been honored at major international festivals, also winning the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2014 with ‘The Great Beauty’.
This year’s Venice festival takes place from August 27 to September 6.
