73rd Venice International Film Festival Lineup

The complete line-up of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival was announced during the press conference that took place on Thursday, July 28th in Rome. The 73rd Venice International Film Festival will take place on the Lido from August 31st to September 10th, directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by the Biennale di Venezia chaired by Paolo Baratta.

Believe must of us were expecting a very strong lineup this year as already knew the films that didn't make it to the other two main competitive festivals and yes, there is no disappointment, the lineup is massive, strong and many "gods" of cinema will grace Venice with their latest oeuvres. Bravo!!!

Still there are some surprises, besides those already mentioned in previous posts, like for example, Isabelle Huppert in a short film in the Orizzonti section, Keaunu Reeves, Diego Luna and Jim Carrey in the same movie (?!) and film is about cannibals (!!!), or the ones definitively not positive like for example, where latest films by Kim Ki-Duk or Katell Quillévéré ended (sigh).

But the best news, the one no one will take away from me is my glorious joy of being able to see Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander walking the red carpet (lol). On other news, both Amy Adams as Natalie Portman are in two movies, Amy in two in competition and Natalie one in competition and one out of competition.

According to the press release there are 55 new feature films in the Official Selection divided as follows: 19 in Venezia73 Competition, 17 in Out of Competition (7 of which are documentaries) and 19 in Orizzonti. There are 16 new short films, 16 in Orizzonti (14 in competition and 2 out of competition). In Venice Classics there are 20 feature films, 1 restored short film and 10 documentaries about cinema. Most interesting is to find that organizers viewed 2,901 films of which 1,468 are feature films and 1,433 short films.

Venezia 73
International competition of feature films, presented as world premieres

Opening Film: La La Land, Damien Chazelle, USA
Ang Babaeng Humayo (The Woman Who Left), Lav Diaz, Philippines
Arrival, Denis Villeneuve, USA
Brimstone, Martin Koolhoven, Netherlands, Germany, France, UK and Sweden
El Ciudadano Ilustre, Mariano Cohn and Gastòn Duprat, Argentina and Spain
(*) El Cristo Ciego, Christopher Murray, Chile and France
Frantz, François Ozon, France and Germany
Jackie, Pablo Larraín, USA and Chile
La Región Salvaje (The Untamed), Amat Escalante, Mexico, Denmark, France, Germany and Norway
Les Beaux Jours d'Aranjuez (The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez), Wim Wenders, France and Germany
Na mliječnom putu (On the Milky Road), Emir Kusturica, Serbia, UK and USA
Nocturnal Animals, Tom Ford, USA
Piuma, Roan Johnson, Italy
Questi Giorni, Giuseppe Piccioni, Italy
Spira Mirabilis, Massimo D'Anolfi and Martina Parenti, Italy and Switzerland (documentary)
Рай Rai (Paradise), Andrei Konchalovsky, Russia and Germany
The Bad Batch, Ana Lily Amirpour, USA
The Light Between Oceans, Derek Cianfrance, USA, Australia and New Zealand
Une vie (A Woman's Life), Stéphane Brizé, France and Belgium
Voyage of Time, Terrence Malick, USA and Germany (documentary)

Venezia 73 Jury
President: Sam Mendes, director, UK
Nina Hoss, actress, Germany
Chiara Mastroianni, actress, France
Joshua Oppenheimer, director, USA
Lorenzo Vigas, director, Venezuela
Zhao Wei, actress, China
Laurie Anderson, artist, singer, director and writer, USA
Giancarlo De Cataldo, magistrate, writer, playwright and screenwriter, Italy

Out of Competition
Important works by directors already established in previous editions of the Festival

