2023 Venice: Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” is Game, Set, Match as Festival Opener

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Tipped to be an out of competition selection for MGM/Amazon Studios once they moved back their August release date, Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers will open the 2023 edition of the Venice Film Festival – it will world premiere out of competition on August 30th. Guadagnino just completed filming on Queer with Jason Schwartzman, Daniel Craig and Lesley Manville.

Challengers follows three players (Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist) who knew each other when they were teenagers as they compete in a tennis tournament to be the world-famous grand slam winner, and reignite old rivalries on and off the court.

Eric Lavallée
Eric Lavalléehttps://www.ericlavallee.com
Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist, and critic at IONCINEMA.com, established in 2000. A regular at Sundance, Cannes, and Venice, Eric holds a BFA in film studies from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013, he served on the narrative competition jury at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson’s "This Teacher" (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). He is a Golden Globes Voter, member of the ICS (International Cinephile Society), FIPRESCI and AQCC (Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma).

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