George Clooney honoured as Venice Film Festival opens

George Clooney received a lifetime achievement award as the 83rd Venice Film Festival opened on September 2, after criticising the US government under President Donald Trump.

The 65-year-old actor was presented with the award by Laura Dern, who called him a “legend” and read tributes from past co-stars including Brad Pitt and Adam Sandler. Clooney attended with his wife, Amal Clooney.

“When you start reflecting on the years, you realise you really didn't have a career as much as a series of happy accidents,” Clooney told the audience.

Earlier, Clooney told journalists the United States was going through what he called a “kakistocracy”, which he described as “a country run by the least qualified people”. He added: “I think maybe we have a kakistocracy right now, but we'll get through it.”

The festival also opened with questions over women’s representation. Jury president Maggie Gyllenhaal questioned why only two films directed by women were in the 21-film main competition. She said there was a “systemic problem” affecting women trying to finance films and the kinds of subjects they choose.

The festival runs through September 12. Danny Boyle’s “Ink”, about Rupert Murdoch’s rise in British media, opened the event. Other films include Martin McDonagh’s “Wild Horse Nine”, Florian Zeller’s “Bunker”, Werner Herzog’s “Bucking Fastard” and Alex Gibney’s nearly four-hour documentary about Elon Musk.

The only documentary in the main competition is “Naza”, by Israeli directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, about Israeli forces’ killing of civilians in Gaza. Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera said there were “no fewer than four films” dealing with the Palestinian issue and the current situation in Iran.

Ukraine’s government has criticised Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s “DAU”, saying it has links to the Russian state and influence networks. Khrzhanovsky rejected the claim, saying he had renounced Russian citizenship over the Ukraine war and that the film was “not an instrument of Russian state cultural policy”.