Refresh for latest…: The lineup for the 81st Venice Film Festival is being unveiled this morning from the Library of the Historical Archive of La Biennale. Making the announcement are La Biennale President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and Venice Film Festival Artistic Director Alberto Barbera. Scroll down to see the full list of titles which will be updated as they are revealed.
After taking place last year amid the SAG-AFTRA strike, Venice this year is expected to be a much starrier affair. Serving as a key launchpad for awards season and a prime media opportunity for talent, the world’s oldest film festival should be upping the glamour quotient again with scuttlebutt pointing to such movies as Todd Phillips’ Joaquin Phoenix/Lady Gaga-starrer Joker: Folie à Deux from Warner Bros making the cut. Phillips’ first Joker wowed at the fest in 2019, going on to scoop the Golden Lion.
Also rumored to possibly be in the mix are Pablo Larrain’s Maria Callas biopic, Maria, starring Angelina Jolie as the legendary chanteuse. Luca Guadagnino could mark a return to the Lido with Queer, based on William S Bourroughs’ novel and starring Daniel Craig. We’re also hearing George Clooney/Brad Pitt thriller Wolfs from Apple has a shot at a slot as does Pedro Almodovar’s first English-language feature, The Room Next Door, starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. There has also been speculation about the Johnny Depp-directed Modi, with Al Pacino.
Already confirmed is Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice which will open the proceedings out of competition on August 28. The Warner Bros title is the sequel to Burton’s classic 1988 supernatural comedy and stars Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Justin Theroux and Monica Bellucci, with Jenna Ortega and Willem Dafoe. Also previously set are the opening films of the Horizons and Horizons Extra sections, Nonostante from Valerio Mastandrea and September 5 by Tim Fehlbaum, respectively
Peter Weir and Sigourney Weaver have been tapped to receive Lifetime Achievement awards, and Isabelle Huppert is jury president this year. The festival runs from August 28-September 7.
Check back as we update the list of films announced today:
VENEZIA 81 COMPETITION
The Room Next Door, dir: Pedro Almodovar
Campo di Battaglia, dir: Gianni Amelio
Leurs Enfants Après Eux, dirs: Ludovic Boukherma, Zoran Boukherma
The Brutalist, dir: Brady Corbet
The Quiet Son, dirs: Delphine Coulin, Muriel Coulin
Vermiglio, dir: Maura Delpero
Sicilian Letters, dirs: 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 Larrain
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, 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 (short)
Allégorie Citadine, dirs: Alice Rohrwacher, JR (short)
Non-Fiction
Why War, dir: Amos Gitai
2073, dir: Asif Kapadia
Bestiari, Erbari, Lapidari, dirs: Massimo D’Anolfi, Martina Perenti
Apocalypse in the Tropics, dir: Petra Costa
One to One: John & Yoko, dir: Kevin Macdonald, Sam Rice-Edwards
Separated, dir: Errol Morris
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989, dir: Goran 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
Special Screenings
Leopardi. Il Poeta Dell’Infinito, dir: Sergio Rubini
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, dir: Peter Weir
Beauty is not a Sin, dir: Nicolas Winding Refn
Series
Disclaimer, dir: Alfonso Cuaron
The New Years, dirs: Rodrigo Sorogoyen del Amo, Sandra Romero
Families Like Ours, dir: Thomas Vinterberg
M – Il Figlio del Secolo, dir: Joe Wright
HORIZONS EXTRA
September 5, dir: Tim Fehlbaum
Vittoria, dirs: Alessandro Cassigoli, Casey Kauffman
Le Mohican, dir: Frederic Farrucci
Seeking Haven for Mr Rambo, dir: Khaled Mansour
La Storia del Frank e della Nina, dir: Paola Randi
The Witness, dir: Nader Saeivar
After Party, dir: Vojtech Strakaty
King Ivory, dir: John Swab
Edge of Night, dir: Turker Suer
HORIZONS
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
VENICE CLASSICS
Documentaries About Cinema
Miyazaki, L’Esprit de la Nature
I will Revenge this World with Love S Paradjanov
Le Cinéma de Jean-Pierre Léaud
From Darkness to Light
Carlo Mazzacurati – Una Certa Idea di Cinema
Chain Reactions
Maroun Returns to Beirut
Volonté – L’Uomo dai Mille Volti
Constelacion Portabella
