From runway to red carpet: Tom Ford makes directorial debut at Venice Film Festival

Tom Ford movie presented at Venice Film Festival

VENICE, Italy — Tom Ford, the former star designer at Gucci, makes his directorial debut with an intimate story about coping with loss and grief in a movie presented at the Venice Film Festival.

“A Single Man” is set in Los Angeles in the 1960s and stars Colin Firth as a college professor coming to grips with solitude after his partner of 16 years dies. Also starring are Matthew Goode, playing the professor’s partner, and Julianne Moore as a friend.

The movie is based on the book by the same by Christopher Isherwood. But Ford said during the presentation Friday that it is “the most personal thing” he has ever done.

Ford insists the film is not “about being gay” but rather touches on universal themes such as “love and isolation.”