Venice Axes Jury Press Conference Amid Pressure to Spotlight Israel-Gaza War

The Venice International Film Festival will not hold a traditional jury press conference this year, according to a report from Deadline. Along with several other competition-based film festivals like Cannes and Berlin, Venice typically opens with a panel in which jurors are made available to press inquiries. This year's edition has tapped Maggie Gyllenhaal as jury chair, joined by jurors Kaouther Ben Hania, Daniel Blumberg, Francesco Casetti, Xavier Giannoli, Shahrbanoo Sadat and Johnnie To. The decision to nix the panel comes as an open letter from the group Venice4Palestine has garnered . . .