‘A House of Dynamite’ Venice Film Festival World Premiere Photo Gallery

The Venice Film Festival hosted the world premiere of A House of Dynamite, directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Noah Oppenheim. Attending the premiere were members of the film’s cast, including Jared Harris, Anthony Ramos, Idris Elba, Tracy Letts, Rebecca Ferguson, Greta Lee, and Gabriel Basso.

The film’s plot centers on a terrifying scenario: a single, unattributed missile is launched at the United States, triggering a high-stakes race for a team of key White House officials to determine who is responsible and how to respond. The story is a dramatic and intense thriller told from the perspective of those scrambling to manage the crisis. 

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Bigelow draws on a childhood shaped by the specter of nuclear war. She recalls the “go-to protocol” of hiding under school desks, a measure that now seems absurd but was taken seriously due to the immediate threat. She points to a dangerous paradox in the present day: while the danger has escalated with multiple nations possessing enough nuclear weapons to “end civilisation within minutes,” there’s a “collective numbness” and a “quiet normalisation of the unthinkable.” She questions the term “defense” in a world where the outcome of its use is total destruction. 

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Bigelow’s goal was to confront this paradox directly through her film. She sought to create a work that explores the “madness of a world that lives under the constant shadow of annihilation, yet rarely speaks of it.” Her statement highlights the central theme of the movie: a dramatic and intense look at the high-stakes reality of nuclear proliferation and the psychological impact it has on society, even if it goes unacknowledged.

The film will hit theaters in October and stream on Netflix on October 24.