In his presentation of the programme for the 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival (27 August to 6 September - read the news about the titles selected in the Orizzonti and Venezia Spotlight sections), artistic director Alberto Barbera glossed over the cliché of the union of great masters and new talents and on the numbers regarding geographical origins and gender, but we can confirm that, once again, Venice will offer an exceptional selection representing a large slice of contemporary world cinema (65 countries, with 33% of the directors being women) and that, as usual, it will certainly carry some of its titles to the Oscars.

Opening, as already announced, (read the news), with the new film by Paolo Sorrentino, La grazia, and closing in high tension with the dystopian thriller Chien 51 (read the news) by French filmmaker Cédric Jimenez (the director of BAC Nord [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] and November [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], both selected out of competition in Cannes), the Mostra also casts its aces with the American titles in Competition: from the highly anticipated and already announced Frankenstein by Guillermo Del Toro, (already winner of the Golden Lion, with The Shape of Water in 2017) starring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi and Christoph Waltz, to A House of Dynamite by Kathryn Bigelow, starring Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson, and Jay Kelly by Noah Baumbach, shot in Italy and starring George Clooney as an actor facing an identity crisis, and Adam Sandler, all three being Netflix titles; as well as Father Mother Sister Brother by Jim Jarmusch, his return to Venice after his unique participation so far, out of competition in 2003 with his feature Coffee and Cigarettes, and The Smashing Machine by Benny Safdie.

Out of competition, in the fiction section, the new film by Gus Van Sant, Dead Man’s Wire, and the anticipated In the Hand of Dante by Julian Schnabel, and in the non-fiction category, new works by two winners of the Golden Lion: Cover-Up by Laura Poitras (winner for All the Beauty and the Bloodshed in 2022) and Mark Obenhaus, and Marc by Sofia by Sofia Coppola (winner for Somewhere in 2010). Also in the American camp is Luca Guadagnino’s new film, After the Hunt (out of competition by choice of the filmmaker and production company Amazon, and with Julia Roberts at the Lido for the first time), although it was almost entirely shot in London.

Also highly anticipated in competition is Bugonia, the new film by Venice regular Yorgos Lanthimos (another winner of the Golden Lion, in 2023 for Poor Things [+lire aussi :
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interview : Suzy Bemba
Q&A : Yorgos Lanthimos
fiche film]), who carries on his collaboration with Emma Stone. Hungarian filmmaker László Nemes, who had shocked everyone with his debut Son of Saul [+lire aussi :
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Q&A : László Nemes
interview : László Rajk
fiche film], Grand Prize in Cannes and Oscar-winner, returns with another European co-production, Orphan, about the 1956 insurrection in Prague, for which he abandons his usual one-take sequences. Also from Hungary comes Silent Friend, the new film by Ildikó Enyedi (Golden Bear for On Body and Soul [+lire aussi :
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interview : Ildiko Enyedi
interview : Ildiko Enyedi
interview : Réka Tenki
fiche film]), starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai. There is also a lot of curiosity around the musical The Testament of Ann Lee, by Norwegian director Mona Fastvold, co-writer and producer of last year's Silver Lion for Best Director winner The Brutalist [+lire aussi :
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The French representation in competition is rich and reputable, as always. Standing out are the names of Olivier Assayas (already awarded in Venice for Something in the Air [+lire aussi :
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interview : Olivier Assayas
fiche film]) who adapts the novel by Giuliano da Empoli with The Wizard of the Kremlin, on the unstoppable rise of Vladimir Putin (Jude Law) from the point of view of his imaginary spin doctor (Paul Dano); François Ozon with his brave adaptation of the novel by Albert Camus, L'Étranger; Valérie Donzelli, in Venice for the first time, with À pied d’oeuvre, starring Bastien Bouillon. Particular emotion will arise around The Voice of Hind Rajab, by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, who returns to venice after being in the Orizzonti section with The Man Who Sold His Skin [+lire aussi :
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interview : Kaouther Ben Hania
fiche film], about a little girl trapped in a car in Gaza (with the real voices recorded by the Red Cross).

Besides Sorrentino,the Italian filmmakers in competition are Pietro Marcello,who returns to the competition (after Martin Eden [+lire aussi :
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interview : Pietro Marcello
fiche film]), with Duse, in which Valeria Bruni Tedeschi moves amongst archival material as the “divine” theatre actress Eleonora Duse; Gianfranco Rosi (Golden Lion in 2013 with Sacro GRA [+lire aussi :
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interview : Gianfranco Rosi
fiche film]) returns with a new documentary, Sotto le nuvole, dedicated to Naples; Leonardo di Costanzo with Elisa, on the theme of reparative justice; Un film fatto per Bene by Franco Maresco, an homage to the great actor, director and dramaturge Carmelo Bene.

