Stellan Skarsgård & The Painted Bird For Venice

The Painted Bird, starring Stellan Skarsgård, will compete against Roy Andersson’s latest feature About Endlessness for the Golden Lion at the 76th Venice International Film Festival (28 August – 7 September) where it will also receive its world premiere.

Written and directed by Václav Marhoul, The Painted Bird is based on the novel by Jerzy Kosinski and follows a young Jewish boy during World War II who is entrusted by his persecuted parents to an elderly foster mother. When the old woman dies, the Boy is left on his own to wander through the countryside.

As he struggles for survival, The Boy suffers extraordinary brutality from superstitious peasants and witnesses the terrifying violence of both Russian and German soldiers. When the war ends, The Boy has been changed forever.

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