The 75th anniversary edition of the Venice Film Festival (29 August – 8 September) will have a stronger English-language emphasis than in past years. Organisers of the festival revealed last week than more than a third of this year’s features come from the US or UK.
Fifteen US films, including Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited and George Clooney starrer Michael Clayton and seven British titles are among the 57 features screening at the festival.
“The films we selected are very innovative works with casts of really big stars, and we continue to look for surprising and innovative films, wherever they come from,” said artistic director Marco Mueller’s.
The festival’s opening night film is Atonement, from Joe Wright and starring Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, and Vanessa Redgrave. The film is also in competition.
Among the 21 competition titles named thus far are films from Egypt, France, Canada, and Russia. Mueller said that, of the 57 full-length films in and out of competition, 51 are world premieres.
One as-yet-unnamed film will screen at midnight and another will screen in competition, raising the total number of films eligible for the prestigious Golden Lion Award to 22. Last year, there was one surprise film, Jia Zhangke’s Still Life whichm screened at midnight as a competition entry and went on to win the Golden Lion.
Jurors selecting the winning film include Mexico’s Alejandro Gonzalez, Catherine Breillat of France, Italy’s Emanuele Crialese and Paul Verhoeven of the Netherlands.
Oscar winning director Bernardo Bertolucci will receive the 75th anniversary Golden Lion Award and be the subject of a two-film retrospective. Tim Burton also will receive a career Golden Lion.
64th Venice Film Festival lineup:
Opening film: “Atonement,” Joe Wright, (U.K.-U.S.)
In Competition
“The Darjeeling Limited,” Wes Anderson (U.S.)
“Sleuth,” Kenneth Branagh (U.K.-U.S.)
“Le Chaos,” Youssef Chahine (Egypt)
“Redacted,” Brian De Palma (U.S.)
“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” Andrew Dominik (U.S.)
“Nessuna qualita agli eroi,” Paolo Franchi (Italy)
“Michael Clayton,” Tony Gilroy (U.S.)
“Nightwatching,” Peter Greenaway (Canada-France-Germany-Poland-Netherlands-U.K.)
“En la cuidad de Sylvia,” Pilae Lopez De Ayala, Xavier Lafitte (Spain)
“In the Valley of Elah,” Paul Haggis (U.S.)
“I’m Not There,” Todd Haynes (U.S)
“The Sun Also Rises,” Jiang Wen (China-Hong Kong)
“Help Me Eros,” Lee Kang Sheng (Taiwan)
“La Graine et le mullet,” Abdellatif Kechiche (France)
“Lust, Caution,” Ang Lee (Taiwan)
“It’s a Free World,” Ken Loach (U.K.-Italy-Germany-Spain)
“L’ora di punta,” Vincenzo Marra (Italy)
“Sukiyaki Western Django,” Takashi Miike (Japan)
“12,” Nikita Mikhalkov (Russia)
“Il dolce e l’amaro,” Andrea Porporati (Italy)
“Les Amours d’Astree et de Celadon,” Eric Rohmer (France-Italy-Spain)
Out Of Competition
“Cassandra’s Dream,” Woody Allen (U.K.-U.S)
“Cleopatra,” Julio Bressane (Brazil)
“La Fille coupee en deux,” Claude Chabrol (France)
“Beyond the Years,” Im Kwopn Taek (South Korea)
“Glory to the Filmmaker,” Takeshi Kitano (Japan)
“Cristovao Colombo — O enigma,” (Portugal-France)
Venetian Nights
“For a Fistful of Dollars,” Sergio Leone (Italy-Spain-Germany)
“Blood Brothers,” Alexi Tan (Taiwan-China-Hong Kong)
“REC,” Paco Blaza and Jaume Balaguero (Spain)
“Far North,” Asif Kapadia (U.K.-France)
“The Hunting Party,” Richard Shepard (U.S.-Croatia-Bosnia)
“The Nanny Diaries,” Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini (U.S.)
“Nocturna,” Adria Garcia, Victor Maldonado (Spain, France)
Horizons
“Sad Vacation,” Shinji Aoyama (Japan)
“Mal nascida,” Joao Canijo (Portugal)
“Searchers 2.0,” Alex Cox (U.K.)
“Medee Miracle,” Tonino De Bernardi (Italy)
“Cochochi,” Laura Amelia Guzman, Israel Cardenas (Mexico-U.K.-Canada)
“With the Girl of Black Soil,” Jeon Soo-il (South Korea-France)
“L’Histoire de Richard O,” Damien Odoul (France)
“Autumn Ball,” Veiko Ounpuu (Estonia)
“The Silence Before Bach,” Pere Portabella (Spain)
“Exodus,” Penny Woolcock (U.K.)
“The Obscure,” Lu Yue (China)