Closing Film: The Magnificent Seven, Antoine Fuqua, USA
A Jamais (Never Ever), Benoît Jacquot, France and Portugal
American Anarchist, Charlie Siskel, USA
Assalto al Cielo, Francesco Munzi, Italy (documentary)
Austerlitz, Sergei Loznitsa, Germany (documentary)
Gantz:O, Yasuhi Kawamura, Japan (animation)
Hacksaw Ridge, Mel Gibson, USA and Australia
I Called Him Morgan, Kasper Collin, Sweden and USA (documentary)
L'uomo che non cambiò la storia (The Man Who Didn't Change History), Enrico Caria, Italy (documentary)
밀정 Miljeong (The Age of Shadows), Kim Jee Woon, South Korea
Monte (The Mountain), Ammir Naderi, Italy, USA and France
One More Time with Feeling, Andrew Dominik, UK
Our War, Bruno Chiaravalloti, Claudio Jampaglia, and Benedetta Argentieri, Italy and USA (documentary)
Planetarium, Rebecca Zlotowski, France and Belgium
Safari, Ulrich Seidl, Austria and Denmark (documentary)
The Bleeder, Philippe Falardeau, USA and Canada
The Journey, Nick Hamm, UK
The Young Pope (Episodes I and II), Paolo Sorrentino, Italy, France, Spain and USA (TV miniseries)
Tommaso, Kim Rossi Stuart, Italy

Check available info and trailers @MOC

Orizzonti
An international competition dedicated to films that represent the latest aesthetic and expressive trends in international cinema

Feature Films
(*) Boys in the Trees, Nicholas Verso, Australia
Dawson City: Frozen Time, Bill Morrison, USA and France (documentary)
(*) Die Einsiedler, Ronny Trocker, Germany and Austria
(*) 愚行録 Gukôroku, Kei Ishikawa, Japan
Home, Fien Troch, Belgium
(*) Il più grande sogno (I Was a Dreamer), Michele Vannucci, Italy
(*) Kékszakállú, Gastón Solnicki, Argentina
Koca Dünya (Big Big World), Reha Erdem, Turkey
King of the Belgians, Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth, Belgium, Netherlands and Bulgaria
Ku Qian (Bitter Money), Bing Wang, Hong Kong and France (documentary)
Laavor et Hakim (Through the Wall), Rama Burshtein, Israel
Liberami, Federica di Giacomo, Italy and France (documentary)
مالاریا Malaria, Parviz Shahbazi, Iran
(*) Maudite Poutine, Karl Lemieux, Canada
Réparer les vivants (The Heart), Katell Quillévéré, France and Belgium
São Jorge (Saint George), Marco Martins, Portugal and France
(*) Tarde Para La Ira (The Fury of a Patient Man), Raúl Arévalo, Spain
White Sun, Deepak Rauniyar, Nepal, USA, Qatar and Netherlands

Special Screening Out of Competition
Dark Night, Tim Sutton, USA

Short Films
500,000 Pee (500,000 Years), Chai Siris, Thailand, 15'
Amalimbo, Juan Pablo Libossart, Sweden and Estonia, 15' (animation)
Ce qui nous éloigne, Wei Hu, France, 18'
Colombi, Luca Ferri, Italy, 20'
Dadyaa, Bibhusan Basnet and Pooja gurung, Nepal and France, 17'
Good News, Giovanni Fumu, South Korea and Italy, 17'
La Voz Perdida, Marcelo Martinessi, Paraguay, Venezuela and Cuba, 11'
Le Reste est l'oeuvre de l'homme, Doria Achour, France and Tunisia, 14'
Midwinter, Jake Mahaffy, USA and New Zealand, 17'
Molly Bloom, Chiara Caselli, Italy, 20'
On The Origin of Fear, Bayu Prihantoro Filemon, Indonesia, 12'
Prima Noapte (First Night), Andrei Tanase, Romania and Germany, 17'
Ruah, Flurin Giger, Switzerland, 18'
Samedi Cinema, Mamadou Dia, Senegal, 11'
Srečno, Orlo! (Good Luck, Orlo!), Sara Kern, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria, 14'
Stanza 52, Maurizio Braucci, Italy, 13"

Orizzonti Jury
President: Robert Guédiguian, director, France
Jim Hoberman, film critic and historian, USA
Nelly Karim, actress, Egypt
Valentina Lodovini, actress, Italy
Moon So-ri, actress, South Korea
José Maria (Chema) Prado, film critic and scholar, Spain
Chaitanya Tamhane, director, India

