We always knew that it was going to be a big year for Venice. The changing landscape of Oscar campaigning that increasingly favors a late summer/early fall showcase for prestige films, Venice’s winning streak of successfully launching prime studio prizefighters, coupled with Cannes’ self-destructive fight with streaming giants which host some of the industry’s top talents and their passion projects these days, guaranteed as much.
Judging by the official selection revealed today (full list below), when all is said and done, the likes of Alfonso Cuarón, Damian Chazelle, Luca Guadagnino, the Coen Brothers, Mike Leigh, Yorgos Lanthimos, Bradley Cooper, Paul Greengrass, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal, Joaquin Phoenix, Tilda Swinton, Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone, Juliette Binoche, Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaac, Lady Gaga, Natalie Portman, Jude Law and many more will likely have walked the red carpet on Lido this year rather than the Croisette. Whether Cannes should be alarmed or not, that lineup is pretty damn impressive by any measure.
Besides the already announced opening film FIRST MAN (in competition), such default Oscar players as ROMA, A STAR IS BORN, THE FAVOURITE, THE SISTERS BROTHERS and SUSPIRIA will also premiere in Venice (in or out of competition). And what about AT ETERNITY’S GATE – a biopic about Vincent van Gogh from the director of THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY? Or VOX LUX, Brady Corbet’s follow-up to his insane directorial debut THE CHILDHOOD OF A LEADER? Or Australian filmmaker Jennifer Kent’s sophomore feature THE NIGHTINGALE four years after her breakout hit THE BABADOOK? Or Hungarian director László Nemes’ follow-up to his Oscar winner SON OF SAUL? Will respective campaigns for Dafoe, Portman or best foreign language film start right here?
As the world’s oldest film festival, Venice also shows surprising flexibility in welcoming not only the NETFLIX-backed ROMA, but the Coens’ 6-part miniseries THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS to its competition lineup. At a time where the consumption of audiovisual contents is being revolutionized and the entertainment industry is trying to redefine itself, this level of inclusiveness feels not just strategically smart but boldly forward-thinking.
That said, the same competition lineup proves dishearteningly conservative in that of its 21 titles, only one female director (and one Asian director) made the cut. Now I’m not one to shout DIVERSITY ABOVE ALL ELSE when it comes to festival programming. BUT, if the Cannes jury sent out one message back in May when it handed out the three top prizes to an Asian, a black and a female filmmaker in a highly competitive year, it’s that there is good stuff out there made by non-white/male directors. Something to think about.
Aside from the higher-profile films, I’m particularly intrigued by American indie director Rick Alverson’s fifth feature THE MOUNTAIN, which is giving me a strong Paul Thomas Anderson vibe and could prove a surprise hit. Mexican director Carlos Reygadas’ hopefully über-weird WHERE LIFE IS BORN has been on my must-see list ever since it was announced and we’ll finally get our first peek after a conspicuous Cannes absence. The always exciting Mary Harron also returns with CHARLIE SAYS, a crime drama revolving around the aftermath of the Manson murder case starring Matt Smith. And after BONE TOMAHAWK and BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99, sicko mastermind Craig Zahler’s latest crime drama DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE will probably make for juicy genre fun.
The 75th Venice Film Festival runs August 29th – September 8th. Last year’s Golden Lion and eventual Oscar winner Guillermo Del Toro will chair the competition jury. See the complete festival lineup below:
Competition
FIRST MAN – dir. Damien Chazelle (opening night film)
ROMA – dir. Alfonso Cuarón
PETERLOO – dir. Mike Leigh
THE SISTERS BROTHERS – dir. Jacques Audiard
