Photography: Alessio Costantino
Photography: Alessio Costantino
Photography: Alessio Costantino
Photography: Alessio Costantino
Photography: Caterina de Zottis
Photography: Caterina de Zottis
Photography: Caterina de Zottis
Photography: Caterina de Zottis
Photography: Eleonora Agostini
Photography: Eleonora Agostini
Photography: Eleonora Agostini
Photography: Eleonora Agostini
Actress Elisa Sednaoui will host the opening and closing events of the 72nd Venice International Film Festival.
Elisa Sednaoui will open the 72nd Venice Film Festival on the evening of today on the stage of the Sala Grande (Palazzo del Cinema on the Lido) for the inauguration ceremony, and on September 12th the actress will host the closing ceremony during which the winners of the Lions and the other official awards of the 72nd Venice Film Festival will be announced.
Elisa Sednaoui, born in Italy in 1987 (Bra), grew up between Egypt, Italy and France. After achieving success as an international model, she made her debut in film in 2010, starring in the leading female role in Indigène d’Eurasie (Eastern Drift) by Lithuanian director Sharunas Bartas, which was presented at the Forum of the Berlin Film Festival. She then played the main female character in Bus Palladium (2010) by Christopher Thompson, a film nominated for the César awards. She then participated in L’amour dure trois ans (2012) directed by Frédéric Beigbeder, and The Legend of Kaspar Hauser (La leggenda di Kaspar Hauser, 2012) by Davide Manuli, with Vincent Gallo, Fabrizio Gifuni and Claudia Gerini, presented at the Rotterdam Film Festival.
In 2013 she participated in Les Gamins by Anthony Marciano, and in The Liberator (Libertador) by Alberto Arvelo with Edgar Ramirez, Maria Valverde and Danny Houston, presented at the Toronto Film Festival.
In 2014 she played the role of Francesca in Soap opera by Alessandro Genovesi, the opening film of the Rome Film Festival.
In July 2010 she was a member of the jury at the Paris Film Festival, in September 2011 of the jury of the Revelations section at the Deauville Film Festival, and in December 2014 of the jury of Çinecole, chaired by Abderrahmane Sissako, at the Marrakesh Film Festival.
In 2015 Elisa Sednaoui made her debut as a director with the documentary Image of a Woman, still to be released, co-directed with Martina Gili, for which she wrote the screenplay with author and screenwriter Nicholas Klein (Buena Vista Social Club, Million Dollar Hotel).
She recently created the Elisa Sednaoui Foundation (ESF), a project conceived to promote the personal and development and education of young people in rural Egyptian areas, who generally have fewer opportunities, encouraging creativity, tolerance and democratic values by offering cultural and after-school activities. Italy is one of the countries in which the ESF intends to operate before the end of 2015.
