The line-up for the 81st Venice International Film Festival has been unveiled - and it’s a starry affair that’s looking mighty promising. Amongst standouts are the Joker sequel starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, and more female filmmakers in competition than previous years...
ADVERTISEMENTThe Venice Film Festival’s artistic director Alberto Barbera has unveiled the line-up for the official competition of this year’s 81st festival, and it’s a starry affair that should make up for the lack of red carpet A-lister moments last year due to the Hollywood writers and actors’ strike.
The festival has steadily gained the reputation for being an awards season launchpad, and the line-up this year confirms this, with the likes of Pablo Larraín, Pedro Almodóvar, Justin Kurzel and Luca Guadagnino.
Scroll down for the full line-up.
Some of the hottest tickets will be Todd Phillips’ return to the Lido with Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel to the 2019 Golden Lion-winning film Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga; Pedro Almodovar’s English-language debut The Room Next Door, with Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore; the return of Luca Guadagnino with Queer, based on the 1985 novel of the same name by William S. Burroughs and starring Daniel Craig; and Pablo Larraín’s Maria Callas biopic Maria, starring Angelina Jolie.
Larraín’s previous two tragic female biopics - Spencer starring Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana and Jackie with Natalie Portman as Kennedy Onassis - also both launched from the Lido.
There’s also Brady Corbet drama The Brutalist, which chronicles 30 years in the life of László Tóth, a Hungarian-born Jew who survived Auchwitz, played by Adrien Brody. The drama also stars Guy Pierce, Felicity Jones, Joe Alwyn, Alessandro Nivola, and Stacy Martin.
Elsewhere, preliminary highlights include Australian director Justin Kurzel’s The Order, starring Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult in a tale about the FBI investigation in the 1980s of titular white supremacist organization, and the return of filmmaker Walter Salles with I’m Still Here, the Brazilian director's first feature in more than a decade.
Other starry vehicles include Wolfs by John Watts, with George Clooney and Brad Pitt (screening out of competition), and the previously announced opening film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Tim Burton’s sequel to the 1988 cult film (also screening out of competition). The supernatural comedy stars Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, Catherine O’Hara, Monica Bellucci and Willem Dafoe - all of whom will be making the trip for the premiere.
The competition features a total of three French films, with Leurs Enfants Après Eux, a coming-of-age story by directing duo Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma, based on the Prix Goncourt-winning novel by Nicolas Mathieu; Jouer Avec Le Feu (The Quiet Son), starring Vincent Lindon as a father having to deal with one of his sons flirting with right-wing extremism; and Trois Amies, Emmanuel Mouret’s story of three women and their intertwining love affairs.
France will also be represented by legendary director Claude Lelouch, who will be in Venice with his out of competition entry Finalement, an ensemble comedy with Kad Merad, Elsa Zylberstein, Sandrine Bonnaire and Barbara Pravi.
The line-up seems quite sexually charged, not only with the aforementioned Trois Amies, but also with the presence of the erotic thriller Babygirl, with Nicole Kidman embarking on a sadomasochistic relationship with a younger man; and the apparently “extremely explicit” (according to Barbera) Love, which is part of an unofficial trilogy of films by Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud, which explores sexual behaviours that constrast with social expectations and norms.
It’s worth noting that out of the 21 films in competition, six are directed by female filmmakers, nearly twice as many as previous Venice competition line-ups. They are the previously mentioned Jouer Avec Le Feu, by sibling directing duo Delphine and Muriel Coulin; Maura Delpero’s Vermiglio; Halima Reijn’s Babygirl; Athina Rachel Tsangari’s period drama Harvest; Giulia Louise Steigerwalt’s Diva Futura; and April, by award-winning Georgian director Dea Kulumbegashvili, a drama about a female obstetrician who performs clandestine abortions in a rural part of Georgia.
Additionally, TV series by acclaimed directors such as Alfonso Cuarón with Disclaimer, starring Cate Blanchett; Thomas Vinterberg with Families Like Ours, a dystopian sci-fi series about climate change and Denmark being submerged by water; and Joe Wright with M. Il Figlio Del Secolo, will also be premiering on the Lido this year.
