After a strong anniversary edition featuring the likes of Poor Things and Io Capitano, the pressure is back on Venice to put together a worthy program despite the production delays caused by the strikes last fall. Well, judging by the lineup announced today, they did just fine. It would appear that both Hollywood studios and arthouse auteurs alike continue to embrace the Lido as an ideal platform to launch their prized late-year offerings.
Here’s what we can expect at #Venezia81:
Competition
The Room Next Door, dir: Pedro Almodóvar
Campo di Battaglia, dir: Gianni Amelio
Leurs Enfants Après Eux, dir: Ludovic Bouckherma, Zoran Boukherma
The Brutalist, dir: Brady Corbet
The Quiet Son, dir: Delphine Coulin, Muriel Coulin
Vermiglio, dir: Maura Delpero
Sicilian Letters, dir: Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza
Queer, dir: Luca Guadagnino
Love, dir: Dag Johan Haugerud
April, dir: Dea Kulumbegashvili
The Order, dir: Justin Kurzel
Maria, dir: Pablo Larraín
Trois Amies, dir: Emmanuel Mouret
Kill the Jockey, dir: Luis Ortega
Joker: Folie à Deux, dir: Todd Phillips
Babygirl, dir: Halina Reijn
I’m Still Here, dir: Walter Salles
Diva Futura, dir: Giulia Louise Steigerwalt
Harvest, dir: Athina Rachel Tsangari
Youth – Homecoming, dir: Wang Bing
Stranger Eyes, dir: Yeo Siew Hua
Out of Competition (Fiction)
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, dir: Tim Burton – opening film
L’Orto Americano, dir: Pupi Avati – closing film
Il Tempo Che Ci Vuole, dir: Francesca Comencini
Phantosmia, dir: Lav Diaz
Maldoror, dir: Fabrice Du Welz
Broken Rage, dir: Takeshi Kitano
Baby Invasion, dir: Harmony Korine
Cloud, dir: Kurosawa Kiyoshi
Finalement, dir: Claude Lelouch
Wolfs, dir: Jon Watts
Se Posso Permettermi Capitolo II, dir: Marco Bellocchio
Allégorie Citadine, dir: Alice Rohrwacher, JR
Out of Competition (Non-Fiction)
Apocalypse in the Tropics, dir: Petra Costa
Bestiari, Erbari, Lapidari, dir: Massimo D’Anolfi, Martina Parenti
Why War, dir: Amos Gitai
2073, dir: Asif Kapadia
One to One: John & Yoko, dir: Kevin Macdonald, Sam Rice Edwards
Separated, dir: Errol Morris
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989, dir: Göran Hugo Olsson
Russians at War, dir: Anastasia Trofimova
Twst/Things We Said Today, dir: Andrei Ujica
Songs of Slow Burning Earth, dir: Olha Zhurba
Riefenstahl, dir: Andres Veiel
Out of Competition (Series)
Disclaimer, dir: Alfonso Cuaron
The New Years, dir: Rodrigo Sorogoyen Del Amo, Sandra Romero, David Martín De Los Santos
Families Like Ours, dir: Thomas Vinterberg
M: Son of the Century, dir: Joe Wright
Orizzonti
Nonostante, dir: Valerio Mastandrea
Quiet Life, dir: Alexandros Avranas
Mon Inséparable, dir: Anne-Sophie Bailly
Aïcha, dir: Mehdi Barsaoui
Happy Holidays, dir: Scandar Copti
Familia, dir: Francesco Costabile
One of Those Days When Hemme Dies, dir: Murat Firatoglu
Familiar Touch, dir: Sarah Friedland
Marco, dirs: Jon Garano, Aitor Arregi
Carissa, dirs: Jason Jacobs, Devon Delmar
Wishing on a Star, dir: Peter Kerekes
Mistress Dispeller, dir: Elizabeth Lo
The New Year that Never Came, dir: Bogdan Muresanu
Pooja, Sir, dir: Deepak Rauniyar
Of Dogs and Men, dir: Dani Rosenberg
Pavements, dir: Alex Ross Perry
Happyend, dir: Neo Sora
L’Attachement, dir: Carine Tardieu
Diciannove, dir: Giovanni Tortorici
Yes, Joker 2 will no doubt be the hot ticket of the festival. But how can you not also be excited for Almodóvar’s English-langue debut starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore? Or Guadagnino’s William S. Burroughs adaptation with Daniel Craig? Or how about Walter Salles’ reunion with his Central Station leading lady Fernanda Montenegro and Brady Corbet’s 3.5-hour follow-up to Vox Lux? Can Pablo Larraín direct Angelina Jolie to an Oscar nomination after doing so with Natalie Portman (Jackie) and Kristen Stewart (Spencer)? Can Dea Kulumbegashvili, director of one of the most astonishing debut films of the past decade (Beginning), do it again with her much-anticipated sophomore feature?
Many questions to ponder, and we’ll have answers for you in a month’s time live from the Lido.
The 81st Venice Film Festival runs Aug. 28 through Sep. 7. The competition jury is chaired by Isabelle Huppert.
