Ellen Burstyn, Pamela Anderson and Taika Waititi greeted with a six-minute ovation in Venice
The drama "Place to Be" by Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó prompted a strong audience reaction at the 83rd Venice Film Festival. After the festival premiere screening on September 9, 2026, the cast was sent off with a six-minute ovation, with 93-year-old Ellen Burstyn at the center of attention, having received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Venice just a few days earlier. According to Variety's report from inside the theater, Burstyn wiped away tears during the applause and hugged her colleagues Taika Waititi, Pamela Anderson and Murray Bartlett, while the audience continued applauding after the film ended. When the ovation subsided, the actress thanked the audience, while she and Waititi blew kisses to the spectators. The screening thus became one of the most emotionally memorable moments of the closing days of this year's festival on Venice's Lido.
"Place to Be" was screened in the Venice Open - Out of Competition program, meaning outside the main competition for festival awards. Official data from La Biennale di Venezia state that the film runs for 104 minutes, was shot in English and is listed as an Australian production. Alongside Burstyn, Waititi and Anderson, the principal cast includes Murray Bartlett and David Wenham, while the screenplay was written by Mundruczó's longtime collaborator Kata Wéber. Although the film was not formally competing for the Golden Lion, the audience reaction showed that its out-of-competition status did not diminish the interest generated by the combination of well-known acting names and an intimate story about turning points late in life.
A journey from Chicago to New York and an unexpected friendship
According to the official synopsis of the Venice Film Festival, "Place to Be" is conceived as a road movie about an unexpected friendship between an older woman and a middle-aged man. Ellen Burstyn plays Brooke Graham, a widow who, after her husband's death, devoted a large part of her life to her children and built a peaceful daily routine. That rhythm is disrupted by a stray racing pigeon named Intruder, which appears in her home and refuses to leave. Brooke does not want to abandon it, so she decides to travel from Chicago to New York to return it to its owner. During the journey, she meets Nelson Green, played by Taika Waititi, a businessman who is also trying to find a new direction after a series of failures.
In its description of the film, La Biennale emphasizes that this unusual shared mission becomes the space in which two people from very different stages of life begin to grow closer. Their relationship is not presented as a conventional romance, but as a bond in which two lonely people, brought together by an almost absurd coincidence, are given the opportunity to reconsider their own disappointments and what they still expect from life. According to a report by People, Burstyn and Waititi also spoke about the friendship they developed during filming, emphasizing their mutual respect and a similar sense of responsibility toward acting. Such a relationship off camera naturally fits the film's central idea: important encounters can happen at moments when nobody expects them.
In his official director's statement, Mundruczó described the film as a deliberate departure from the heavier stories of catastrophe that occupied part of his earlier work. This time, he wanted to follow a quieter story about two people who allow chance to change their lives. The director also emphasizes the symbolic role of the pigeon: Brooke sets out on the journey to save a lost bird, but by the end it becomes difficult to say who actually helped whom. The journey is therefore not merely a physical movement between two major American cities, but also a way for the protagonists to stop viewing their own lives as finished or predetermined. The story thus touches on loneliness, purpose, family, disappointment and the possibility of change later in life.
Ellen Burstyn at the center of an emotional evening
The six-minute ovation carried additional weight because of Ellen Burstyn's position at this year's festival. La Biennale di Venezia awarded her the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement on September 7, 2026, following the recommendation of festival artistic director Alberto Barbera and a decision by the Biennale's board. In the official citation, Barbera described Burstyn as an actress of extraordinary intensity and truthfulness, recalling a series of roles through which, over more than half a century, she shaped complex female characters in American cinema. He particularly highlighted her ability to convey vulnerability, pain and everyday resilience without sacrificing the dignity and inner strength of her characters. The award was presented to her during a week in which she had not only "Place to Be" in Venice, but also the short film "Flesh Impact", directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal.
