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As Hollywood actors and writers remain on strike, some headed east, all the way to Venice to join in the always glamorous Biennale Cinema 2023, also known as the Venice International Film Festival. Now in its 80th year, the festival is always a heady melange of fascinating movies making their world premieres, all mixed in with haute couture fashion, both on the red carpet and at annual fetes given by the world’s top labels.

And while many of the red-carpet moments are, sadly, happening without the A-list actors attending (as they honor their union’s strike), this year’s festival still brought its A game to the fashion scene, and independent productions that secured an interim agreement saw the likes of Adam Driver, Jessica Chastain and Cailee Spaeny able to celebrate the premieres of their films in Venice while still on strike.

Join us for a look at what’s...

The 2023 Venice Film Festival is underway, and while the Hollywood strikes have kept the bulk of the stars from attending the lauded fest, the red carpet isn’t entirely devoid of actors and has been host to a number of filmmakers from Wes Anderson to Michael Mann (directors are not on strike). Actors like “Ferrari” star Adam Driver were able to attend after receiving an Interim Agreement from SAG-AFTRA that allows for independent productions that adhere to SAG-AFTRA’s terms to move forward during the strike.

This gallery will be updated as the festival continues, but right now peruse red carpet photos featuring Driver, Mann, Anderson, Patrick Dempsey, Caleb Landry Jones, Jane Campion, Mads Mikkelsen, Anna Diop, David Fincher, Sofia Coppola and more.

Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Leonie Hanne arrives on the red carpet ahead of the “Finalmente L’Alba” screening during the 80th Venice International Film Festival...

Luna Wedler delivers a good performance as a shy teenager navigating a new school – and a body that is radically changing

Swiss actor and film-maker Lisa Brühlmann, known in Britain for stylishly directing episodes of the TV programme Killing Eve, finally has her debut film, from 2017, released in the UK. The film looks at first like a young girl’s Euro-arthouse teen awakening, full of damaged sexuality, but it gradually becomes a body-horror romance in the manner of David Cronenberg, with a worrying hint of Ed Wood Jr. The corporeal surreality could be read as a metaphor for menstruation or depression or abuse, but it is presented as true and comes across as perfunctory and a bit flippant.

Mia (Luna Wedler) is a shy 15-year-old who has just arrived in town and has to negotiate the horrors of a new high school. In time-honoured movie style, she tries hanging out...

Stars: Luna Wedler, Zoë Pastelle Holthuizen, Regula Grauwiller, Georg Scharegg, Lou Haltinner, Yael Meier, David Oberholzer, Una Rusca, Timon Kiefer, Benjamin Dangel, Martin Rapold, Rachel Braunschweig | Written by Lisa Bruhlmann, Dominik Locher | Directed by Lisa Bruhlmann

There has been more talk than ever about women in the film industry and in particular, directing movies. Being even more specific, female directors in the horror genre has been a hot topic of discussion lately after Jason Blum’s comments on the subject. So, you’ve guessed it, Blue My Mind comes from a female director by the name of Lisa Bruhlmann. And as her first feature film, it’s a very impressive debut. It’s a hard film to review in that the little you know about the movie the better, and I am going to write this spoiler-free because I would love people to watch Blue My Mind knowing very little about it like I did.

It is the first day at a new school for teenaged Mia (Luna Wedler). At lunch break, a girl shyly tries to make friends. But the pouty, pretty Mia, who is just days away from her first period and is perhaps taking this new start as an opportunity to better her social standing, has her eyes on a different clique. Wild-child Gianna (Zoë Pastelle Holthuizen), all silky waist-length hair and bare midriff, is the sexually precocious center of a trio of girls (orbited by an undifferentiated constellation of good-looking but oafish boys) that will soon become a quartet with Mia’s inclusion.

The setup for actor-turned-writer/director Lisa Brühlmann’s debut feature is beautifully drawn and remarkably well-performed especially by Wedler and Holthuizen, but it’s hardly anything we haven’t seen in a hundred coming-of-age tales before. But then suddenly there’s Mia standing over her living room tank of tropical fish,...

"Don't you dare tell anybody, or else I'll destroy you." Uncork'd Entertainment has released an official Us trailer for a funky film from Switzerland titled Blue My Mind, the feature directorial debut of filmmaker Lisa Brühlmann. This already premiered at Fantastic Fest last year, and is finally getting a release this fall. Blue My Mind is about a 15-year-old girl named Mia who begins to notice changes in her body. She starts to discover weird changes: her toes begin to web together, then she grows gills and scales. Is she turning into a mermaid? The film is already being compared to Julia Ducournau's Raw, another creepy body horror flick from Europe. Blue My Mind stars Luna Wedler as Mia, Zoë Pastelle Holthuizen, Regula Grauwiller, Georg Scharegg, Lou Haltinner, and Yael Meier. This looks quite gnarly and almost too close to Raw. Here's the official Us trailer (+ original psoter) for Lisa Brühlmann's Blue My Mind,...

Our own Tom Kiesecoms described Blue My Mind as "a highly accomplished debut by everyone involved" after he saw it at the Rotterdam fest earlier this year. His positive review goes into more detail about the film, written and directed by Lisa Brühlmann, and starring Luna Wedler and Zoë Pastelle Holthuizen. The Swiss film is "a confident, full-bodied portrayal of adolescence and its fearful insecurities." Ahead of its theatrical / VOD release in the U.S. on Friday, November 2, a new trailer has dropped, which you can watch below. It is quite intriguing and achieves its desired result -- now I really want to watch it a.s.a.p....

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Adolescence is a metamorphosis from youth to adulthood — a time defined by its constant state of flux physically, emotionally, and psychologically. Puberty is the backbone to this period because of the changes it inflicts. It alters our hormones and appearance while also providing a moment with which to be reborn. To shed your skin, so to speak, by putting the past behind you in order to embrace a future you can define. Rebelliousness is therefore a common theme as we reconcile who we want to be with what we believe society and/or our peers demand. Add an upheaval to a new city thanks to the parents your age holds you subservient towards and/or a fresh appetite for flesh (carnally or otherwise) and objective beauty can become subjective nightmare.

This is where the awkwardness sets in as well as the pain experienced due to changing friends, interests, and desires...

There’s been a quite interesting subgenre outburst of late that draws parallel relationships between coming-of-age sexual awakenings and creature transformations. Werewolves, amphibious swimmers, forest beasties – films like Blue My Mind, about bodily explorations based on youthful changes that cannot be contained. Director Lisa Brühlmann focuses not on vicious animal attacks as Wildling or The Lure does, falling more in line with something heady like When Animals Dream. How perfect a metaphor? Straight forward soul-searching dramas of youth like Lady Bird and The Edge Of Seventeen are not without their own “monster moments” – genrefication just adds another uninhibited layer of depth and scaly intrigue.

Brühlmann’s muse is 15-year-old Mia (Luna Wedler), dropped into a new hometown after her parents’ recent move. This means finding new friends and avoiding “fresh meat” hazing at school, which she does by befriending posh cool-girl Gianna (Zoë Pastelle Holthuizen). After a few showings of good faith,...