Mendoza's Lola revealed as second surprise film in Venice

It is the second time that Mendoza been in competition at a major festival this year. He previous film Kinatay won best director at Cannes in May.

Shot this summer over three months, the film was being finished up until the last minute. Earlier this year, Venice artistic director Marco Mueller told ScreenDaily that the second surprise film would arrive to the Lido only a day before it was to be screened.

The first surprise title to added to the line-up Werner Herzog’s My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?. It will now compete against Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans, which is also in competition.

Lola, which means grandmother, is the story of two elderly women who must face the consequences of a crime involving their grandsons, one of whom is the victim and the other the suspect. It is executive produced by Didier Costet’s Swift Productions with The Match Factory handling world sales.