I’ve been going to the Venice Film Festival since 2014 and, judging from the lineup they just announced, the upcoming 79th edition will be – if nothing else – the starriest one yet. Let’s take a look.
Competition
“Bardo (or False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths)” (Alejandro González Iñárritu)
“The Whale” (Darren Aronofsky)
“Bones and All” (Luca Guadagnino)
“Blonde” (Andrew Dominik)
“Il Signore Delle Formiche” (Gianni Amelio)
“Tár” (Todd Field)
“Love Life” (Koji Fukada)
“L’Immensita” (Emanuele Crialese)
“White Noise” (Noah Baumbach) – opening film
“Saint Omer” (Alice Diop)
“The Banshees of Inisherin” (Martin McDonagh)
“The Son” (Florian Zeller)
”Argentina, 1985” (Santiago Mitre)
“No Bears” (Jafar Panahi)
“Chiara” (Susanna Nicchiarelli)
“Other People’s Children“ (Rebecca Zlotowski)
“Monica” (Andrea Pallaoro)
“Athena” (Romain Gavras)
“A Couple” (Frederick Wiseman)
“The Eternal Daughter” (Joanna Hogg)
“Beyond the Wall” (Vahid Jalilvand)
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” (Laura Poitras)
“Our Ties” (Roschdy Zem)
Out of Competition (Fiction)
“Don’t Worry Darling” (Olivia Wilde)
“Master Gardener” (Paul Schrader)
“The Hanging Sun” (Francesco Carrozzini) – closing film
“When the Waves Are Gone” (Lav Diaz)
“Living” (Oliver Hermanus)
“Dead for a Dollar” (Walter Hill)
“Call of God” (Kim Ki-duk)
“Dreamin’ Wild” (Bill Polhad)
“Siccità” (Paolo Virzì)
“Pearl” (Ti West)
Out of Competition (Non-Fiction)
“Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” (Evgeny Afineevsky)
“The Matchmaker” (Benedetta Argentieri)
“Gli Ultima Giorni Dell’Umanita” (Enrico Ghezzi, Alessandro Gagliardo)
“A Compassionate Spy” (Steve James)
“Music for Black Pigeons” (Jorgen Leth and Andreas Koefoed)
“The Kiev Trial” (Sergei Loznitsa)
“In Viaggio” (Gianfranco Rosi)
“Bobby White Ghetto President” (Christopher Sharp, Moses Bwayo)
“Nuclear” (Oliver Stone)
Out of Competition (Series)
“The Kingdom Exodus” (Lars von Trier)
“Copenhagen Cowboy” (Nicolas Winding Refn)
Orizzonti
“Princess” (Roberto de Paolis)
“Victim” (Michal Blanko)
“On the Fringe” (Juan Diego Botto)
“Trenque Lauquen” (Laura Citarella)
“Vera” (Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel)
“Innocence” (Guy Davidi)
“Blanquita” (Fernando Guzzoni)
“Pour La France” (Rachid Hami)
“A Man” (Kei Ishikawa)
“Bread and Salt” (Damian Kocur)
“Luxembourg, Luxembourg” (Antonio Lukich)
“Ti Mangio IL Cuore” (Pippo Mezzapesa)
“To the North” (Mihai Mincan)
“Autobiography” (Makbul Mubarak)
“La Syndicaliste” (Jean-Paul Salomé)
“World War III” (Houman Seyedi)
“The Happiest Man in the World” (Teona Strugar Mitevska)
“The Bride” (Sérgio Tréfaut)
So yes, the likes of Ana de Armas, Cate Blanchett, Timothée Chalamet, Penélope Cruz, Laura Dern, Adam Driver, Virginie Efira, Colin Farrell, Greta Gerwig, Isabelle Huppert, Hugh Jackman, Vanessa Kirby, Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Tilda Swinton, Sigourney Weaver and more will all be expected on the Lido. Not to mention a roster of A-list auteurs that could make Cannes blush.
For now, that’s all on paper of course. How will the films actually turn out? Can BARDO repeat the success of ROMA or Iñárritu’s own BIRDMAN, which also launched in Venice? Does the comeback narrative for Brendan Fraser in THE WHALE start building here (à la Mickey Rourke for THE WRESTLER)? Will we see as many as THREE eventual best actress nominees from this list as we did last year (Colman/Stewart/Cruz vs Blanchett/de Armas/Pugh)? Can any of these films rack up 10+ nominations the way THE POWER OF THE DOG or DUNE did?
Personally I’m most excited to see Todd Field’s long-awaited return to the director’s chair with TÁR, which should hopefully be a showcase for Blanchett and an amazing supporting cast. Ditto Andrew Dominik’s notorious-even-before-it’s-seen Marilyn Monroe biopic BLONDE. And I’m always here for whatever Aronofsky, Guadagnino or von Trier has cooked up. Also consider me very intrigued by THE ETERNAL DAUGHTER, a ghost story from Joanna Hogg. Suffice to say we have a very solid lineup of films to look forward to.
The 79th Venice Film Festival runs Aug. 31 through Sep. 10. The competition jury will be chaired by Oscar, Cannes, Berlin and Venice best actress winner (not many of those out there!) Julianne Moore.
