The Venice Film Festival unveiled its lineup of masterclasses and conversations for 2024. Highlights include talks with triple Oscar-nominee Sigourney Weaver and Australian director Peter Weir, both of whom will receive honorary Golden Lion awards in Venice this year for lifetime achievement.
Actor/director Ethan Hawke and Italian filmmaker Pupi Avati will also give masterclasses at the 81st Venice International Film Festival.
Venice’s conversations series, organized in collaboration with Cartier, includes sit-downs with Richard Gere, Oscar-winning composer Nicola Piovani (Life is Beautiful) and French director Claude Lelouch (A Man and a Woman).
The masterclasses will be held at the Match Point Arena at the Tennis Club Venezia across from the Hotel Excelsior on the Lido from Aug. 29-Sept. 6. They kick off with Weaver’s masterclass on Thursday, Aug.29 at 4:30 p.m. local time. Weir’s masterclass is at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 1. Hawke’s at 10 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 2, and Avanti’s at 3:30 p.m. local time on Friday, Sept. 6.
The conversations program will run Saturday, Aug. 31 — Piovani’s talk is at 11 a.m., Leloch’s at 4:30 p.m. — and Sunday, Sept. 1, with Gere at 10:30 a.m. All the masterclasses and conversations will be livestreamed on the Venice Film Festival website at www.labiennale.org.
The 81st Venice Film Festival runs Aug. 28 – Sept. 7.
