Venice Classics to Feature Roberto Rossellini’s ‘Journey to Italy,’ Roger Corman’s ‘The Wild Angels’ and Dev Benegal’s ‘English, August’
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- Venice Film Festival unveiled a 19-title Venice Classics lineup featuring freshly restored works by Andrzej Wajda, Roberto Rossellini, Luis Buñuel, Roger Corman, John Cassavetes, and Ann Hui for its 83rd edition (September 2-12).
- Roberto Rossellini's "Journey to Italy" (1953), starring Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders, headlines the program alongside Wajda's "Ashes and Diamonds" — which Martin Scorsese has called one of his ten favorite films.
- Roger Corman's "The Wild Angels" (1966), the director's biggest commercial success, originally launched in competition at Venice in 1966 and is now restored by Amazon MGM Studios.
- Dev Benegal's landmark debut "English, August" (1993), a scathing satire, and Ann Hui's "The Story of Woo Viet" (1981) — one of Hong Kong's first political films — bring Asian representation, with Benegal's print restored by India's Film Heritage Foundation.
- Daniele Vicari, director of "Diaz Don't Clean Up This Blood," will chair the jury of film students awarding Venice Classics prizes for best restored film and best documentary about cinema.
- The full lineup draws from at least 13 countries including Guinea-Bissau, China, Japan, Czech Republic, Argentina, and Poland, with restorations credited to Cinecittà, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Universal Pictures, and Studiocanal among others.
Why it matters: The 19-film lineup restores and re-presents works ranging from Rossellini's 1953 neorealist "Journey to Italy" to Ning Ying's 1995 Chinese police procedural "On the Beat" — giving Venice audiences rare access to films from Guinea-Bissau, Hong Kong, and India alongside canonical Western titles. Major studio involvement (Amazon MGM Studios restored Corman, Universal restored Cassavetes, Studiocanal restored Lubitsch) signals continued commercial investment in physical film heritage at a time when restoration budgets are scarce.
