Today at the press conference the program of the sections “Competition”, “Out-of-Competition” and “Horizonti” of Venice 80 was presented. Among the most anticipated films are new films by Michael Mann, Yorgos Lanthimos, Pablo Larraín, Sofia Coppola and David Fincher.
The 80th anniversary program was announced this morning at the usual press conference broadcast on Biennale channels.To edition Venice International Film Festival. A presentation whose protagonists this year are again the artistic director Alberto Barbera (director of the exhibition since 2012) and the president of the Biennale Roberto Cicutto; both illustrated to the public and journalists connected via streaming the rich and varied program of the event, which this year will take place in the Lido from August 30 to September 9.
The presentation of the program in recent days was preceded by the announcement of the opening film, which this year will be a new work by Edoardo De Angelis. Commander, played by Pierfrancesco Favino. Thus, a completely Italian opening, which replaced the previously announced one. ContendersLuca Guadagnino’s new film, which was pulled from the program (and also delayed) due to the Hollywood actors’ strike caused by SAG-AFTRA.
Cicutto made a presentation of the exhibition, paying tribute to Andrea Purgatori, screenwriter and journalist, who died suddenly just a few days ago. Then Barbera took the floor, referring specifically to the actors’ union strike and stating that the program, with the exception of the opening film, was virtually unaffected: “It took us by surprise because the program was almost over, but fortunately the impact of the strike – which had very good reasons in any case – was modest. The only film we had to turn down was Luca Guadagnino’s wonderful film. All other Americans are confirmed, and fortunately we will also have actors from independent productions that were not affected by the strike. This will not be an autarchic exhibition.”.
But let’s now look one by one at the three sections that the artistic director of the Exhibition presented today, namely: the International Competition, the Non-Competition Section and the special section “Horizonti”.
Film in competition
The section of films that will compete for the Golden Lion includes a total of 23 films, of which, as Barbera himself explained, 15 were shot by directors participating in the Venice competition for the first time. In addition to what has already been announced Commander – with Favino as Commander Todaro, who saves the lives of a group of sailors who survived the sinking of an enemy submarine – many of the headlines that enlivened previous predictions have been confirmed: among them, there is great anticipation for Michael Mann’s new film. Ferrariwith Adam Driver as the owner of a famous Italian car manufacturer, who, as Barbera said, will focus primarily on the decisive years of the crisis and the conflict with his wife; new film by Yorgos Lanthimos Poor Withreality!a female remake of Frankenstein starring Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe; Priscillanew director Sofia Coppola, with Cailee Spaeny as Elvis’s tormented wife; Owner, Bradley Cooper’s second directorial biography of the great composer Leonard Bernstein, starring the same director; and then El Conde, a new work by Pablo Larraín that imagines the survival of dictator Augusto Pinochet as a vampire who continues to suck the blood of his fellow citizens. there are also a lot of things to look forward to MurdererDavid Fincher’s return to Venice more than twenty years ago. Fight clubthriller based on the French Netflix graphic novel starring Michael Fassbender and Tilda Swinton.
In the rich section there were also several Italians present, many of whom had already been the object of predictions the day before: in addition to the above-mentioned Commanderwe will see Pietro Castellitto’s second film at the Lido, Aeneasdefinite “a rule-free intrusion into the whirlpool of modern Rome, a kind of “great monstrosity” covered with cynicism”; new film by Giorgio Diritti Lubo, the true story of a young Yenishman (from the Gypsy ethnic group) in Switzerland in the 1930s who sees his children taken away by Swiss police; new feature film by Saverio Costanzo Finally dawnthe story of the loss of innocence of a young commoner, transported to the golden but cynical world of Cinecitta; Slowlya film directed by Stefano Sollima, set in a dystopian Rome surrounded by fires, starring Pierfrancesco Favino, Toni Servillo and Valerio Mastandrea; and finally I’m the captainMatteo Garrone’s long-awaited new work is a sort of modern odyssey of two young men who leave Dakar to embark on a arduous journey across Europe.
