80th Venice International Film Festival Lineup

Current year hasn't been easy for me but today decided to do a condensed version of the usual very long post to list films in the Biennale Cinema as not easy to find a list without comments, just a plain old list with enough info to get an idea of the quality of the film. The last is the ultimate objective of all the festival listings that are included here as undoubtedly facilitates the visualization of what I wish to see during the coming year. Already have quite a few films from Cannes, Berlinale and other film festivals like Karlovy Vary, Rotterdam among others.

Official press conference took place on July 25th and my spontaneous impression then was a festival more Euro/World centrated which absolutely makes it a lot more interesting for me. On different news, Caterina Murino is the host of the opening and closing ceremonies and none other than Damien Chazelle is the International Jury President of Venezia 80 competition.

The Poster

According to official press release, on-the-road movies inspire the image of the official poster by Lorenzo Mattoti who also is the author of the opening sequence. Is the sixth consecutive year that Mattoti designs the poster and the fifth that does the opening sequence.
The image chosen for the poster this year “is inspired by the tradition of on the road movies, explains Lorenzo Mattotti, and in this way seeks to express feelings of freedom, adventure, the discovery of new territories. I played with the graphics – underscores the author – to represent new worlds that can be explored through Cinema. We are convinced that there is a great future for Cinema that looks forward and ventures down new paths. Furthermore, the Venice International Film Festival is celebrating its 80th edition this year and we wanted to commemorate that in the number that appears on the license plate of an imagined car. Naturally, many are the films that can be evoked by this image, such as Il sorpasso, Easy Rider or Thelma and Louise. May each of us find our own on the road movie. This is our wish for Cinema, may it go far and sprint towards the future. A future of exploration, in search of new frontiers: a colourful luminous Cinema”.

La Mostra

Let's beging by sharing that none other than Tony Leung Chiu-wai, who I consider THE best male actor in the world- will be honored with a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, honor that I consider very-well deserved to say the least. Also director Liliana Cavani will receive a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.

The are 15 directors who are participating for the first time in the Competition and the list might surprise some as includes well-know directors like Bertrand Bonello, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Nikolaj Arcel, Luc Besson. Fiecn Troch and others. Ther is one Golden Lion-winning director a is none other than Sofia Coppola and also worth mentioning Yorgos Lanthimos winner of Best Screenplay. No doubt this year there is controversy with the inclusion of films by Luc Besson, Roman Polanski and Woody Allen.

There was a total of 4,061 films submitted of which 2,100 were feature films and 1,961 short films and data shows a more male oriented submissions as 2,703 are male directed and 1,298 female directed (32%). Unfortunately fest does not give data for films in the selection, only for submitted films.

On a lighter note, absolutely excited to see Léa Seydoux, Mads Mikkelsen, Carey Mulligan, Maya Hawke, Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Adam Driver, Toni Servillo, Pierfrancesco Favino, among others. No doubt that the film I'm looking forward to watch the momst is El Conde by Pablo Larrain with great Chilean actors like Alfredo Castro and Jaime Vadell.

The Official Selection

#Venezia80 Competition

Opening Film: Comandante (The Commander), Edoardo de Angelis, Italy
Adagio, Stefano Sollima, Italy
悪は存在しない Aku wa sonzai shinai (Evil Does Not Exist), Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Japan
Bastarden (The Promised Land), Nikolaj Arcel, Denmark, Germany and Sweden
Die Theorie von Allem (The Theory of Everything), Timm Kröger, Germany, Austria and Switzerland
Dogman, Luc Besson, France
El Conde (The Count), Pablo Larraín, Chile
Enea, Pietro Castelitto, Italy
Ferrari, Michael Mann, USA
Finalmente l'Alba (Finally Dawn), Saverio Costanzo, Italy
Holly, Fien Troch, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and France
Hors-Saison, Stéphane Brizé, France
Io Capitano, Matteo Garrone, France, Italy and Belgium
Kobieta z... (Woman Of), Małgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert, Poland and Sweden
La Bête (The Beast), Bertrand Bonello, France and Canada
Lubo, Giorgio Diritti, Italy and Switzerland
Maestro, Bradley Cooper, USA
Memory, Michel Franco, Mexico and USA
Origin, Ava DuVernay, USA
Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos, UK, Ireland and USA
Priscilla, Sofia Coppola, USA and Italy
The Killer, David Fincher, USA
Zielona Granica (Green Border), Agnieszka Holland, Poland, Czech Republic, France and Belgium

Competition Jury
President: Damien Chazelle, director, screenwriter and producer, USA
Mia Hansen-Løve, director and screenwriter, France
Jane Campion, director, screenwriter and producer, New Zealand
Laura Poitras, director and journalist, USA
Shu Qi, actress, China
Saleh Bakri, actor, Palestine
Gabriele Mainetti, director, actor, composer and producer, Italy
Martin McDonagh, director and screenwriter, Ireland
Santiago Mitre, director and screenwriter, Argentina

Out of Competition
Works of established authors, films in which the spectacula dimension is accompanied by forms of expressive or narrative originality, and documentaries

Fiction
Closing Film: La Sociedad de la Nieve (Society of Snow), J.A. Bayona, Spain, Uruguay and Chile
Aggro Dr1ft, Harmony Korine, USA
Coup de Chance (Stroke of Luck), Woody Allen, France and UK
Daaaaaali!, Quentin Dupleux, France
Hit Man, Richard Linklater, USA
L'Ordine del tempo, Liliana Cavani, Italy and Belgium
Making of, Cedric Kahn, France
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, William Friedkin, USA
The Palace, Roman Polanski, Italy, Switzerland, Poland and France
The Penitent - A Rational Man, Luca Barbareschi, Italy
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Wes Anderson, USA
Vivants, Alix Delaporte, France and Belgium
雪豹 Xue Bao (Snow Leopard), Pema Tseden, China

Non Fiction
Amor, Virginia Eleuteri Serpieri, Italy and Lithuania
Frente a Guernica, Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi, Italy
Hollywoodgate, Ibrahim Nash'at, Germany and USA
Ryuchi Sakamoto Opus, Neo Sora, Japan
Enzo Jannaci Vengo Anch'io, Giorgio Verdelli, Italy
Menus Plaisirs - Les Troisgros, Frederik Wiseman, France and USA

TV Series
Znam kako dišeš (I Know Your Soul), Alen Drljević and Nemin Hamzagić, Bosnia and Herzegovina
D'Argent et de Sang (Of Money and Blood), Xavier Giannoli and Frédéric Planchon, France and Belgium

Short Films
Welcome To Paradise, Leonardo Di Costanzo, Italy 24'