Annette Bening Kicks Off Venice Film Festival 2017 as Jury President

For the next ten days, four-time Academy Award nominee Annette Bening will be presiding as president over the Venice Film Festival main jury.  She opened the event with a wonderful speech about inclusivity and the power of cinema:

"For me cinema is magic, and I think all of us who make films are primarily audience members. We make films because we love to watch them. And to me, the moment when the lights come down in the theatre and there’s a moment of silence and darkness ... that is the moment of possibility. When all of us — it doesn’t matter if you are the president or the usher, or whether you are Italian or American or Iranian or Chinese or a man or a woman — we can lose ourselves in the best way possible and become free, and become like children again: open, curious and available to the possibility of the moment.  This is what we aspire to. 

"Along with my fellow jury members, we bring all of our passions and enthusiasm and hopefully some knowledge, but most importantly our deep love of cinema, to every film that we see. I am deeply honoured to be president of the jury."

Credits: [Variety] [Deadline]