Venice Film Festival 2021: Adriana Lima and Georgina Rodriguez lead the stars on opening night

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Penelope Cruz, Adriana Lima and Georgina Rodriguez led the way at the opening night of Venice Film Festival as they attended the premiere for Cruz’s Parallel Mothers on Wednesday evening.

The actress, 47, who stars in the Spanish drama as Janis, looked incredible in a dramatic monochrome gown, which featured puff detailing across the straps and flowing cut-out while panelling.

Penelope wore her brunette tresses up in a chic chignon and added to her striking features with a heavy pallet of make-up, including a dark smokey eye and a bold purple lip. 

Supermodel Adriana Lima, 40, certainly turned heads in a strapless busty red gown, which highlighted her ample cleavage as she worked her angles on the event’s red carpet.

The floor-length gown – which featured sultry cut out sections across the midriff – was completely covered in dazzling red sequins and featured a thigh-high slit up the leg. 

The Brazilian native boosted her already statuesque frame with a pair of towering heels and added gold accessories to her ensemble in the form of a bracelet and matching earrings.

The brunette beauty wore her sleek tresses in a loose style with a side parting, while she enhanced her naturally striking looks with a slick of glamorous make-up. 

Model Georgina Rodriquez, who is dating footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, oozed sophistication at the premiere, as she arrived wearing a black corset style top and matching flared trousers. 

The 27-year-old wore a tailored blazer slung over her shoulders in a carefree fashion and styled the look with a pair of silver heels, a diamond necklace and statement earrings.

Georgina wore her raven tresses in a sleek bob and added to her pretty features with a bronze pallet of make-up. 

Dame Helen Mirren ensured she made an entrance in a sweeping silver gown during her first red carpet appearance at this year’s event, which opens with the premiere of new Penelope Cruz film Madres Paralelas. 

Dame Helen, 76, belied her age in the cinched, form-fitting dress while posing for photographers at the star-studded event. 

The British star added to her look with a tasteful silver clutch, while her hair was held in place with a matching Alice band. 

Evidently please to be back on the red carpet after a year of repeated lockdowns, Dame Helen beamed as she greeted waiting photographers ahead of the event’s first screening. 

Among the arrivals was Barbara Palvin, who cut a cool figure in an egdy black dress with structured detailing, as she joined her model pals on the red carpet.

The Hungarian model, 27, looked sensational in the strapless dress which flowed down to the floor, while she kept her accessories to a minimum and simply sported a pair of stylish earrings.

She wore her brunette locks in a sweet bow-style do, and opted for a subtle pallet of make-up. 

Fellow model Sara Sampaio looked equally stunning in a shimmering black dress with bejewelled silver straps, which featured a corset style top half – showcasing her slender frame. 

The Portuguese model, 30, wore her raven locks black in a sleek ponytail and opted for a strong make-up look, which included a red lip. 

The 2021 Venice Film Festival will take place from 1-11 September, and is considered one of the world’s oldest awards ceremonies and one of the ‘Big Five’ events. 

The jury is headed by Parasite frontman Bong Joon Ho, who said he is ‘honoured to be woven into its beautiful cinematic tradition. 

‘As president of the jury — and more importantly as a perpetual cinephile — I’m ready to admire and applaud all the great films selected by the festival. I’m filled with genuine hope and excitement. 

The jury is also comprised of  director Saverio Costanzo, actress Virginie Efira, star Cynthia Erivo, actress Sarah Gadon, documentarian Alexander Nanau, and director Chloé Zhao.

This year’s festival has also invited two Afgan filmmakers, Sahraa Karimi and Sahra Mani, to discuss the Taliban’s takeover of the country, with ‘particular attention to the situation of filmmakers and artists,’ in a panel taking place on 4th September. 

The topic of the panel will be ‘the dramatic situation of Afghan filmmakers and artists in general, the need for the creation of humanitarian corridors and the guarantee of the granting of political refugee status, as well as concern for their future and the need to provide for their accommodation once they arrive in Europe.’ 

Oscar-winning Italian director Roberto Benigni, who helmed the acclaimed Life is Beautiful, will also be honoured with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.

In a statement he said: ‘My heart is full of joy and gratitude. It is an immense honour to receive such an important recognition of my work from the Venice International Film Festival.’ 

This year’s festival has also seen the grand return of its star-studded red carpet premieres, after last year’s event was drastically scaled back due to the Covid pandemic.

Last year’s occasion saw a significantly smaller number of guests in attendance, will all red carpet arrivals required to adhere to social distancing, with temperature checks and mask wearing mandatory at the event.

Despite its return, this year’s festival is still adhering to strict Covid guidelines, following a rise in cases in Italy.

Public access to the red carpet is banned, and more than 10 testing stations have been set up.

All attendees must show proof of a negative test or vaccination to enter a screen, and masks are required indoors.  

Parallel Mothers (Madres paralelas) sees Penelope play Janis, one of two women who meet in a hospital room where they are both about to give birth. 

Cruz plays a middle-aged mother who doesn’t regret falling pregnant, while Aitana Sánchez-Gijón stars as an adolescent terrified by the prospect of having a child. 

Speaking about the film, director Pedro Almodóvar said back in February: ‘I speak of the importance of ancestors and descendants. 

‘The inevitable presence of memory. There are many mothers in my filmography, the ones that are part of this story are very different.’

Last month Instagram were forced to apologise when a poster for the film, which shows a nipple with a drop of milk, was briefly removed from the platform.

‘You should be ashamed of yourselves, Instagram,’ Spanish designer Javier Jaen who created the poster wrote in a post on the image-centric social network.

He accompanied the text with a screen grab of a message he received from Instagram on Monday stating that the image had been taken down because it violated the network’s rules.

‘As expected @Instagram has removed the poster which we made for the latest Almodovar film. I have posted it again. Thanks for sharing it,’ added Jaen.

A robust online debate saw some defending the image as artistic while others said it was ‘too explicit’.

Instagram, which belongs to Facebook, is regularly accused of being overzealous in removing pictures involving nudity.

This year’s Venice Film Festival will also see the long-awaited premiere of the Princess Diana biopic Spencer, which sees Kristen Stewart star as the late Royal.

The film is set to depict a dramatised version of a ‘critical’ weekend in the early 1990s, when Diana decided that her marriage to Prince Charles wasn’t working. 

The script, written by English screenwriter Steven Knight, who has also written Peaky Blinders, follows the moments Diana realised she ‘needed to veer from a path that put her in line to one day be queen’.

On Friday, the science fiction epic Dune, which is directed by Denis Villeneuve and stars Oscar Isaac, Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet Rebecca Ferguson and Jason Momoa, among numerous others, will also premiere at the festival.

Dune was originally supposed to have its premiere in November of 2020, but it was eventually delayed on numerous occasions owing to the ongoing state of the global pandemic, and is now set for release on October 22nd.

The story is set in a far-distant future in the midst of several civilizations spread across the galaxy, centering on one family in particular, the Atreides family.

The family, lead by Duke Leto Atreides, becomes the new stewards for the dangerous desert planet Arrakis.

While the desert planet is sparsely populated and filled with deadly creatures, it is also quite important.

Arrakis is the only source of ‘melange,’ which extends ones life and greatly enhances mental capacities, and is a necessity for space travel and navigation.