The line-up of the forthcoming 77th edition of the Venice Film Festival was announced this morning, six weeks ahead of its planned opening. My reaction to what was announced? A fairly, understandably, underwhelming line-up, on-paper at least, with nary any big-name directors, but, hey, it’s nevertheless being celebrated by wokesters due to the 8 female filmmakers making the main competition (a record for the fest). Women filmmakers constitute 44% of this year’s lineup. Hooray.
A few noteworthy films, both in and out of competition, include Chloé Zhao’s third film “Nomadland,” Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s “Wife of a Spy,” Gia Coppola’s “Mainstream,” Alex Gibney’s “Crazy, Not Insane” Quentin Dupieux’s “Mandibules” Roger Michell’s “The Duke” and Frederick Wiseman’s “City Hall,”
Cate Blanchett will head up the 2020 jury, which includes director Joanna Hogg, Christian Petzold, Cristi Puiu, and actress Ludivine Sagnier. They will have to judge a peculiar line-up, one filled with the excitement of discovery, but one can’t help but see this 2020 edition as a major downer.
The no-shows at Cannes and Venice this year are most likely aiming for a Cannes 2021 slot and those filmmakers include Verhoeven, Weerasethakul, Carax, Lapid, Coppola, Hansen-Love, Dumont, Moretti, Hogg, Ducournau, Serebrennikov, and Brize.
You can read the full Venice 2020 line-up below:
Competition
In Between Dying – Hilal Baydarov
Le Sorelle Macaluso –Emma Dante
The World To Come – Mona Fastvold
Nuevo Orden – Michel Franco
Lovers – Nicole Garcia
Laila in Haifa – Amos Gitai
Dear Comrades – Andrei Konchalovsky
Wife Of A Spy – Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Sun Children – Majid Majidi
Pieces Of A Woman – Kornel Mundruczo
Miss Marx – Susanna Nicchiarelli
Padrenostro – Claudio Noce
Notturno – Gianfranco Rosi
Never Gonna Snow Again – Malgorzata Szumowska, Michal Englert
The Disciple – Chaitanya Tamhane
And Tomorrow The Entire World – Julia Von Heinz
Quo Vadis, Aida? – Jasmila Zbanic
Nomadland – Chloé Zhao
Horizons
Apples – Christos Nikou
La Troisième Guerre – Giovanni Aloi
Milestone – Ivan Ayr
The Wasteland – Ahmad Bahrami
The Man Who Sold His Skin – Kaouther Ben Hania
I Predatori – Pietro Castellitto
Mainstream – Gia Coppola
Genus Pan – Lav Diaz
Zanka Contact – Ismael El Iraki
Guerra E Pace – Martina Parenti, Massimo D’Anolfi
La Nuit Des Rois – Philippe Lacôte
The Furnace – Roderick Mackay
Careless Crime – Shahram Mokri
Gaza Mon Amour –Tarzan Nasser, Arab Nasser
Selva Tragica – Yulene Olaizola
Nowhere Special, – Uberto Pasolini
Listen – Ana Rocha de Sousa
The Best Is Yet To Come – Wang Jing
Yellow Cat – Adilkhan Yerzhanov
Out of Competiton – Special Screenings
30 Monedas, Episode 1 – Alex de la Iglesia
Princesse Europe – Camille Lotteau
Omelia Contadina – Alice Rohrwacher, JR
Out Of Competition – Narrative
Lacci – Daniele Lucheti
Lasciami Andare – Stefano Mordini
Mandibules, dir: Quentin Dupieux
Love After Love – Ann Hui
Assandira – Salvatore Mereu
The Duke – Roger Michell
Night In Paradise – Park Soon-jung
Mosquito State – Filip Jan Rymsza
Out Of Competition – Documentary
Sportin’ Life – Abel Ferrara
Crazy, Not Insane – Alex Gibney
Greta – Nathan Grossman
Salvatore, Shoemaker Of Dreams – Luca Guadagnino
Final Account – Luke Holland
La Verita Su La Dolce Vita – Giuseppe Pedersoli
Molecole – Andrea Segre
Narciso Em Ferias – Renato Terra, Ricardo Calil
Paulo Conte, Via Con Me – Giorgio Verdelli
Hopper/Welles – Orson Welles
The film grossed only $205M against a $150M budget, losing Paramount a significant amount of money. It did, however, gain a decent following on streaming, but the financial risk for a sequel is ever-present.