The Venice Film Festival has announced the selections for its 76th edition, which is set to take place from August 29 to September 7. This comes after TIFF’s revealing of the lineup this past Tuesday.
Notable surprises for this year’s edition of Venice:
Todd Phillips “Joker” will actually play in competition. Unheard of for a Hollywood genre movie. The trailer makes it look legitimate. Phoenix is one of our great actors. It has to be more-than-decent …
No “Mektoub: Extended Cut.” There were rumors Mektoub would make it into the Lido lineup in the form of an ‘extended cut,” alas, Venice head Alberto Barbera must have pulled the plug on that stunt.
According to Venice insider Cedric Succivalli , Olivier Assayas’ “Wasp Network” made it in the very last second. So we can likely expect this movie starring Penelope Cruz to make the full rounds of Toronto, Telluride and New York as well.
Ciro Guerra’s “Waiting for the Barbarians” will play in competition at Venice. Fantastic news. Guerra is the director of Cannes hit “Birds of Passage,” ‘Barbarians’ stars Johnny Depp and Robert Pattinson. Maybe Toronto and Telluride don’t want to touch this movie because of Depp’s presence?
No Fernando Mereilles. The director’s “The Two Popes” was announced by TIFF but not by Venice. Telluride seems to be happening for the Anthony Hopkins-Johnathan Pryce starring Vatican-set movie.
No Kelly Reichardt. Will she or won’t she? That was the question I and many others kept asking ourselves about Reichardt’s “First Cow,” which I’ve always said would be better suited for a Sundance 2020 premiere. Reichardt has a tendency of taking her sweet-ass time in post-production editing, maybe that is just the case when it comes to her latest film’s total absence from both Toronto and Venice.
It does seem like TIFF screwed up their premiere status for “Ford v. Ferrari,” “Judy” and “The Two Popes.” That’s three major players it insinuated were at Venice …
Back to Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story,” which is going to be making Telluride, Toronto, and Venice. It’s the big title this fall season. There is no doubt about that . The last few films to have made all three festivals (Venice, Telluride and Toronto).
2018 - Roma
2017 - The Shape of Water, Downsizing, First Reformed
2016 - La La Land, Arrival
2015 - Spotlight, Beasts of No Nation, Black Mass, Anomalisa
Notable films which are playing Venice but haven’t been announced yet by Toronto:
“About Endlessness,” “Wasp Network,” “Ad Astra,” “Waiting for the Barbarians,” “An Officer and A Spy,” “Seberg” and “The King.”
As previously announced, Venice 2019 will open with the world premiere of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s new film “The Truth” — a family drama starring Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve, and Ethan Hawke.
Opening Film
“The Truth,” Hirokazu Kore-eda (in competition)
Closing Film
“The Burnt Orange Heresy,” Giuseppe Capotondi (out of competition)
Competition
“The Perfect Candidate,” Haifaa Al-Mansour
“About Endlessness,” Roy Andersson
“Wasp Network,” Olivier Assayas
“Marriage Story,” Noah Baumbach
“Guest of Honor, Atom Egoyan
“Ad Astra,” James Gray
“A Herdade,” Tiago Guedes
“Gloria Mundi,” Robert Guediguian
“Waiting for the Barbarians,” Ciro Guerra
“Ema,” Pablo Larrain
“Saturday Fiction,” Lou Ye
“Martin Eden,” Pietro Marcello
“The Mafia Is No Longer What It Used to Be,” Franco Maresco
“The Painted Bird,” Vaclav Marhoul
“The Mayor of the Rione Sanità,” Mario Martone
“Babyteeth,” Shannon Murphy
“Joker,” Todd Phillips
“An Officer and a Spy,” Roman Polanski
“The Laundromat,” Steven Soderbergh
“No. 7 Cherry Lane,” Yonfan
Special Event
“Goodbye, Dragon Inn,” Tsai Ming-Liang
Out of Competition – Fiction
“Seberg,” Benedict Andrews
“Vivere,” Francesca Archibugi
“Mosul,” Matthew Michael Carnahan
“Adults in the Room,” Costa-Gavras
“The King,” David Michod
“Tutto Il Mio Folle Amore,” Gabriele Salvatores
Out of Competition – Non Fiction
“Woman,” Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Anastasia Mikova
“Roger Waters Us + Them,” Sean Evans, Roger Waters
“I Diari Di Angela – Noi Due Cineasti. Capitolo Secondo,” Yervant Gianikian
“Citizen K,” Alex Gibney
“Citizen Rosi,” Didi Gnocchi, Carolina Rosi
“The Kingmaker,” Lauren Greenfield
“State Funeral,” Sergei Loznitsa
“Collective,” Alexander Nanau
“45 Seconds of Laughter,” Tim Robbins
Out of Competition – Special Screenings
“No One left Behind,” Guillermo Arriaga
“Il Pianeta in Mare,” Andrea Segre
“Electric Swan,” Konstantina Kotzamani
“Irreversible,” Gaspar Noe”
“Zerozerozero,” Stefano Sollima
“The New Pope,” Paolo Sorrentino
“Never Just a Dream: Stanley Kubrick and Eyes Wide Shut,” Matt Wells
“Eyes Wide Shut,” Stanley Kubrick
The DGA and IATSE are two of the most powerful showbiz unions, and If this merger does go through, they will have absolutely played a role in helping make it happen.