Finally, spare a thought for critics this year, as there’s the inclusion of Harmony Korine’s new film, Baby Invasion, premiering out of competition. Following AGGRO DR1FT, which launched in Venice last year - and has the distinction of being our worst film of the year (so far) - Korine’s latest is an 80-minute home invasion thriller about a group of mercenaries who use baby faces as avatars to conceal their identity. The film apparently promises to “continue challenging the limitations of audio-visual language” and is, according to Barbera, “equally disturbing” as AGGRO DR1FT. We'll reserve judgement to see whether it's another empty provocation...
On a lighter and far cheerier note, Peter Weir and Sigourney Weaver have been tapped to receive Lifetime Achievement awards, and Isabelle Huppert is jury president this year. The jury also comprises James Gray, Andrew Haigh, Agnieszka Holland, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Abderrahmane Sissako, Giuseppe Tornatore, Julia von Heinz and Zhang Ziyi.
ADVERTISEMENTThe Venice Film Festival runs from 28 August – 7 September.
Here is the full line-up:
VENEZIA 81 COMPETITION
The Room Next Door, dir: Pedro Almodovar
ADVERTISEMENTCampo 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
ADVERTISEMENTVermiglio, dir: Maura Delpero
Sicilian Letters, dirs: Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza
Queer, dir: Luca Guadagnino
Love, dir: Dag Johan Haugerud
ADVERTISEMENTApril, dir: Dea Kulumbegashvili
The Order, dir: Justin Kurzel
Maria, dir: Pablo Larrain
Trois Amies, dir: Emmanuel Mouret
ADVERTISEMENTKill the Jockey, dir: Luis Ortega
Joker: Folie à Deux, dir: Todd Phillips
Babygirl, dir: Halina Reijn
I’m Still Here, dir: Walter Salles
ADVERTISEMENTDiva Futura, dir: Giulia Louise Steigerwalt
Harvest, dir: Athina Rachel Tsangari
Youth – Homecoming, dir: Wang Bing
Stranger Eyes, dir: Yeo Siew Hua
ADVERTISEMENTOUT OF COMPETITION
Fiction
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, dir: Tim Burton (Opening film)
L’Orto Americano, dir: Pupi Avati (Closing film)
ADVERTISEMENTIl Tempo che ci Vuole, dir: Francesca Comencini
Phantosmia, dir: Lav Diaz
Maldoror, dir: Fabrice du Welz
Broken Rage, Takeshi Kitano
ADVERTISEMENTBaby Invasion, dir: Harmony Korine
Cloud, dir: Kurosawa Kiyoshi
Finalement, dir: Claude Lelouch
Wolfs, dir: Jon Watts
ADVERTISEMENTSe Posso Permettermi Capitolo II, dir: Marco Bellocchio
Allégorie Citadine, dirs: Alice Rohrwacher, JR
Non-Fiction
Why War, dir: Amos Gitai
ADVERTISEMENT2073, 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
ADVERTISEMENTSeparated, 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
ADVERTISEMENTSongs of Slow Burning Earth, dir: Olha Zhurba
Riefenstahl, dir: Andres Veiel
Special Screenings
Leopardi. Il Poeta Dell’Infinito, dir: Sergio Rubini
ADVERTISEMENTMaster 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
ADVERTISEMENTThe 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
ADVERTISEMENTSeptember 5, dir: Tim Fehlbaum
Vittoria, dirs: Alessandro Cassigoli, Casey Kauffman
Le Mohican, dir: Frederic Farrucci
Seeking Haven for Mr Rambo, dir: Khaled Mansour
ADVERTISEMENTLa Storia del Frank e della Nina, dir: Paola Randi
The Witness, dir: Nader Saeivar
After Party, dir: Vojtech Strakaty
King Ivory, dir: John Swab
ADVERTISEMENTEdge of Night, dir: Turker Suer
HORIZONS
Nonostante, dir: Valerio Mastandrea
Quiet Life, dir: Alexandros Avranas
ADVERTISEMENTMon Inséparable, dir: Anne-Sophie Bailly
Aïcha, dir: Mehdi Barsaoui
Happy Holidays, dir: Scandar Copti
Familia, dir: Francesco Costabile
ADVERTISEMENTOne 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
ADVERTISEMENTWishing 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
ADVERTISEMENTOf Dogs and Men, dir: Dani Rosenberg
Pavements, dir: Alex Ross Perry
Happyend, dir: Neo Sora
L’Attachement, dir: Carine Tardieu
ADVERTISEMENTDiciannove, dir: Giovanni Tortorici
