Billie Piper's first film as director to premiere at Venice film festival

Rare Beasts, the directorial debut of actor and musician Billie Piper, will receive its world premiere at the Venice film festival. She also wrote and stars in the film.

Rare Beasts is billed as an “anti-romcom”. Its synopsis reads:

“Mandy (Piper) is a modern woman in a crisis. Raising a boy, Larch (Toby Woolf), in a female revolution and professionally writing about a love that no longer exists, she falls upon a troubled man, Pete (Leo Bill), who seeks traditional dynamics and a sense of worth in this current female movement.”

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The film has been selected for Venice’s international film critics’ week sidebar, and was described by the event’s general delegate Giona Nazzaro as “a completely unhinged comedy.”

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Piper’s best known screen roles are in Doctor Who, where she played Rose Tyler in 2005 and 2006, and as Belle de Jour in the ITV series Secret Diary of a Call Girl between 2007 and 2011. She was named best actress at the Evening Standard awards in 2016 for her stage role in Yerma.

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The Venice film festival runs from 28 August to 7 September.