The Associated Press reported that the 17-minute "Flesh Impact" had its world premiere in Venice and that Burstyn plays an imagined 100-year-old Marilyn Monroe in it. The film was made to mark the centenary of Monroe's birth, and Gyllenhaal built the concept around the vulnerability of an actress who walks alone onto a stage for an audition. This gave Burstyn's festival week an almost retrospective character: at the same time, she received recognition for her entire career, portrayed one of the greatest icons in Hollywood history and presented a new leading role in a film about whether life can be redirected in old age. AP reports that the actress, reflecting on the honor, emphasized how important her acting training had been and the legacy she passes on through the Actors Studio.
Burstyn won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Martin Scorsese's "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore", and her filmography also includes "The Exorcist", "The Last Picture Show", "Requiem for a Dream" and "Interstellar". The festival's official biography also recalls her two Emmys and a Tony, placing her among the small group of performers who have won the most important American awards for film, television and theater. La Biennale states that she has accumulated around 150 film roles over the course of her career. Particularly significant for "Place to Be" is the fact that she had already collaborated with Mundruczó on the 2020 film "Pieces of a Woman", in which she acted alongside Vanessa Kirby. Returning to the same director six years later places her at the very center of the story rather than in a supporting generational role.
Pamela Anderson in a new phase of her film career
The premiere also attracted attention because of Pamela Anderson, who in recent years has been systematically reshaping the image of her film career. The Italian agency ANSA states that in "Place to Be" she plays Molly, the daughter of Ellen Burstyn's character, and that the film arrived during a period of renewed interest in her acting work. This shift is particularly associated with Gia Coppola's "The Last Showgirl", for which Anderson was nominated for a Golden Globe, after which she continued choosing projects that distance her from the public image most closely associated with the television series "Baywatch". In Venice, her presence generated great interest among photographers and audiences, and Variety noted that the crowd before the screening called out particularly loudly to Anderson as she entered the premiere. After the film, however, the focus shifted from the red carpet to the emotional reaction of the entire cast.
ANSA also reported Burstyn's statement from the festival press conference about her first meeting with Anderson. The actress said that the casting of Anderson as her on-screen daughter initially surprised her, but that after meeting her in person she very quickly accepted the acting combination and developed affection for her colleague. Anderson appears in the film as part of Brooke Graham's family context, while according to Variety, Murray Bartlett plays her son. These relationships form an important counterpoint to the friendship between Brooke and Nelson: the protagonist has spent her entire life within familiar obligations and relationships, and only the journey with an almost complete stranger opens up the possibility of a different perspective on her own choices. At this point, September 11, 2026, a wider commercial release date for the film has not been officially confirmed in La Biennale materials.
Taika Waititi in a story about a second chance
Taika Waititi takes on the role of Nelson Green, a man who has lost his sense of direction professionally and personally. Audiences often associate him with directing and screenwriting, but Mundruczó's film places the emphasis on his acting presence and his relationship with Burstyn. According to People, the two developed an unexpectedly close professional and personal relationship during filming, and Waititi spoke with great respect about her work discipline and experience. This intergenerational dynamic forms one of the film's key axes, because the age difference is presented neither as an obstacle nor as a source of simple comedy. Instead, the two characters are portrayed as people at different stages of life who share the feeling that they are not where they would like to be.
This approach also corresponds to the question posed by the film's official description: is it ever too late to move toward the life one truly wants to live. Mundruczó builds that question around a relatively small and somewhat unusual plot about returning a lost pigeon. The contrast between the modest reason for the journey and the major internal questions gives the film its tone. The director, who previously dealt with trauma, family breakdown, migration and social pressures, deliberately sought, according to his own statement, a quieter story about chance, closeness and the possibility of changing the direction of one's life without grand spectacle.
Mundruczó returns to Venice after "Pieces of a Woman"
Kornél Mundruczó has occupied an important place on the European festival circuit for years. The Cannes Film Festival states that his film "White God" won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard program in 2014, while "Delta" and "Jupiter's Moon" were screened in Cannes' main competition. In Venice, he achieved major international attention with "Pieces of a Woman", which competed at the 77th edition of the festival in 2020. La Biennale's official archive confirms that Vanessa Kirby won the Coppa Volpi for Best Actress for that film, whose cast also included Ellen Burstyn. The film was also an important breakthrough for Mundruczó into English-language production.
