A very optimistic film festival has announced its lineup. The 2020 Venice Film Festival is moving ahead with its three main selections: Venezia 77, Out of Competition, and Horizons. The Venezia 77 titles will compete for the coveted Golden Lion, which The Joker took home last year. Lacci, by Daniele Luchetti, will open the festival on September 2, making it the first Italian film to do so in 11 years. Cate Blanchett serves as competition jury president, choosing between films like Mona Fastvold’s The World to Come, starring Vanessa Kirby, and Kornel Mundruczo’s Pieces of a Woman, starring Kirby and Shia LaBeouf. (That’s right, Princess Margaret is pulling double duty.) Chloé Zhao will debut her follow-up to The Rider, Nomadland, starring Frances McDormand, in the main competition on September 11. In nonfiction, The Inventor’s Alex Gibney looks at serial killers in Crazy, Not Insane and Luca Guadagnino directs Salvatore Ferragamo: The Shoemaker of Dreams, a doc about the Italian designer. Actress Tilda Swinton and the filmmaker Ann Hui will both receive lifetime-achievement awards this year.
In order to comply with Italy’s coronavirus protocols, at least half of the seats in all screening venues will be empty and guests will be temperature checked, per the New York Times. Both social distancing and mask-wearing will be enforced. It’s gonna be a weird one, but here’s what’s screening at this year’s Venice Film Festival, September 2 through 12.
Venezia 77
In Between Dying, Hilal Baydarov
Le Sorelle Macaluso, Emma Dante
The World to Come, Mona Fastvold
Nuevo Orden, Michel Franco
Lovers, Nicole Garcia
Laila in Haifa, Amos Gitai
Dear Comrades, Andrei Konchalovsky
Wife of a Spy, Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Sun Children, Majid Majidi
Pieces of a Woman, Kornel Mundruczo
Miss Marx, Susanna Nicchiarelli
Padrenostro, Claudio Noce
Notturno, Gianfranco Rosi
Never Gonna Snow Again, Malgorzata Szumowska, Michal Englert
The Disciple, Chaitanya Tamhane
And Tomorrow the Entire World, Julia Von Heinz
Quo Vadis, Aida?, Jasmila Zbanic
Nomadland, Chloé Zhao
Horizons
Apples, Christos Nikou
La Troisième Guerre, Giovanni Aloi
Milestone, Ivan Ayr
The Wasteland, Ahmad Bahrami
The Man Who Sold His Skin, Kaouther Ben Hania
I Predatori, Pietro Castellitto
Mainstream, Gia Coppola
Genus Pan, Lav Diaz
Zanka Contact, Ismael El Iraki
Guerra e Pace, Martina Parenti, Massimo D’Anolfi
La Nuit Des Rois, Philippe Lacôte
The Furnace, Roderick Mackay
Careless Crime, Shahram Mokri
Gaza Mon Amour, Tarzan Nasser, Arab Nasser
Selva Tragica, Yulene Olaizola
Nowhere Special, Uberto Pasolini
Listen, Ana Rocha de Sousa
The Best Is Yet to Come, Wang Jing
Yellow Cat, Adilkhan Yerzhanov
Out of Competition - Fiction
Lacci, Daniele Lucheti
Lasciami Andare, Stefano Mordini
Mandibules, Quentin Dupieux
Love After Love, Ann Hui
Assandira, Salvatore Mereu
The Duke, Roger Michell
Night in Paradise, Park Soon-jung
Mosquito State, Filip Jan Rymsza
Out of Competition - Nonfiction
Sportin’ Life, Abel Ferrara
Crazy, Not Insane, Alex Gibney
Greta, Nathan Grossman
Salvatore, Shoemaker of Dreams, Luca Guadagnino
Final Account, Luke Holland
La Verita Su la Dolce Vita, Giuseppe Pedersoli
Molecole, Andrea Segre
Narciso em Ferias, Renato Terra, Ricardo Calil
Paulo Conte, Via con Me, Giorgio Verdelli
Hopper/Welles, Orson Welles
Out of Competition - Special Screenings
30 Monedas, Episode 1, Alex de la Iglesia
Princesse Europe, Camille Lotteau
Omelia Contadina, Alice Rohrwacher Jr.