Overview

• Kent Jones’ drama world premiered in the Orizzonti section to a packed 1,400-seat crowd followed by a brief onstage Q&A.
• Samy Burch adapts Arthur Schnitzler’s 1895 novella, resetting the story within present-day Manhattan’s arts milieu.
• Willem Dafoe stars as retired poet Ed Saxberger, joined by Greta Lee as Gloria and Edmund Donovan as the group’s organizer.
• Jones and Dafoe drew on their 1970s downtown New York roots to evoke SoHo’s bygone creative scene and its echoes in today’s culture.
• Following Venice, the film is scheduled for New York Film Festival screenings with Q&As on September 28 and 29.