French actress Isabelle Huppert guest of honor at the 19th Lucca Film Festival. For her, on September 25, the Lifetime Achievement Award and the screening of her film 'The Truth According to Maureen K.'
French actress Isabelle Huppert will be one of the guests of honour at the 19th edition of the Lucca Film Festival 2023, held from September 23 to October 1, 2023, one of the flagship events of the Italian cultural scene, chaired by Nicola Borrelli and realized thanks to the contribution of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca. The festival brings the greatest personalities of the international cinema to Tuscany every year and the 2023 edition will, as always, know how to make the most of contemporary independent productions that will be selected by a jury of experts. Banca Generali Private Wealth Management (Paolo Tacchi) and Banca Pictet are the Main Sponsors of the event and exhibitions.
Isabelle Huppert will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award on the festival stage on Monday September 25, and will be honoured with the screening – in French with Italian subtitles – of her latest film, ‘La syndicaliste’. The event is created in collaboration with I Wonder Pictures and Unipol Biografilm Collection, which distributes the film in Italy. Being the leading exponent of a multinational corporation opens the doors to the highest levels of industry and politics. But when you try to thwart the interests of the powerful, the backlash can prove brutal, especially if you’re a woman in a male-dominated world. This is the true story of Maureen Kearney, assaulted and humiliated in her home. Upset, Maureen is initially listened to and protected. But the investigation unfolds under pressure, and in the minds of the investigators doubt begins to grow: from victim, the woman finds herself the prime suspect. Not believed, vilified, treated as a liar and visionary, Maureen will have to do everything to prove her truth. From Jean-Paul Salomé (Belphegor – Phantom of the Louvre, Godmother – Paris has a new queen), a gripping, contemporary paranoid thriller starring an unrivalled Isabelle Huppert.
Isabelle Huppert studied Russian at the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations while enrolled in drama classes at the École nationale supérieure des arts et techniques du théâtre and the National Academy of Dramatic Arts, where she studied under Jean-Laurent Cochet and Antoine Vitez.
Huppert gained recognition early for her cinematic roles in Bertrand Blier’s Going Places, Liliane de Kermadec’s Aloïse, and Betrand Tavernier’s The Judge and the Assassin. For her performance in Claude Goretta’s The Lacemaker, she received the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer. Her rapport with Claude Chabrol gave her the opportunity to act in many different genres: comedy (The Swindle), drama (Story of Women), noir (Merci pour le chocolat), literary adaptations (Madame Bovary), and even political fiction (Comedy of Power). Her work with Chabrol would be fruitful: she would earn a Best Actress award at Cannes for Violette Nozière, at Venice for Story of Women, at Moscow for Madame Bovary, and at both the Venice Film Festival and the César Awards for La Cérémonie.
Huppert has worked with, among others, Jean-Luc Godard, André Téchiné, Maurice Pialat, Diane Kurys, Christine Pascal, Patrice Chéreau, Michaël Haneke, Raoul Ruiz, Benoit Jacquot, Jacques Doillon, Claire Denis, Christian Vincent, Laurence Ferreira Barbosa, Olivier Assayas, François Ozon, Anne Fontaine, Eva Ionesco, Joachim Lafosse, Serge Bozon, Catherine Breillat, Guillaume Nicloux, and Samuel Benchetrit. She has also worked with great international directors such as Michael Cimino, Mauro Bolognini, Joseph Losey, Otto Preminger, the Taviani Brothers, Marco Ferreri, Hal Hartley, David O’ Russell, Werner Schroeter, Curtis Hanson, Andrzej Wajda, Rithy Panh, Brillante Mendoza, Joachim Trier, and Hong Sang Soo, Marco Bellocchio.
Huppert was awarded a Special Lion for Overall Work at Venice in 2005 for Patrice Chéreau’s Gabrielle. In addition to having twice earned Best Actress at Cannes (also for Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher), Huppert has served as host, jury member, and, in 2009, Jury President of the prestigious festival.
Parallel to her screen career, Isabelle Huppert performs onstage in France and internationally. She has acted under the direction of Bob Wilson (Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, Heiner Muller’s Quartett), Peter Zadek (Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure), and Claude Régy (Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis, Paul Claudel’s Joan of Arc at the Stake); she also performed in Jacques Lassalle’s production of Euripides’ Medea, notably at the Avignon Festival; Eric Lacascade’s production of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler; and Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage. She has appeared in: Krzysztof Warlikowski’s production of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire both at the Odeon-Theatre de l’Europe (Paris) and on European and international tours; Benedict Andrews’ production of Jean Genet’s The Maids, alongside Cate Blanchett at the Sydney Theatre Company and at the Lincoln Center Festival in New York City; and Luc Bondy’s production of Marivaux’s Les Fausses Confidences at the Odeon and on a European tour. She performed in Krzysztof Warlikowski’s production of Phaedra(s) (written by Wajdi Mouawad, Sarah Kane, and J.M. Coetzee) at the Odeon and on European and international tours. She was on stage in New York in the American adaptation of Florian Zeller’s The Mother, and in Paris, back up with Bob Wilson, who directed her in Mary said what she said. She is actually on tour with The Glass Menagerie directed by Ivo van Hove, and with The Cherry Orchard directed by Tiago Rodrigues.
She recently received an Honorary Molière Award for lifetime achievement and the 16th Europe Theatre Prize in Rome.
Huppert’s recent cinema roles include Mia Hansen Love’s Things To Come, Pascal Bonitzer’s Tout de suite maintenant, Paul Verhoeven’s Elle (which premiered in the Palme d’Or competition at Cannes and for which she won the César for Best Actress), and Bavo Defurne’s Souvenir. Her performance in Elle also earned her a Best Actress award for the US Gotham Awards, Golden Globes, and Spirit Awards, including an Oscar nomination in the same category.
Since then, she has starred in Michael Haneke’s Happy End, Benoit Jacquot’s Eva, Hong Sang Soo’s Claire’s Camera, and Serge Bozon’s Madame Hyde, for which she received the Best Actress Award at the Locarno Film Festival, Neil Jordan’s Greta, Eva Ionesco’s Golden Youth, Anne Fontaine’s Blanche-Neige (Snow White), Ira Sachs’ Frankie, Jean-Paul Salomé’s Mama weed. Laurent Larivière’s A propos de Joan, Michele Placido’s L’Ombra di Caravaggio, Anthony Fabian Mrs Harris goes to Paris, Thomas Kruithof’s Les promesses, François Ozon’s Mon Crime and Jean-Paul Salomé’s La Syndicaliste. Coming soon, Isabelle Huppert will star in Elise Girard’s Sidonie au Japon and André Téchiné’s Dans le viseur.
In France, Isabelle Huppert is an Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honor, an Officer of the National Order of Merit, and a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters.
An exceptional parterre will brighten the days of the festival. In addition to Huppert, guests at the Lucca Film Festival 2023 will include Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon, Oscar-winning director and screenwriter Gabriele Salvatores, actor and director Kim Rossi Stuart, actress Stefania Sandrelli, director and screenwriter Mario Martone and – in collaboration with the Over the Real Festival – artists Laetitia Ky and Robert Cahen.
There are two international feature and short films competitions at the Lucca Film Festival, plus the Lucca Effetto Cinema tenth anniversary evening co-produced by the Municipality of Lucca and the Northwest Tuscany Chamber of Commerce, and the new short film competition, the Lucca Film Festival for Future, which was born directly thanks to the entry among the supporters of the festival, the Sofidel Group. An integral part of the festival, the 1980s CINEMATIC EFFECT exhibition, curated by Alessandro Orsucci, at and in collaboration with Palazzo Pfanner.
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