This is a rare honor for a television series, only three of which have been included in the festival before. The Venice Film festival, one of the only ones in the world to have pulled off a 2020 edition in spite of the pandemic, will take place September 1-11. Scenes from a Marriage will premiere on HBO in September.
Levi’s five-episode miniseries stars two of the most acclaimed actors working today, Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain, in a story that looks in depth at the relationship of a husband and wife before, during and after their divorce.
The original starred iconic Scandinavian actors Erland Josephson and Liv Ullmann and was released in the early ’70s as both a miniseries and a movie.
Levi said in a statement: “I am very excited and happy to have the premiere of Scenes from a Marriage at the Venice Film Festival. Ingmar Bergman’s original series, which will soon turn 50, is the work that influenced me more than any work of art. And yet, I remember saying to myself: ‘So this is art, this is what it looks like.’”
The Bergman estate contacted him and asked him to remake the series several years ago, but he was initially hesitant, he said. “It took me many years to dare and respond to the Bergman family’s request and rework this work.”
Casey Bloys, HBO and HBO Max chief content officer, said, “Hagai Levy wrote and directed an exciting and inspiring modern adaptation of Bergman’s classic work. We are thrilled by the decision of the Venice Film Festival to make its world premiere at the festival.”
Other notable titles that will premiere at the Venice Film Festival include the documentary Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song, Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine, which will be shown out of competition.
Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, starring Jewish-American actor Timothée Chalamet, a much-anticipated adaptation of the Frank Herbert novel, will also premiere out of competition.
The debut directorial debut by Jewish-American actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter, an adaptation of the Elena Ferrante novel, will be shown in the main competition.
Jewish stand-up comedian and actress Tiffany Haddish stars in The Card Counter, the latest film by Paul Schrader (who wrote the screenplay for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver), about gambling and the military, which also stars Oscar Isaac. It will be screened in the main competition.
Egyptian director Mohamed Diab’s Amira, which will be in the Horizons section, is a drama about children of Palestinian prisoners who are born via sperm that is smuggled out of the prisons.
While Israeli films had a major presence at the recently concluded Cannes Film Festival, other than Scenes from a Marriage there will not be Israeli productions at Venice this year, unless other titles are added later, which occasionally happens with the smaller sections.