The selection is rounded off by Chinese titles The Sun Rises on Us All by Cai Shangjun and Girl, first directorial effort by actress Shu Qi.

Out of competition, in the fiction category, we find The Last Viking by Danish filmmaker Anders Thomas Jensen starring Mads Mikkelsen, Sermon to the Void by Azerbaijani director Hilal Haydarov, produced by Carlos Reygadas, the first feature by Virgilio Villoresi Orfeo. 15 documentaries are Out of Competition in the non-fiction section, amongst which we will point out Ghost Elephant by maestro Werner Herzog, to whom the festival will give the Lifetime Golden Lion; the eagerly awaited documentary Nuestra tierra by Lucrecia Martel; Director’s Diary by Alexander Sokurov; and Back Home by Tsai Ming-liang.

Also Out of Competition, amongst the series, are Portobello by Marco Bellocchio; Un Prophète, based on the Jacques Audiard film, whose direction was entrusted to Italian director Enrico Artale; Il mostro by Stefano Sollima; and amongst the short films, new work by the beloved Charlie Kaufman, How to Shoot a Ghost. Finally, as is tradition, many documentaries on cinema feature in the Venezia Classici section, and the films of the Biennale College Cinema.

The films in the sections:

Competition

La grazia - Paolo Sorrentino (opening film)
The Wizard of the Kremlin - Olivier Assayas
Jay Kelly - Noah Baumbach
The Voice of Hind Rajab - Kaouther Ben Hania
A House of Dynamite - Kathryn Bigelow
The Sun Rises on Us All - Cai Shangjun
Frankenstein - Guillermo del Toro
Elisa - Leonardo Di Costanzo
À pied d'oeuvre - Valérie Donzelli
Silent Friend - Ildikó Enyedi
The Testament of Ann Lee - Mona Fastvold
Father Mother Sister Brother - Jim Jarmusch
Bugonia - Yorgos Lanthimos
Duse - Pietro Marcello
Un film fatto per Bene - Franco Maresco
Orphan - László Nemes
L'étranger - François Ozon
No Other Choice - Park Chan-wook
Sotto le nuvole - Gianfranco Rosi
The Smashing Machine - Benny Safdie
Girl - Shu Qi

Out of Competition - Fiction

Sermon to the Void - Hilal Baydarov
L'isola di Andrea - Antonio Capuano
Il maestro - Andrea Di Stefano
After the Hunt - Luca Guadagnino
Scarlet - Mamoru Hosoda
The Last Viking - Anders Thomas Jensen
In the Hand of Dante - Julian Schnabel
La valle dei sorrisi - Paolo Strippoli
Dead Man's Wire - Gus Van Sant
Orfeo - Virgilio Villoresi
Chien 51 - Cédric Jimenez (closing film)

Out of Competition - Non-fiction

Kabul, Between Prayers - Aboozar Amini
Ferdinando Scianna - Il fotografo dell'ombra - Roberto Andò
Marc by Sofia - Sofia Coppola
I diari di Angela - Noi due cineasti. Capitolo terzo - Yervant Gianikian, Angela Ricci Lucchi
Ghost Elephants - Werner Herzog
My Father and Qaddafi - Jihan K
The Tale of Sylian - Tamara Kotevska
Nuestra tierra - Lucrecia Martel
Remake - Ross McElwee
Kim Novak's Vertigo - Alexandre Philippe
Cover-Up - Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus
Broken English - Jane Pollard, Iain Forsyth
Notes of a True Criminal - Alexander Rodnyansky, Andriy Alferov
Director's Diary - Aleksandr Sokurov
Back Home - Tsai Ming-liang

Out of Competition - Film & Music

Nino. 18 giorni - Toni D'Angelo
Piero Pelù. Rumore dentro - Francesco Fei
Newport and the Great Folk Dream - Robert Gordon
Francesco de Gregori Nevergreen - Stefano Pistolini

Out of Competition - Series

Portobello - Marco Bellocchio
Un prophète - Enrico Maria Artale
Etty - Hagai Levi
Il mostro - Stefano Sollima

Out of Competition - Short Films

Origin - Yann Arthus-Bertrand
Boomerang Atomic - Rachid Bouchareb
How to Shoot a Ghost - Charlie Kaufman

Venice Classics

Mata Hari - Joe Beshenkovsky, James A Smith
Elvira Notari: Oltre il silenzio - Valerio Ciriaci
Louis Malle, le révolté - Claire Duguet
Memoria de los olvidados - Javier Espada
Megadoc - Mike Figgis
Boorman and the Devil - David Kittredge
Holofiction - Michal Kosakowski
Sangre del toro - Yves Montmayeur
The Ozu Diaries - Daniel Raim

Biennale College Cinema

Agnus Dei - Massimiliano Camaiti
One Woman One Bra - Vincho Nchogu
Becoming Human - Polen Ly
Secret of a Mountain Serpent - Nidhi Saxena