Also worth mentioning in this section is the new film by Bertrand Bonello. Bethewith Léa Seydoux, the main character of the story, which takes place in a dystopian world in which emotions are considered a threat and artificial intelligence is capable of reviving people who lived in the past; Film by Agnieszka Holland Green border, another tragic story of immigration, this time with modern-day Poland on the scene; and then Evil dno ANDexistRyusuke Hamaguchi, whom he had already directed Drive my carwhich centers on a company that would like to build a luxury campsite in a remote mountain location that is at odds with the local community.
Beyond competition
And this year, among the films presented out of competition, there will be two series in the first place: the first to be shown in full at the Lido will be a French series. D’Argent and de Witheng, directed by Xavier Giannoli (who also serves as showrunner) and Frédéric Planchon. A twelve-episode production starring Vincent Lindon as a magistrate who is assigned by the French government in 2008 to a new special body that must hunt down those who cheat the TVA tax (French VAT). The second episode will be THAT Tonow your Soulcreated by Jasmilla Zbanic and Damir Ibrahimovic, of which only two episodes out of six will be shown: at the center of the plot will be the figure of a magistrate dealing with a dramatic story of bullying and suicide, which unexpectedly ends with the participation of her son too.
Among the feature films, the first title mentioned by Barbera was the already announced film that will close the exhibition, a new work by J. A. Bayon. Snow SocietySpanish film for Netflix, which centers on the true story of a plane that crashes in the mountains separating Argentina from Chile. There will also be space for a short film (40 minutes). The Wonderful Stories of Henry Sugarby Wes Anderson, part of a series of short films taken by the director from Roald Dahl stories, as determined by the director. “little masterpiece”; but the eyes will be focused primarily on Random coup, Woody Allen’s long-awaited French film, a story that explores the role of chance in people’s lives; a work that Barbera compared to the previous one Match points defining it “semi-serious, melancholy, but sometimes funny reflection”. Richard Linklater’s new film is also highly anticipated. killer, the story of a psychologist who goes undercover for the American police, masquerading as a killer and offering himself to various clients so he can then frame them; but above all for Castle Roman Polanski’s film, co-written by the director with Jerzy Skolimowski, reconstructs the preparations for a New Year’s Eve party in 2000 at a luxury hotel in the Swiss Alps. Finally, it’s worth mentioning Kane Mutiny Court Martiala new work from a great American cinematographer such as William Friedkin, a film version of a famous American play starring Kiefer Sutherland as the title character.
Italy will be represented in the section with two titles: Penitent Luca Barbareschi, a film inspired by one of David Mamet’s last plays, centers on a Jewish psychoanalyst who finds himself in the spotlight on social media after one of his patients commits a school massacre; AND Time order Liliana Cavani, based on Carlo Rovelli’s essay of the same name, takes place over a 24-hour period in a seaside villa as a group of friends await a catastrophic event.
Horizons
We conclude this short report on the Venice 80 program with the Horizonte section, which this year is again varied and full of interesting titles. Among them, somewhat surprisingly, we will find an author who in the past was the protagonist of the competition, namely the Japanese Shinya Tsukamoto, who will present his new film. Shadow of Fire: a work in which the director returns to the theme of the human consequences of war, presenting a traumatized soldier, a woman forced into prostitution, and an orphaned child. Among other names, the following should be noted: Tatamia film by Guy Nattiv and Zara Amir Ebrahimi, reconstructing the true story of a young Iranian judo champion whom the authorities would like to force into retirement so that, for political reasons, she would not compete with the Israeli champion; DormitoryNehir Tuna’s first work, a debut that Barbera compared to Bellocchio de Reveryone in their own pocketwith a teenager sent to an Islamic boarding school amid religious extremism, sexual urges and political tension; ATATATA for the night Selene Rouzet, a French vampire film that uses the metaphor of vampirism to tell a story of teenage discomfort; AND Housekeeping for BeginnersComing from North Macedonia, he is a powerful apologist for what it means to be a family in the Balkans today, and how difficult it is to be gay and an ethnic Roman in the region.
Among the Italians present in the section, we should finally remember them Inwelle, a film directed by Simone Massi, known as a director of short cartoons, who is making his first feature film here, a kind of history of Italy seen from below by a peasant family, from the 1920s to the present day; AND Endless Sundaydebut of Alain Parroni, who, according to Barbera, “leave That traditional narrative storytelling models A history of the uprising V region from Roman suburbs; Asensory, visual and musical experience”.
