You could tell the first weekend was here by the loud music thumping from various Lido locales on Friday. On Day 3 the Venice Film Festival was definitely firing on all pistons with the competition featuring El Cristo Ciego by Chilean director Cristopher Murray, Frantz from French stalwart François Ozon, a disturbing documentary on big game hunting by Austrian Ulrich Seidl (Safari) and Tom Ford’s literary noir Nocturnal Animals  with Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhall, Michael Shannon and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

Somehow that intense schedule also allowed for the Hollywood Foreign Press’s reception which has become somewhat of an annual tradition on the Laguna. As per our charter the HFPA’s mission includes fostering ties with the international film community to promote interest in film worldwide. As part of that mission, and to screen films from around the world for Awards consideration,  the HFPA is present at major festivals (Cannes, Venice, Sundance, Toronto) and HPFA journalists regularly attend festivals that are not so well known.

Before the Nocturnal Animals premiere at the Sala Grande, the HFPA hosted the reception honoring the Venice Festival (now at the 73rd edition, it is the world’s oldest – the same age as the Golden Globes!). Guests welcomed to our little shindig by HFPA president Lorenzo Soria at Cinecittà’s Spazio Italia at the Excelsior Hotel included festival director Alberto Barbera, Tom Ford, Jake Gyllenhall, and Amy Adams.