The Venice festival has unveiled a selection of nine short films to appear in its main Venezia 59 section. The mainly European and English-language titles will compete for a Silver Lion for the best short, the Premio UIP Venezia award for the best European short, and a Special Mention. The prizes will be decided by the main jury, presided over by Gong Li.

They were selected by the festival's artistic director Moritz de Hadeln and and the selection team comprising Tilde Corsi, Silvio Danese, Gianantonio Furlan, Oscar Iarussi, Serafino Murri and Ula Stoeckl.

Venezia 59: Short films in competition

Clown Dir: Irina Efteeva, Russia, 10'
Lover Of Pirates (Kalozok Szeretoje) Dir: Zsofia Peterffy, Hungary, 8'
Little Dickie Dir: Anita McGee, Canada, 7'
Pending Dir: Anna Tow (animation), Australia, 9'
Redial Dir: Michele Amas, New Zealand, 8'
Rosso Fango Dir: Paolo Ameli, Italy, 10'
Tarjeta Roja Dir: Elena Vilallonga, Spain, 10'
Tempo Dir: Per Carleson, Sweden, 4'
Tu Devrais Faire Du Cinema Dir: Michel Vereecken, Belgium, 8'30"