Check available info and trailers @MOC

Cinema nel Giardino
The new section with films, talks, and visions under the Casino

Franca: Chaos and Creation, Francesco Carrozzini, Italy and USA (documentary)
그물 Geumul (The Net), Kim Ki-Duk, South Korea
In Dubious Battle, James Franco, USA
Inseparables, Marcos Carnevale, Argentina
L'Estate Addosso (Summertime), Gabriele Muccino, Italy
My Art, Laurie Simmons, USA
Robinù, Michele Santoro, Italy (documentary)
The Secret Life of Pets, Chris Renaud and Yarrow Cheney, USA (3D animation)

Biennale College - Cinema
Higher-education training workshop for the development and production of micro-budget feature-length films

La Soledad, Jorge Thielen Armand, Venezuela
Mukti Bhawan (Hotel Salvation), Shubhashish Bhutiani, India
Orecchie (Ears), Alessandro Aronadio, Italy
Una Hermana (One Sister), Sofia Brockenshire, Argentina

Special Screenings

El vendedor de Orquídeas, Lorenzo Vigas, Venezuela and Mexico (documentary)
Rem, Thomas Koolhaas, USA (documentary)
Spes Contre Spem - Liberi Dentro, Ambrogio Crespi, Italy (documentary)

Venice Classics
A selection of restored classic films and documentaries on cinema. To check films in the section go official site here.

Debut films competing for the Lion of the Future -“Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film
There are twenty-two (22) films competing for this award, 1 in Venezia 73, 7 in Orizzonti, 7 in SIC and 7 in Venice Days. All films are identified by a preceding (*).

(*) Competing for the Lion of the Future Award

Lion of the Future - Debut film Jury
President: Kim Rossi Stuart, actor and director, Italy
Rosa Bosch, producer, Spain and UK
Brady Corbet, actor and director, USA
Pilar López de Ayala, actress, Spain
Serge Toubiana, film critic, France

Tributes
The 73rd Venice International Film Festival will be dedicated to two great directors who have recently passed away: Abbas Kiarostami and Michael Cimino. The former changed the way we look at and reflect upon images in motion, the latter would have changed the face of American cinema even more than he actually did before he was deprived of the possibility of expressing himself fully.

A double Tribute will therefore be held during the event. There will be a screening of what is one of Michael Cimino's finest and, in part, most underrated films: Year of the Dragon (1985), with Mickey Rourke.

For Abbas Kiarostami, a special program will be shown composed of an unreleased digital short film from the series 24 Frames (which the Iranian director was still working on), and THIS IS MY FILM: 76 Minutes and 15 Seconds with Kiarostami, a collage film made for the occasion by Seifollah Samadian, Abbas' loyal friend and historic assistant, who for over twenty-five years filmed his work and gathered his thoughts about cinema, photography, art and life.

Interesting Data

In the 2016 edition there will be three (3) Golden Lion winning directors attending, Lorenzo Vigas, Kim Ki-Duk and Wim Enders; one Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize winner director, Andrei Konchalovski; two Silver Lion for Best Director winners, Andrei Konchalovski and Emir Kusturica; one Special Jury Prize winner director, Ulrich Seidl, one Lion of the Future award winner director, Emir Kusturica, two Orizzonti Award for Best Film winner directors, Lav Diaz and Wang Bing; plus 2 Academy Award wining directors, Paolo Sorrentino and Mel Gibson.

So, indeed there is a relevant participation of established directors that have won an award at the oldest fest in the world, but perhaps more interesting is that there are twelve (12) directors who are participating for the first time in the Competition. They are the following:

Damien Chazelle, Ana Lily Amirpour, Stéphane Brizé, Derek Cianfrance, Mariano Cohn e Gastón Duprat, Lav Diaz, Massimo D’Anolfi e Martina Parenti, Amat Escalante, Roan Johnson, Martin Koolhoven, Christopher Murray and Denis Villeneuve

To check the many movie posters of Venezia 73 go to my pinterest site here.