Fincher, Mann, Coppola, Lanthimos, Polanski, Hamaguchi in packed 80th Venice Film Festival Lineup

One can only imagine the chaos behind the scenes at the Venice Film Festival after the announcement of the SAG-AFTRA strike on July 14 – eleven days before the lineup for its 80^th edition is to be unveiled.

Would Hollywood studios still send their prestige films to Italy for a costly premiere now that the stars can’t be there to promote them? Things didn’t look good when Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers starring Zendaya was unceremoniously retracted as the fest’s opener last week.

Well, it turns out we needn’t have worried. Despite the odds, festival director Alberto Barbera has put together a highly impressive lineup full of A-list names for #Venezia80 that looks something like this:

Competition

Comandante, dir: Edoardo De Angelis – opening film

The Promised Land, dir: Nikolaj Arcel

Dogman, dir: Luc Besson

The Beast, dir: Betrand Bonello

Hors-Saison, dir: Stéphane Brizé

Enea, dir: Pietro Castellitto

Maestro, dir: Bradley Cooper

Priscilla, dir: Sofia Coppola

Finalmente L’Alba, dir: Saverio Costanzo

Lubo, dir: Giorgio Diritti

Origin, dir: Ava DuVernay

The Killer, dir: David Fincher

Memory, dir: Michel Franco

Io Capitano, dir: Matteo Garrone

Evil Does Not Exist, dir: Ryūsuke Hamaguchi

The Green Border, dir: Agniezka Holland

The Theory of Everything, dir: Tim Kroger

Poor Things, dir: Yorgos Lanthimos

El Conde, dir: Pablo Larraín

Ferrari, dir: Michael Mann

Adagio, dir: Stefano Solima

Woman Of, dirs: Malgorzata Szumowska, Michal Englert

Holly, dir: Fien Troch

Out of Competition (Fiction)

Society Of The Snow, dir: J.A. Bayona – closing film

Coup de Chance, dir: Woody Allen

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, dir: Wes Anderson

The Penitent, dir: Luca Barbareschi

L’Ordine Del Tempo, dir: Liliana Cavani

Vivants, dir: Alix Delaporte

Welcome to Paradise, dir: Leonardo di Constanzo

DAAAAAALI!, dir: Quentin Dupieux

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, dir: William Friedkin

Making of, dir: Cédric Kahn

Aggro Dr1ft, dir: Harmony Korine

Hit Man, dir: Richard Linklater

The Palace, dir: Roman Polanski

Snow Leopard, dir: Pema Tseden

Out of Competition (Non-Fiction)

Amor, dir: Virginia Eleuteri Serpieri

Frente A Guernica, dirs: Yervant Gianikian, Angela Ricci Lucchi

Hollywoodgate, dir: Ibrahim Nash’at

Ryuichi Sakamoto — Opus, dir: Neo Sora

Enzo Jannacci Vengo Anch’io, dir: Giorgio Verdelli

Menus Plaisirs, dir: Frederik Wiseman

Out of Competition (Series)

D’argent et de sang, dirs: Xavier Giannoli, Fredéric Planchon

I Know Your Soul, dirs: Alen Drjević and Nermin Hamzagic

Orizzonti

A Cielo Abierto, dirs: Mariana Arriaga, Santiago Arriaga

El Paraiso, dir: Enrico Maria Artale

Behind the Mountains, dir: Mohamed Ben Attia

The Red Suitcase, dir: Fidel Devkota

Tatami, dirs: Guy Nattiv, Zar Amir Ebrahimi

Paradise Is Burning, dir: Mika Gustafson

The Featherweight, dir: Robert Kolodny

Invelle, dir: Simone Massi

Hesitation Wound, dir: Selman Nacar

Heartless, dirs: Nara Normande, Tiao

Una Sterminata Domenica, dir: Alain Perroni

City of Wind, dir: Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir

Explanation for Everything, dir: Gabor Reisz

Gasoline Rainbow, dirs: Bill Ross, Turner Ross

En Attendant la Nuit, dir: Céline Rouzet

Housekeeping for Beginners, dir: Goran Stolevski

Shadow of Fire, dir: Shinya Tsukamoto

Dormitory, dir: Nehir Tuna

Not too bad for an anniversary edition, huh?

Of the 23-strong competition lineup, I’m particularly surprised that they secured the new Fincher, Lanthimos and Mann despite the expected absence of their stars. And how about a brand new Hamaguchi (follow-up to the Oscar-winning Drive My Car) that absolutely no one has heard about?! On a personal level, I’m also super excited to check out Chilean maestro Pablo Larraín’s latest satire El Conde and German director Tim Kroger’s heavily buzzed debut The Theory of Everything.

On the out-of-competition side, Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, Richard Linklater and Harmony Korine (!) all join the party. So be prepared for the avalanche of hot takes and think pieces that will be coming your way in a month’s time.

Last year’s Oscars were steamrolled by EEAAO, but Venice still yielded one Oscar winner (The Whale) and multiple nominees (The Banshees of Inisherin, Tár, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Blonde, Argentina, 1985). Do you see any of the films above finding Academy love after a Venice launch?

The 80^th Venice Film Festival runs Aug. 30 through Sep. 9. The competition jury is chaired by Damien Chazelle.