76th Venice Film Festival to embrace, not reject, Netflix

ROME: The 76th Venice Film Festival will feature three Netflix productions alongside Hollywood titles, embracing the streaming giant again after the Cannes Film Festival excluded it for a second year in a row.

Among Venice’s 21 competition titles, which were unveiled Thursday in Rome, is the Netflix-produced Panama Papers drama “The Laundromat,” starring Meryl Streep and Antonio Banderas, which couldn’t run in Cannes. Netflix will also present “Marriage Story” and “The King,” with the latter debuting out of competition.

The world’s oldest film festival also features Hollywood productions like “Joker” with Joaquin Phoenix in the comic book classic role, as well as Brad Pitt in the sci-fi space journey “Ad Astra.”

The competition also includes “J’accuse” by director Roman Polanski, a controversial figure in the #MeToo era.

The festival runs Aug. 29 to Sept. 7.