Damien Chazelle has been chosen to open the world’s oldest film festival, again.
The 33-year-old director will open the 75th annual Venice International Film Festival with his moon landing drama, First Man. Chazelle was first chosen to kick off the festival in 2016 with La La Land.
Chazelle’s space race feature tells the story of US astronaut Neil Armstrong in his mission to become the first man to walk on the moon, centering on the years leading up to the Apollo 11 moon-landing mission in 1969. Starring opposite Ryan Gosling as his wife Janet Shearon is The Crown’s Claire Foy. Also starring are Kyle Chandler, Jason Clarke, Corey Stoll, Ciaran Hinds, Christopher Abbott, and Patrick Fugit.
“The hook was to think of it less as a biopic but as a mission movie, and to think of landing on the moon as this insane, once-in-history mission that I think we have a hard time even fathoming as a society now,” Chazelle told Variety in early 2017. “In other words, we take it for granted, I think. At least kids of my generation, you grow up, you know that Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, you see the picture, it’s all very gleaming and you see the American flag and you feel proud, and that’s kind of it. You accept that it happened. But the challenge or the hope with this would be to try to play a little bit of a rewind and put you in a mindset where it hasn’t happened yet, and it’s the most insane thing that a group has ever come together to do.”
Reuters reports that Chazelle is really looking forward to screening the film’s world premiere at the festival, saying, “I am humbled by Venice’s invitation and am thrilled to return. It feels especially poignant to share this news so close to the moon landing’s anniversary.”
The 75th annual Venice Film Festival runs August 29 to September 8.
