The Venice Film Festival sails on in Italy — even with much of Hollywood at a standstill.
The annual cinema celebration hosted by La Biennale di Venezia and directed by Alberto Barbera runs from August 30 through September 9. Despite already having lost Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” from its opening night slot due to its SAG-AFTRA talent including star Zendaya being unable to accompany the world premiere due to strike work stoppage orders, Venice has plenty of movie goodness in store for its 80th edition. (Remember, too, Venice’s resilience: It was the only major festival to host a fully in-person event in pandemic 2020 even after Italy had been hit hard by Covid.)
Competition highlights include Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” David Fincher’s “The Killer,” Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things,” Ava DuVernay’s “Origin,” Luc Besson’s “Dogman,” Michel Franco’s “Memory,” Pablo Larrain’s “El Conde,” and many more. Out of competition, Venice will screen new films from Harmony Korine, Richard Linklater, Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, Roman Polanski, and William Friedkin.
This year’s panel of judges also boasts an elite lineup of its own under jury president Damien Chazelle, who has previously twice opened the festival with “La La Land” and “First Man.” Joining him are Jane Campion, Mia Hansen-Løve, Laura Poitras, Martin McDonagh, Saleh Bakri, Gabriele Mainetti, Santiago Mitre, and Shu Qi. Poitras won the Golden Lion last year for her eventually Oscar-nominated documentary “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed.”
Instead of “Challengers,” Venice will now open “Comandante,” directed by Edoardo De Angelis, on the Lido instead. Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 survival drama “Society of the Snow,” directed by J.A. Bayona, will bookend the festival to close it in September. Venice overlaps with TIFF by two days and entirely with Telluride, which will have a mix of films from both and from Cannes. Again, these festivals will be largely star-less, so it’s up to Venice to deliver wattage of its own with a mostly international lineup of onscreen and behind-the-camera talent there in person.
However, Alberto Barbera was optimistic in kicking off the announcement Tuesday morning. “The last week was quite troubled. The announcement of the strike of the actors and the scriptwriters has surprised all of us. It was difficult to come to the end of a program that had already been finalized. I must say that, luckily now, the consequences of this strike that has very good motivations we can agree, the impact is quite modest on our festival. The only movie we have lost from what we had planned was the opening movie, a beautiful movie by Luca Guadagnino,” he said, adding, “the American movies we invited to the festival will be present” despite SAG actors not being on the red carpet.
See the 2023 Venice lineup below.
Competition
“Comandante” (dir. Edoardo De Angelis, Opening Night, previously announced)
“The Promised Land” (dir. Nikolaj Arcel)
“Dogman” (dir. Luc Besson)
“La Bête” (dir. Bertrand Bonello)
“Hors-Saison” (dir. Stéphane Brizé)
“Enea” (dir. Pietro Castellitto)
“Maestro” (dir. Bradley Cooper)
“Priscilla” (dir. Sofia Coppola)
“Finalmente L’Alba” (dir. Saverio Costanzo)
“Lubo” (dir. Giorgio Diritti)
“Origin” (dir. Ava DuVernay)
“The Killer” (dir. David Fincher)
“Memory” (dir. Michel Franco)
“Io Capitano” (dir. Matteo Garrone)
“Evil Does Not Exist” (dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)
“The Green Border” (dir. Agnieszka Holland)
“The Theory of Everything” (dir. Timm Kröger)
“Poor Things” (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)
“El Conde” (dir. Pablo Larrain)
“Ferrari” (dir. Michael Mann)
“Adagio” (dir. Stefano Sollima)
“Woman Of” (dir. Malgorzata Szumowska, Michal Englert)
“Holly” (dir. Fien Troch)
Out of Competition(Narrative Features)
“Society of the Snow” (dir. J.A. Bayona, Closing Night)
“Coup de Chance” (dir. Woody Allen)
“The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” (dir. Wes Anderson)
“The Penitent” (dir. Luca Barbareschi)
“L’Ordine Del Tempo” (dir. Liliana Cavani)
“Vivants” (dir. Alix Delaporte)
“Welcome to Paradise” (dir. Leonardo di Constanzo)
“Daaaaaali!” (dir. Quentin Dupieux)
“The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial” (dir. William Friedkin)
“Making of” (dir. Cedric Kahn)
“Aggro Dr1ft” (dir. Harmony Korine)
“Hit Man” (dir. Richard Linklater)
“The Palace” (dir. Roman Polanski)
Out of Competition (Special Screening)
“La Parte Del Leone: Una Storia Della Mostra” (dir. Baptiste Etchegaray, Giuseppe Bucchi)
Out of Competition (Series)
“D’Argent et de Sang,” Episodes 1-12 (dir. Xavier Giannoli, Fredéric Planchon)
“I Know Your Soul,” Episodes 1-2 (created by Jasmine Zbanic, Damir Ibrahimovic; dir. Alen Drjević, Nermin Hamzagic)
Out of Competition (Documentaries)
“Amor” (dir. Virginia Eleuteri Serpieri)
“Frente a Guernica” Directors’ Cut (dir. Yervant Gianikian, Angela Ricci Lucchi)
“Hollywoodgate” (dir. Ibrahim Nash’at)
“Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus” (dir. Neo Sora)
“Enzo Jannacci Vengo Anch’io” (dir. Giorgio Verdelli)
“Menus Plaisirs – Les Troisgros” (dir. Frederick Wiseman)
Orizzonti (Horizons) Feature Competition
“A Cielo Abierto” (dirs. Mariana Arriaga, Santiago Arriaga)
“El Paraiso” (dir. Enrico Maria Artale)
“Behind the Mountains” (dir. Mohamed Ben Attia)
“The Red Suitcase” (dir. Fidel Devkota)
“Tatami” (dir. Guy Nattiv, Zar Amir Ebrahimi)
“Paradise Is Burning” (dir. Mika Gustafson)
“The Featherweight” (dir. Robert Kolodny)
“Invelle” (dir. Simone Massi)
“Hesitation Wound” (dir. Selman Nacar)
“Heartless” (dir. Nara Normande, Tião)
“Una Sterminata Domenica” (dir. Alain Parroni)
“City of Wind” (dir. Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir)
“Explanation for Everything” (dir. Gábor Reisz)
“Gasoline Rainbow” (dir. Bill and Turner Ross)
“En Attendant La Nuit” (dir. Celine Rouzet)
“Housekeeping for Beginners” (dir. Goran Stolevski)
“Shadow of Fire” (dir. Shinya Tsukamoto)
“Dormitory” (dir. Nehir Tuna)
Horizons Extra
“Bota Jonë” (dir. Luàna Barjami)
“Forever Forever” (dir. Anna Buryachkova)
“The Rescue” (dir. Daniela Goggi)
“In the Land of Saints and Sinners” (dir. Robert Lorenz)
“Day of the Fight” (dir. Jack Huston)
“Felicità” (dir. Micaela Ramazzotti)
“Pet Shop Boys” (dir. Olmo Schnabel)
“Stolen” (dir. Karan Tejpal)
“L’Homme d’Argile” (dir. Anaïs Tellene)
