How the Venice Film Festival became an ‘Oscar launchpad’

THESE days, the race for the Oscars starts in Venice, Italy. Of the past 10 best picture winners, four have premiered on the lagoon, including, most recently, Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland in 2020. That film also took the festival’s main prize, the Golden Lion, making it the second film after Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water (2017) to claim that double distinction.