Jane Campion's 'The Power Of The Dog,' Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Will Debut At This Year's Venice

If I told you that Jane Campion’s new film, “The Power of the Dog,” was going to debut at a film festival this year, you wouldn’t be crazy to guess that it was going to be at Cannes. The filmmaker remains the only female director to ever win the Palme d’Or at the prestigious event and has debuted a number of her films in France over the years. However, in this case, you’d be wrong. You see, Campion is going to Venice later this year to premiere her latest, which might be the most high-profile film of her illustrious career.

According to Variety, Campion’s latest film, “Power of the Dog,” is set to debut at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The new feature, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, and Jesse Plemons, is written and directed by Campion and is based on the novel of the same name. The story follows two brothers in 1920s Montana as they come to blows over the fact that one of them marries a woman secretly. The upset brother then wages war against the new addition to the family.

Now, even though Campion is a pretty regular filmmaker at Cannes, this is definitely not her first time in Venice. Back in 1990, she won the Grand Jury Prize for her feature, “An Angel at My Table.” This year, she’s set to join what is expected to be one of the biggest Venice Film Festivals in recent memory, as a ton of filmmakers have been waiting for in-person festivals to debut their features. We already know that one of the biggest films of 2021, Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune,” is slated to have its world premiere at the event.

Interestingly, Cannes invited Campion to debut “The Power of the Dog” at the 2021 event. However, with the rules that prohibit Netflix from debuting films on streaming services in France unless they debuted in theaters 24 months prior, Campion’s feature would have been out-of-competition, and clearly, Netflix is more interested in getting awards recognition for “The Power of the Dog,” making Venice a better fit.

Venice 2021 is set to begin on September 1.