Roman Polanski, Woody Allen & Luc Besson will have films at the Venice Film Festival

The Venice, Deauville and Toronto Film Festivals are coming up in the next few months, but it looks like the writers’ and actors’ strikes will probably extend into the fall, especially with AMPTP refusing to come to the negotiations this week. Which means no SAG or WGA union member will travel to any summer film festival to promote their films. In Venice, they’re trying to carry on like nothing is happening and they’ll have big premieres for European and Asian films. Venice has planned premieres for films by… Woody Allen, Roman Polanski and Luc Besson. I just-

Despite ongoing strikes in Hollywood that led to the exodus of Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers from its opening slot last week, the Venice Film Festival will proceed—but not without a wave of early backlash. When the prestigious festival unveiled its lineup on Tuesday, alongside films from Sofia Coppola, David Fincher, Ava DuVernay, and Bradley Cooper were works from a trio of men accused of sexual misconduct. Woody Allen’s Coup de Chance and Roman Polanski’s The Palace each scored out-of-competition slots, while Luc Besson will debut his new feature, DogMan, in competition at the fest.

“Luc Besson has been recently fully cleared of any accusations. Woody Allen went under legal scrutiny twice at the end of the ’90s and was absolved. With them, I don’t see where the issue is,” Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera told Variety in defense of their inclusion in the lineup.

“In Polanski’s case, it’s paradoxical,” Barbera argued. “It’s been 60 years. Polanski has admitted his responsibility. He’s asked to be forgiven. He’s been forgiven by the victim. The victim has asked for the issue to be put to rest. I think that to keep beating on Polanski means seeking a scapegoat for other situations that would deserve more attention,” he continued, adding, “I am on the side of those who say you have to distinguish between the responsibilities of the individual and that of the artist.”

Polanski will not be attending the festival, which runs from August 30 to September 9. Barbera is “not sure” that Allen “will be doing press,” but “he is coming to the film’s premiere for sure.”

[From Vanity Fair]

VF summarized the charges and credible accusations against the men – Woody Allen was accused of abusing his daughter, multiple women have credibly accused Besson of rape and assault (Besson was cleared in a French court last month) and Polanski pleaded guilty to raping a minor, and he’s also been credibly accused of multiple assaults and rapes across Europe. This is just a reminder, to me, that these European festivals have a long history of using their “glamour” to rehabilitate abusers. It’s not just Cannes, although Cannes is the biggest and most recent example, especially given the reception Johnny Depp got just a few months ago. Anyway, no thanks to all of this.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.