Casey Affleck's directorial feature "Company," starring Nick Nolte, Adelaide Clemens, Ben Mendelsohn, Scoot McNairy and others, has premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival. The film explores storytelling, grief, regret and forgiveness through interconnected narratives spanning three time periods, with cast members praising Affleck's intimate, deliberately composed direction, which relies heavily on two-shots and stillness rather than conventional coverage.

The film moves between 1975, 1953 and 1903, linking each era through characters recounting stories to one another. Nolte plays Tom, a reclusive old man who rescues a young woman (Caylee Cowan) from the snow, while Clemens and McNairy portray an 1903 couple whose isolated life is disrupted by a mysterious traveller played by Atticus Affleck. Both Nolte and Clemens credited cinematographer Marcell Rév and Affleck's trust in his actors for allowing scenes to be shot in extended two-shots capturing full-body performance. Nolte, 86, said the delicate, silence-filled script drew him to the project and that he has no plans to retire.