Over the weekend, the highly anticipated horror remake Suspiria premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Cate Blanchett, and more graced the festival in their usual elegance, but one D-list filmmaker didn’t get the memo to dress appropriately. Instead he wore an offensive t-shirt of in support of sexual predator Harvey Weinstein.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Luciano Silighini Garagnani sported the homemade t-shirt on the red carpet for Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria. The shirt read "Weinstein Is Innocent" under a photo of the disgraced producer.
Venice fest chief Alberto Barbara told Deadline it was “a stupid move,” but this falls in line with Garagnani’s other values. He apparently donated money to Donald Trump’s campaign and also supports Italy’s former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who’s dealt with countless sex scandals of his own—so much so that he’s currently making a flattering film about him.
It’s likely that many people haven’t really heard of Garagnani, but the problem here is that the Venice Film Festival may not be doing enough to make space for women. This year, only one film in the entire festival was directed by a woman. "It's not a controversy," Venice jury president Guillermo del Toro said at the opening press conference in support of the 5050 x 2020 movement, a move to reach gender equality at film festivals. "It's a real problem we have in the culture in general."
If found guilty of the many charges against him, including rape, criminal sex act, abuse, and sexual misconduct, Weinstein could face life in prison.
