Venice Film Festival to Honor Tinto Brass With Revival of London-Shot 1967 Classic ‘Deadly Sweet’

The Venice Film Festival will honor Italian filmmaker Tinto Brass with a revival of his London-shot 1967 pop thriller Deadly Sweet, the festival announced in advance of its upcoming edition. Brass, now described by the festival as a nonagenarian, is the subject of a tribute that will be paired with an early screening of the film as part of the festival’s programming.

Deadly Sweet, which stars Jean-Louis Trintignant and Ewa Aulin, is set to screen in a restored digital 4K version. The restoration is scheduled to be shown within the Venice Classics section, according to Deadline’s report on the festival plans.

The tribute also includes a pre-opening screening of Deadly Sweet, positioning the film as a centerpiece for the festival’s acknowledgment of Brass’s career. The festival’s sequencing, with the screening taking place before the opening of the main event, is designed to draw attention to the director’s work at the start of the festival schedule.

The announcement places Brass’s London production within the broader framework of Venice Classics, a strand devoted to films with established reputations and historical significance. By pairing a pre-opening event with the restored presentation in Venice Classics, the festival is giving audiences both an early look and an official festival-format screening of the restored film.

Deadly Sweet has been identified in the report as a “London-shot” pop thriller from 1967, aligning the Venice programming with the film’s production geography and period style. The festival framing underscores that the tribute is centered on a specific title and restoration rather than a broader retrospective of Brass’s entire catalog.

Deadline’s report did not provide additional details on the restoration’s technical partners or on specific dates and venues for the pre-opening screening and Venice Classics presentation. Viewers and industry attendees are expected to get the precise screening calendar through the festival’s published schedule as the edition approaches.

The festival’s choice to spotlight a restored version of Deadly Sweet comes as major film events increasingly allocate time to remastered catalogs, which can affect distribution arrangements, on-site attendance, and rights discussions with stakeholders responsible for archival elements and masters. The Venice Films selection likewise indicates what organizers consider culturally and historically relevant in Brass’s body of work.