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Afternoon Insiders, here we are once again, another week and another busy one in the world of international film and TV. Sign up to the newsletter here. Or read on.

Splashy Last Week On The Lido

Uncharacteristically buzzy: The Venice Film Festival ends tomorrow after an uncharacteristically buzzy second week. The festival is usually front-loaded, with the splashiest titles playing early. This year, however, Alberto Barbera, who dished to Andreas, said the lengthy runtimes of some competition titles meant the spoils had to spread across both weeks. Enter Brady Corbet’s 215-minute post-wwii epic The Brutalist, starring Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn, Stacy Martin, Raffey Cassidy, Emma Laird, Isaach De Bankolé and Alessandro Nivola. The pic was well received, landing a 13-minute ovation from the Sala Grande audience. Pedro Almodóvar launched his English-language debut The Room Next Door with his leading ladies Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore.

Georgian film The Antique, by Rusudan Glurjidze, has been readmitted to the competition of Giornate degli Autori, the independent sidebar of the Venice Film Festival, and will screen on September 6.

Last week, Giornate degli Autori suspended the screening of The Antique, which is majority produced by Georgian company Cinetech.

The suspension came after an emergency decree by the Court of Venice obtained by production companies Viva Film in Russia, Croatia’s Avantura Film and Cyprus’ Pygmalion over a copyright dispute regarding the film’s script.

In a statement, the Giornate degli Autori said it had taken the precaution of suspending the film’s screening,...

Georgian anti-Putin drama The Antique, which has its Venice debut suspended after a copyright complaint, is now free to screen at this year’s festival.

The U-turn was confirmed this afternoon by the festival. The film will screen on September 6. The decision will be discussed tomorrow at a public meeting in Venice with the filmmaker Rusudan Glurjidze, Venice Days President Francesco Ranieri Martinotti, Artistic Director Gaia Furrer, and attorney Fabio Moretti.

The Antique had its screenings suspended last week after an emergency decree was filed on behalf of Russian and Croatian producers claiming copyright issues with the screenplay. The claims were contested by the film’s Georgian producers and its sales agent MPM International, while the Italian media, which first reported the suspension, is suggesting the move to prevent the film screening is politically motivated.

The drama takes inspiration from the real-life illegal expulsion of thousands of Georgian nationals from...

French film organisations Arp, directors’ guild Srf spearhead initiative.

With the parallel WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes still in full swing across the Atlantic, France and Italy’s top filmmakers guilds have come together to show solidarity and reinforce auteur rights with a joint ’declaration of filmmakers’ and have announced a September 3 symposium in Venice.

French film organisations the Arp (the guild for writers-directors-producers) and directors’ guild the Srf, behind Directors’ Fortnight, spearheaded the initiative.

They wrote the original “declaration of filmmakers” open letter in May calling for full authorship rights, fair redistribution of revenues and immediate regulation of AI, before...