French-Armenian director Robert Guédiguian’s film to compete in Venice Film Festival

French-Armenian director Robert Guédiguian’s 2017 film, “La Villa,” will be entered in the 74th Venice Film Festival, Asbarez reports.

“La Villa” (titled “The House by the Sea” in English) is set in a bay area near Marseille, France. The story takes place in a picturesque villa owned by an elderly father of three, according to Variety magazine. His three children gather by his side for his final days—Angela, an actress living in Paris; Joseph, who has just fallen in love with a girl half his age; and Armand, the only one who stayed behind in Marseille to run the family’s small restaurant. The characters consider what they have inherited of their father’s ideals and of the community spirit that he created in the magical villa. These moments of reflection are thrown into turmoil after the arrival of a boat of people at a nearby cove.

Guédiguian is a film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. Most of his films—including La Villa—star actors Ariane Ascaride and Jean-Pierre Darroussin.

Founded in 1932, the Venice Film Festival (known in Italian as the Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia) is the oldest film festival in the world, and one of the “Big Three” film festivals alongside the Cannes Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival.

Photo : Patrick Swirc pour Télérama