This year’s line-up for the 68th Venice Film Festival, taking place between 31st August and 10th September, has been announced by the festival’s official website, and as expected, it’s more than a little bit fantastic, with a brilliant line-up of films set to screen in Italy.
Heading the jury this year will be director Darren Aronofsky, the BBC reported back in April, who won the festival’s top prize, the Golden Lion, back in 2008 for The Wrestler.
The list, as you can imagine, is a bit of a long one, so I’ve highlighted some of the hottest tipped to look out for beneath. Playing in competition will be:
- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, directed by Tomas Alfredson
- Wuthering Heights, directed by Andrea Arnold
- Texas Killing Fields, directed by Ami Canaan Mann
- The Ides of March, directed by George Clooney
- Quando La Notte, directed by Cristina Comencini
- Terraferma, directed by Emanuele Crialese
- A Dangerous Method, directed by David Cronenberg
- 4:44 Last Day On Earth, directed by Abel Ferrara
- Killer Joe, directed by William Friedkin
- Un Été Brulant, directed by Philippe Garrel
- Taojie (A Simple Life), directed by Ann Hui
- Hahithalfut (The Exchange), directed by Eran Kolirin
- Alpeis (Alps), directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
- Shame, directed by Steve McQueen (not that Steve McQueen)
- L’ultimo Terrestre, directed by Gian Alfonso Pacinotti (Gipi)
- Carnage, directed by Roman Polanski
- Poulet Aux Prunes, directed by Marjane Starapi and Vincent Paronnaud
- Faust, directed by Aleksander Sokurov
- Dark Horse, directed by Todd Solondz
- Himizu, directed by Sion Sono
- Seediq Bale, directed by Te-Sheng Wei
And screening out of competition will be:
- The End, a collective Syrian film from Abounaddara Films.
- Vanguards, a collective Syrian film from Abounaddara Films.
- La Folie Almayer, directed by Chantal Akerman
- Nel Nome Del Padre, directed by Marco Bellocchio (Bellocchio receives a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement)
- Evolution (Megaplex) [3D], directed by Marco Barmbilla
- Baish Echuanshuo (The Sorcerer and the Snake), directed by Tony Siu-Tung Ching
- Giochi D’estate, directed by Rolando Colla
- Tahrir 2011, directed by Tamer Ezzat, Ahmad Abdalla, Ayten Amin, and Amr Salama
- La Désintégration, directed by Philippe Faucon
- The Moth Diaries, directed by Mary Harron
- Mildred Pierce, directed by Todd Haynes (Tribute to Todd Haynes)
- Duvidha, directed by Mani Kaul (25.12.1944-06.07.2011)
- Vivan Las Antipodas!, directed by Victor Kossakovsky
- Alois Nebel, directed by Tomás Lunák
- W.E., directed by Madonna
- Eva, directed by Kike Maillo
- Marco Bellocchio, Venezia 2011, directed by Pietro Marcello
- La Meditazione Di Hayez, directed by Mario Martone
- Scossa, directed by Francesco Maselli, Carlo Lizzani, Ugo Gregoretti, Nino Russo
- La Clé Des Champs, directed by Claude Nuridsany
- Il Villaggio Di Cartone, directed by Ermanno Olmi
- Wilde Salome, directed by Al Pacino
- Questa Storia Qua, directed by Alessandro Paris and Sibylle Righetti
- We Can’t Go Home Again (New Reconstructed and Restored Version) , directed by Nicholas Ray (1911-2011)
- Don’t Expect Too Much (Nicholas Ray 1911-2011) , directed by Susan Ray
- India, Matri Bhumi (New Restored Version) , directed by Roberto Rossellini
- Tormented, directed by Takashi Shimizu
- Contagion, directed by Steven Soderbergh
- Damsels In Distress, directed by Whit Stillman
- Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel, directed by Lisa Immordino Vreeland
- Joule [3D] (Persol 3-D Award 2011) , directed by David Zamagni and Nadia Ranocchi
- Spell. The Hypnotist Dog [3D] (Persol 3-D Award 2011) , directed by David Zamagni and Nadia Ranocchi
- Suite [3D] (Persol 3-D Award 2011) , directed by David Zamagni and Nadia Ranocchi
If you’re going to Venice this year, you can be sure to count me as one of the undoubtedly many people immensely jealous of you. Some obvious highlights certainly jump off the page, looking down the list.
Roman Polanski’s next directorial effort, Carnage, which stars Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, Jodie Foster, and John C. Reilly.
Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion, with its exceptional cast of Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bryan Cranston, Marion Cotillard, Laurence Fishburne, and Winslet again. The film’s first trailer came out earlier in the month (which you can see here), and it definitely looks to be an interesting one to watch out for, with a 21st October UK release date.
David Cronenberg’s next film, A Dangerous Method, looks at the beginnings of psychoanalysis with Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, and will star Michael Fassbender and Viggo Mortensen as the respective men, supported by Keira Knightley and Vincent Cassel.
James Franco’s next film, Sal, will also be playing, but in the ‘Orizzonti’ section, which Franco has directed, co-written and will be starring in, along with Madonna’s second feature, W.E., which she has also directed and co-written, starring Abbie Cornish and Natalie Dormer.
Tomas Alfredson’s highly anticipated film, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, will also be premiering at Venice, starring Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, and John Hurt, before it comes out here on 16th September.
And as Variety reported last month, George Clooney’s The Ides of March, which is also very much highly anticipated, will be opening the festival. The film is directed and co-written by Clooney, and stars the man himself, Ryan Gosling, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Paul Giamatti, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Some great new images and a fantastic poster have just been released for the film, and those of us not lucky enough to be jetting off to Venice at the end of next month will have to wait until 28th October to see it on the big screen.
All in all, it’s an absolutely brilliant line-up, full of great films that are shaping up to be very well received at the festival. It’s of course early days to start talking about the Oscars, but you always wonder when you look at festival line-ups which of them could be Academy Award contenders, and there are certainly a few here that look like they’ll be in with a chance early next year.