22 JULY – dir. Paul Greengrass
SUNSET – dir. László Nemes
SUSPIRIA – dir. Luca Guadagnino
THE FAVOURITE – dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
CLOSE ENEMIES – dir. David Oelhoffen
NON FICTION – dir. Olivier Assayas
THE MOUNTAIN – dir. Rick Alverson
AT ETERNITY’S GATE – dir. Julian Schnabel
THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS – dir. Joel & Ethan Coen
VOX LUX – dir. Brady Corbet
CAPRI – REVOLUTION – dir. Mario Martone
THE NIGHTINGALE – dir. Jennifer Kent
KILLING – dir. Shinya Tsukamoto
WORK WITHOUT AUTHOR – dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
WHAT YOU GONNA DO WHEN THE WORLD’S ON FIRE – dir. Roberto Minervini
WHERE LIFE IS BORN – dir. Carlos Reygadas
ACUSADA – dir. Gonzalo Tobal
Out of competition – Fiction
UNA STORIA SENZA NOME – dir. Roberto Andò
LES ESTIVANTS – dir. Valeria Bruni TEdeschi
A STAR IS BORN – dir. Bradley Cooper
MI OBRA MAESTRA – dir. Gaston Duprat
A TRAMWAY IN JERUSALEM – dir. Amos Gitai
ONE NATION, ONE KING – dir. Pierre Scholler
THE QUIETUDE – dir. Pablo Trapero
SHADOW – dir. Zhang Yimou
DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE – dir. Craig Zahler
Out of competition – Non-Fiction
A LETTER TO A FRIEND IN GAZA – dir. Amos Gitai
AQUARELA – dir. Victor Kossakovsky
EL PEPE, UNA VIDA SUPREMA – dir. Emir Kusturica
PROCESS – dir. Sergei Loznitsa
CARMINE STREET GUITARS – dir. Ron Mann
ISIS, TOMORROW. THE LOST SULS OF MOSUL – dir. Francesca Mannocchi, Alessio Romanzi
AMERICAN DHARMA – dir. Errol Morris
INTRODUZIONE ALL’OSCURO – dir. Gaston Solnicki
1938 DIVERSI – dir. Giorgio Treves
YOUR FACE – dir. Tsai Ming-liang
MONROVIA, INDIANA – dir. Frederick Wiseman
Out of competition – Special Events
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND – dir. Orson Welles
THEY’LL LOVE ME WHEN I’M DEAD – dir. Morgan Neville
MY BRILLIANT FRIEND – dir. Saverio Costanzo
IL DIARIO DI ANGELA – NOI DUE CINEASTI – dir. Yervant Gianikian
Horizons
SULLA MIA PELLE – dir. Alessio Cremonini
MANTA RAY – dir. Phuttiphong Aroonpheng
SONI – dir. Ivan Ayr
THE RIVER – dir. Emir Baigazin
LA NOCHE DE 12 AÑOS – dir. Álvaro Brechner
DESLEMBRO – dir. Flavia Castro
THE ANNOUNCEMENT – dir. Mahmut Fazil Coskun
UN GIORNO ALL’IMPROVVISO – dir. Ciro D’Emilio
CHARLIE SAYS – dir. Mary Harron
AMDANDA – dir. Mikhael Hers
THE DAY I LOST MY SHADOW – dir. Soudade Kaadan
L’ENKAS – dir. Sarah Marx
THE MAN WHO SURPRISED EVERYONE – dir. Natasha Merkulova, Aleksey Chupov
MEMORIES OF MY BODY – dir. Garin Nugroho
AS I LAY DYING – dir. Mostafa Sayyari
LA PROFEZIA DELL’ARMADILLO – dir. Emanuele Scaringi
STRIPPED – dir. Yaron Shani
JINPA – dir. Pema Tseden
TEL AVIV ON FIRE – dir. Sameh Zoabi
Venice Virtual Reality
MAKE NOISE – dir. May Abdalla
THE UNKNOWN PATIENT – dir. Michael Beets
BUDDY VR – dir. Chuck Chae
UMAMI – dir. Landia Egal, Thomas Pons
ECLIPSE – dir. Astruc Jonathan, Favre Aymeric
THE HORRIFICALLY VIRTUAL REALITY – dir. Marie Jourdren
SPHERES: CHORUS OF THE COSMOS – dir. Eliza McNitt
A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES – HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT – dir. Kim-Leigh Pontin
THE ROAMING – dir. Mathieu Pradat
KOBOLD – dir. Max Sacker, Ioulia Isserlis
AWAVENA – dir. Lynette Wallworth
EVEN IN THE RAIN – dir. Lindsay Branham
ANGELŲ TAKAIS – dir. Kristina Buozyte
X-RAY FASHION – dir. Francesco Carrozzini
HALF LIFE VR – SHORT VERSION – dir. Robert Connor
CROW: THE LEGEND – dir. Eric Darnell
AGE OF SAIL – dir. John Kahrs
MIND PALACE – dir. Carl Krause, Dominik Stockhausen
BALLAVITA – dir. Gerda Leopold
BORDERLINE – dir. Assaf Machnes
SHENNONG: TASTE OF ILLUSION – dir. Li Mi, Zheng Wang
THE GREAT C – dir. Steve Miller
L’ÎLE DES MORTS – dir. Benjamin Nuel
HOME AFTER WAR – dir. Gayatri Parameswaran, Felix Gaedtke
MADE THIS WAY: REDEFINING MASCULINITY – dir. Elli Raynai, Irem Harnak
LUCID – dir. Pete Short
WU ZHU ZHI CHENG VR (THE LAST ONE STANDING VR) – dir. Jiwen Wang, Yang Liu
FRESH OUT – dir. Sam Wey, Fangchao Tao
1943: BERLIN BLITZ – dir. David Whelan
ROOMS – dir. Christian Zipfel
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