venice comp 2

Source: BRON Studios / Whitefalk Films / New Regency

‘Joker’, ‘Babyteeth’, ‘Ad Astra’

The line-up of the 76th Venice Film Festival (August 28 – September 7) has been announced.

Scroll down for the full line-up

This year features some high-profile projects including Todd Phillips’ Joker and James Gray’s Ad Astra, a lack of female directors in competition once again, and the controversial selection of Roman Polanski’s latest film.

Australian title Babyteeth, from first-time director Shannon Murphy, and Saudi filmmaker Haifaa Al-Mansour’s The Perfect Candidate are the two films in the 21-strong competition from female filmmakers. Last year festival chief Alberto Barbera was heavily criticised for including just one woman director in competition; Jennifer Kent with The Nightingale.

An even bigger talking point than this however will be the inclusion of Roman Polanski’s J’Accuse, previously titled An Officer And A Spy, based on the novel by Robert Harris and starring Louis Garrel, Jean Dujardin, Mathieu Amalric and Emmanuelle Seigner. Polanski’s well-documented legal problems don’t seem to have stopped his films being selected for major European festivals – his previous effort Based On A True Story played out of competition in Cannes in 2017.

On the US side, as expected two high profile Netflix titles made the cut in competition; Steven Soderbergh’s Panama Papers project The Laundromat with Meryl Streep and Gary Oldman, and Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story starring Scarlett Johansson, Laura Dern and Adam Driver.  They are joined by James Gray’s Fox sci-fi Ad Astra starring Brad Pitt, also hotly tipped for the festival. Warner Bros are premiering Joker (also selected for Toronto) starring Joaquin Phoenix on the Lido. The same studio debuted A Star Is Born in Venice last year, and have secured a competition berth for their DC Comics drama.

Competition

No. 7 Cherry Lane (HK)
Dir. Yonfan

The Laundromat (US)
Dir. Steven Soderbergh

J’Accuse (Fr-It)
Dir. Roman Polanski

Joker (US)
Dir. Todd Phillips

Babyteeth (Aus)
Dir. Shannon Murphy

Marriage Story (US)
Dir. Noah Baumbach

Il Sindaco Del Rione Sanità (It)
Dir. Mario Martone

The Painted Bird (Cze-Ukr-Slovakia)
Dir. Václav Marhoul

La Mafia Non È Più Quella Di Una Volta (It)
Dir. Franco Maresco

Martin Eden (It-Fr)
Dir. Pietro Marcello

Saturday Fiction (China)
Dir. Lou Ye

Ema (Chile)
Dir. Pablo Larraín

Waiting For The Barbarians (It)
Dir. Ciro Guerra 

GloriaMundi (Fr-It)
Dir. Robert Guéndiguian

Ad Astra (US)
Dir. James Gray

Guest OfHonour (Can)
Dir.Atom Egoyan

Wasp Network (Fr-Bel)
Dir. Olivier Assayas

About Endlessness (Swe-Ger-Nor)
Dir. Roy Andersson

The Perfect Candidate (S. Arabia-Ger)
Dir. Haifaa Al-Mansour

A Herdade (Por-Fr)
Dir. Tiago Guedes

The Truth (Jap-Fr) - OPENING FILM
Dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda

Out Of Competition (fiction)

The King (UK-Hun)
Dir. David Michod

Seberg (US)
Dir. Benedict Andrews

Vivere (It)
Dir. Francesca Archibugi

The Burnt Orange Heresy (US-It) - CLOSING FILM
Dir. Giuseppe Capotondi

Mosul (US)
Dir. Matthew Michael Carnahan

Adults In The Room (Fr-Gre)
Dir. Costa-Gavras 

Tutto Il Mio Folle Amore (It)
Dir. Gabriele Salvatores

Out of Competition (non-fiction)

Il Pianeta In Mare (It)
Dir. Andrea Segre

Citizen K (UK-US)
Dir. Alex Gibney

Woman (Fr)
Dir. Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Anastasia Mikova

Roger Waters Us + Them (UK)
Dir. Sean Evans, Roger Waters

I Diari Di Angela - Noi Due Cineasti. Secondo Capitolo. (It)
Dir. Yervant Gianikian, Angela Ricci Lucchi

Citizen Rosi (It)
Dir. Didi Gnocchi, Carolina Rosi

The Kingmaker (US)
Dir. Lauren Greenfield

State Funeral (Neth-Lith)
Dir. Sergei Loznitsa

Collective (Rom-Lux)
Dir. Alexander Nanau

45 Seconds Of Laughter (US)
Dir. Tim Robbins

Out of competition (special screenings)

No-One Left Behind (Mex)
Dir. Guillermo Arriaga

Zerozerozero - Episodes 1 & 2 (It)
Dir. Stefano Sollima

Electric Swan (Fr-Gre-Arg)
Dir. Konstantina Kotzamani

Irréversible - Inversion Intégrale (Fr)
Dir. Gaspar Noé

The New Pope - Episodes 2 & 7 (It-Fr-Spa)
Dir. Paolo Sorrentino

Never Just A Dream: Stanley Kubrick And Eyes Wide Shut (UK)
Dir. Matt Wells

Eyes Wide Shut (US-UK)
Dir. Stanley Kubrick

Horizons

Zumiriki (It)
Dir. Oskar Alegria

Pelican Blood (Ger-Bul)
Dir. Katrin Gebbe

Bik Eneich - Un Fils (Tun-Fr-Leb-Qat)
Dir. Mehdi M. Barsaoui

Blanco En Blanco (Sp-China-Fr-Ger)
Dir. Théo Court

My Days Of Glory (Fr)
Dir. Antoine de Bary

Nevia (It)
Dir. Nunzia di Stefano

Moffie (SA)
Dir. Oliver Hermanus

Hava, Maryam, Ayesha (Afg)
Dir. Sahraa Karimi

Rialto (Ire-UK)
Dir. Peter Mackie Burns

The Criminal Man (Geo-Rus)
Dir. Dmitry Mamuliya

Revenir (Fr)
Dir. Jessica Palud

Giants Being Lonely (US)
Dir. Grear Patterson

Verdict (Phil)
Dir. Raymond Ribay Gutierrez

Balloon (China)
Dir. Pema Tseden

Just 6.5 (Ir)
Dir. Saeed Rouastaee

Shadow Of Water (India)
Dir. Sasidharan Sanal Kumar

Sole (It-Pol)
Dir. Carlo Sironi

Madre (Sp-Fr)
Dir. Rodrigo Sorogoyen

Atlantis (Ukr)
Dir. Valentyn Vasyanovych

Sconfini (formerly Cinema in the Garden)

Unposted (Chiara Ferragni) 
Dir. Elisa Amoruso

The Scarecrows
Dir. Nouri Bouzid

The Gap
Dir. Federico Ferrone, Michele Manzolini

Domino Effect
Dir. Alessandro Rossetto

As previously announced, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s The Truth will open the festival in competition. Giuseppe Capotondi’s The Burnt Orange Heresy starring Claes Bang and Elizabeth Debicki will close the festival on September 7. 

Director Lucrecia Martel will preside over the International Jury of the Competition this year.

The Venice Critics’ Week and Venice Days line-ups were anounced earlier this month.