Venice 83: A Woman at the Head of the Jury Table

September on the Venice Lido always begins the same way: salt wind off the water, a row of photographers in front of the Palazzo del Cinema, and those clean early hours when no one has yet walked the red carpet. This year — at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, running from 2 to 12 September — the most important news arrived before the competition itself: Maggie Gyllenhaal presides over the main jury.

The choice is not incidental. Gyllenhaal came to the festival world first as an actor, then moved to the director's chair and won a screenplay prize with her very first film. So the person at the head of the jury table this year knows both sides of the camera — a subtle but real difference that tends to show up in the list of names read out on awards night.

The opening: "Ink" and the Lido's new tone

The festival opened with Danny Boyle's "Ink", with Guy Pearce as Rupert Murdoch, Jack O'Connell as Larry Lamb and Claire Foy as Jules Davies. The choice is itself a statement: a film about the press, power and the price of the truth, screened on the night the press is most densely gathered.

A lifetime achievement award was also presented this year — George Clooney took the stage. But the festival's real conversation is elsewhere: after many years, the share of women directing in independent production reads not as a "topic" but simply as an ordinary part of the schedule.

Venice has been asking one question for years: who is speaking? This year, half the answer is a woman's voice.

The red carpet: less, but exact

The Lido's style rule has not changed — precision wins here, not excess. Three lines are clear on this season's carpet: deep wine and ink shades, simple cuts that leave one shoulder bare, and flat, heavy silk gowns returning to the minimalism of the 1990s. The jewellery, by contrast, is large, singular and argumentative.

Why it is worth watching from Baku

Venice is more than a festival: what screens here reaches European cinemas in autumn and the awards season in winter. A name applauded on the Lido in September becomes the name everyone discusses in February. There is good reason to expect several of those names to be women this year.

The festival closes on 12 September with the presentation of the Golden Lion.