"Place to Be" reunites him with screenwriter Kata Wéber, with whom he has worked on several projects, including "Pieces of a Woman" and "Evolution". In its materials on "Evolution", the Cannes Film Festival links their collaboration to an interest in family history, identity and inherited trauma, while the new film deliberately shifts the focus toward a warmer register. Variety states that "Place to Be" is Mundruczó's second feature film presented at a major festival during 2026, after "At the Sea" with Amy Adams was screened in Berlin earlier in the year. The new project therefore demonstrates how greatly the tone of his films can vary, even though themes of loss, loneliness and searching for a new direction reappear.
For Mundruczó, the film represents an attempt to address these themes without the intensity of tragedy that marked part of his earlier work. The official director's statement emphasizes trust in chance, mystery and small, fragile moments that can change the course of a life. Such an approach corresponds with the festival response to the premiere: instead of spectacular action or a large political framework, the acting relationships and the audience's emotional reaction drew the most attention. The six minutes of applause remain an immediate measure of the theater's response rather than a formal judgment of the film, particularly because the title was not competing for the main awards.
The Venice festival as a stage for a new phase of the film
The 83rd Venice Film Festival takes place from September 2 to 12, 2026, and "Place to Be" was included in the program as one of the out-of-competition titles. La Biennale's official schedule records screenings on September 9 and 10 on the Lido, including showings at Sala Giardino and the Astra 1 cinema. Such a festival position gives the film international visibility without direct competition against titles in the main competition. Screen Daily states in its festival guide that the film was presented as an Australian production with international production partners and sales representation in the market, showing that the Venice premiere also has an important industry function.
What happened after the September 9 screening nevertheless surpassed the industrial aspect of the event. Variety recorded how Burstyn cried, hugged Waititi, Anderson and Bartlett and thanked the audience, while the other members of the team also appeared visibly moved. For an actress who had received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement only two days earlier, the reaction was almost an immediate confirmation that the festival honor did not mark the closing of her career, but came at a moment when she is still carrying a film in a leading role. That fact adds further weight to the story that "Place to Be" attempts to tell: old age here is not merely a space for retrospection, but also a time for new decisions, new relationships and new beginnings.
When she accepted the Golden Lion, Burstyn, according to the official La Biennale announcement, spoke about honor, happiness and gratitude for the recognition, while during the ceremony she reflected on the idea that a lifetime achievement award does not have to be merely a list of accomplishments but can also be an opportunity to ask what a person has learned over the course of a lifetime. Two days later, the audience rewarded precisely her new work with prolonged applause. "Place to Be" thus received a beginning in Venice that belongs simultaneously to the film and to its leading actress: a modest story about a journey with a lost pigeon turned into one of the festival's most conspicuous celebrations of an acting career that remains active even at the age of 93.
Sources:
- La Biennale di Venezia - official page for the film "Place to Be", program, synopsis, cast and creative team, and director's statement (link)
- La Biennale di Venezia - official announcement about Ellen Burstyn's Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement and an overview of her career (link)
- Variety - report from the premiere and the six-minute ovation for "Place to Be" (link)
- Associated Press - report on Ellen Burstyn's Golden Lion, the film "Flesh Impact" and her career (link)
- ANSA - report on Pamela Anderson in Venice and her role in "Place to Be" (link)
- People - conversation with Ellen Burstyn and Taika Waititi about their relationship during the filming of the film (link)
- Festival de Cannes - biographical and festival overview of Kornél Mundruczó's career (link)
- La Biennale di Venezia - archive of the official awards of the 77th Venice Film Festival and the Coppa Volpi for Vanessa Kirby in "Pieces of a Woman" (link)
- Screen Daily - festival guide and production context for "Place to Be" (link)