By Nancy Tartaglione, DEADLINE
The full list of titles set for the 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival has been revealed, and it’s another powerhouse lineup — scroll below to check it out.
The venerable event in 2023 took place under the cloud of the SAG-AFTRA strike, which prevented many stars coming out in support of their movies. With the labor action resolved and this year’s roster now formalized, we can expect a tidal wave of talent to wash over the Lido at the end of next month and into early September.
Many of the films announced this morning by La Biennale President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and Venice Film Festival Artistic Director Alberto Barbera were widely anticipated, including Todd Phillips’ Joaquin Phoenix/Lady Gaga starrer Joker: Folie à Deux. The Warner Bros sequel arguably is the highest-profile movie of the competition bunch, coming five years after Phillips’ Joker won the Golden Lion before going on to 11 Oscar nominations, a Best Actor win for Phoenix and over $1B at the global box office.
Joker 2 marks not only a return for Phillips and Phoenix but also Gaga, who left the Lido breathless in 2018 with her ultimately Oscar-nominated turn in A Star Is Born.
Upping the red carpet glamour also will be Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore in Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door. The Spanish maestro’s English-language feature debut follows his first shorts in English, Strange Way of Life and The Human Voice, which premiered at Cannes and Venice, respectively. Sony Pictures Classics and Warner Bros have key markets, with WB handling Italy.
Venice regular Luca Guadagnino also is back this year, after his Zendaya starrer Challengers was pulled as 2023’s opener amid the strikes. He returns with Queer, based on the William S. Burroughs novel and starring Daniel Craig, Lesley Manville and Jason Schwartzman.
Pablo Larrain continues his string of Venice biopic premieres with Maria, about the legendary opera singer as played by Angelina Jolie, which is running in competition. Nicole Kidman also will be in town for Halina Reijn’s Babygirl from A24 and also starring Antonio Banderas and Jean Reno.
Brady Corbet, whose Childhood of a Leader and Vox Lux both premiered in Venice, will return with The Brutalist, starring Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce. Aussie director Justin Kurzel comes to the Venice competition with crime drama The Order led by Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult and Tye Sheridan.
And celebrated Brazilian director Walter Salles is in competition with I’m Still Here, his first major work in a number of years.
Outside of the competition, and as previously announced, Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will open the festival, with all talent expected including Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Jenna Ortega and Willem Dafoe.
Further playing out of competition are new works from Takeshi Kitano (Broken Rage), Harmony Korine (Baby Invasion) and Claude Lelouch (Finalement). The highest profile pic on that list is Jon Watts’ Wolfs from Apple and starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt. Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures will be distributing globally.
In the documentary out of competition strand, Errol Morris returns with Separated, while Asif Kapadia will turn up with 2073, a look at some of the greatest challenges threatening our future.
Meanwhile, there is a quartet of exciting out of competition series set to screen, including Alfonso Cuarón’s psychological thriller Disclaimer from Apple TV+ and headed by Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline and Sacha Baron Cohen; Atonement and Darkest Hour helmer Joe Wright’s M: Son of the Century; and Another Round Oscar winner Thomas Vinterberg’s Families Like Ours.
Peter Weir and Sigourney Weaver have been tapped to receive Lifetime Achievement awards, and Isabelle Huppert is jury president this year. The festival runs from August 28-September 7.
Here is the lineup for the 81st Venice Film Festival:
VENEZIA 81 COMPETITION
The Room Next Door, dir: Pedro Almodovar
Campo 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
Vermiglio, dir: Maura Delpero
Sicilian Letters, dirs: Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza
Queer, dir: Luca Guadagnino
Love, dir: Dag Johan Haugerud
April, dir: Dea Kulumbegashvili
The Order, dir: Justin Kurzel
Maria, dir: Pablo Larrain
Trois Amies, dir: Emmanuel Mouret
Kill the Jockey, dir: Luis Ortega
Joker: Folie à Deux, dir: Todd Phillips
Babygirl, dir: Halina Reijn
I’m Still Here, dir: Walter Salles
Diva Futura, dir: Giulia Louise Steigerwalt
Harvest, dir: Athina Rachel Tsangari
Youth – Homecoming, dir: Wang Bing
Stranger Eyes, dir: Yeo Siew Hua
Special Screenings
Leopardi. Il Poeta Dell’Infinito, dir: Sergio Rubini
Master 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
The 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
September 5, dir: Tim Fehlbaum
Vittoria, dirs: Alessandro Cassigoli, Casey Kauffman
Le Mohican, dir: Frederic Farrucci
Seeking Haven for Mr Rambo, dir: Khaled Mansour
La Storia del Frank e della Nina, dir: Paola Randi
The Witness, dir: Nader Saeivar
After Party, dir: Vojtech Strakaty
King Ivory, dir: John Swab
Edge of Night, dir: Turker Suer
HORIZONS
Nonostante, dir: Valerio Mastandrea
Quiet Life, dir: Alexandros Avranas
Mon Inséparable, dir: Anne-Sophie Bailly
Aïcha, dir: Mehdi Barsaoui
Happy Holidays, dir: Scandar Copti
Familia, dir: Francesco Costabile
One 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
Wishing 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
Of Dogs and Men, dir: Dani Rosenberg
Pavements, dir: Alex Ross Perry
Happyend, dir: Neo Sora
L’Attachement, dir: Carine Tardieu
Diciannove, dir: Giovanni Tortorici
VENICE CLASSICS
Documentaries About Cinema
Miyazaki, L’Esprit de la Nature
I will Revenge this World with Love S Paradjanov
Le Cinéma de Jean-Pierre Léaud
From Darkness to Light
Carlo Mazzacurati – Una Certa Idea di Cinema
Chain Reactions
Maroun Returns to Beirut
Volonté – L’Uomo dai Mille Volti
Constelacion Portabella
