A tribute to David Cronenberg

Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement 2018 /

M. Butterfly (1993) by David Cronenberg

Thursday 6 September in Sala Grande (2 pm)

after the awards ceremony /

Master Class by the director Wednesday 5 September (3 pm)

(Sala Perla 2, encounter with the public)

As a tribute to David Cronenberg, winner of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 2018 Venice Film Festival, there will be a screening on the Lido of M. Butterfly (1993), as recommended by the director himself, who considers it to be one of the most personal, though perhaps not most successful, of his films.

David Cronenberg will also hold a Master Class, to be led by Giulia D'Agnolo Vallan, on Wednesday September 5^th at 3:00 pm in Sala Perla 2 (encounter with the public).

M. Butterfly (USA, 95’), starring Jeremy Irons, John Lone, Barbara Sukowa, and Ian Richardson, will be screened in the original version with Italian subtitles on Thursday September 6^th in Sala Grande at 2:00 pm, after the awards ceremony for the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to David Cronenberg.

The 75^th Venice International Film Festival will be held from August 29^th to September 8^th on the Lido di Venezia, directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by the Biennale chaired by Paolo Baratta.

Set in Beijing in 1964, M. Butterfly is the story of French diplomat René Gallimard (Irons), who falls in love with the singer from the Beijing Opera Song Liling (Lone), an extraordinary Madama Butterfly. Gallimard sacrifices his wife (Sukowa), compromises his career, passes on classified documents to the woman to save the son he believes she has borne him. Unmasked by counterespionage, at the trial he will discover that Song is not only a spy, but also a man. Inspired by a true story, written for the theatre by David Henry Hwang who adapted it for film, M. Butterfly is a melodrama about the representation of love, about the self-destructive aspects of its