The establishment film industry will premiere a four-hour documentary targeting Elon Musk at the Venice Film Festival in September — the latest signal that the gatekeepers who lost control of the narrative want their revenge on the man who opened the floodgates.
Why it matters: When the same institutions that spent decades protecting their own predators and policing what Americans were allowed to say decide to spend four hours on the billionaire who dismantled their information monopoly, ordinary people should understand exactly what they're watching. This isn't journalism. It's a ritual.
Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney's documentary, titled simply "Musk," will screen out of competition at the festival's 83rd edition, which opens September 2. The AP and the Hartford Courant both described the film as "a sweeping portrait of the billionaire." The Guardian, less interested in disguising the angle, called Musk a "rightwing agitator and owner of social network X" — framing the documentary as part of a festival taking aim at media moguls of "the print and digital era."
The Guardian's headline put it plainly: Murdoch and Musk are "in the crosshairs."
The festival opens with Danny Boyle's "Ink," a dramatization of Rupert Murdoch's 1969 acquisition of the Sun newspaper. So the Venice lineup bookends itself with two men who upended media establishments in different eras — and the creative class has cast both as villains. The message from the glittering waterways is clear: challenge the people who control the story, and eventually they'll make a story about you.
Gibney is a prolific documentarian whose previous targets have included Scientology, Enron, and the U.S. torture program. His work is polished and his access is extensive. Whether a four-hour runtime produces a fair portrait or an extended indictment remains to be seen — but the Guardian's enthusiastic framing, and the industry's eagerness to platform it, suggest the audience should bring healthy skepticism.
The broader Venice slate includes Martin McDonagh's "Wild Horse Nine," a dark CIA comedy set in Chile before the 1973 coup, starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell. Robert Pattinson stars in "Primetime," a psychological thriller based on "To Catch a Predator." Werner Herzog returns with "Bucking Fastard," starring Kate and Rooney Mara. Maggie Gyllenhaal leads the jury deciding the Golden Lion.
Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera unveiled the lineup Thursday. The selection is reportedly lighter on Hollywood studio films than in years past — another sign that the industry is retreating into the comfortable territory of messaging over mass entertainment.
The question is whether four hours of Gibney's lens will tell Americans anything they don't already know about Musk — or whether it will simply confirm what the people who lost their monopoly have been saying since he bought Twitter: that the real sin isn't being wealthy, it's letting the wrong people speak.
