You know it’s a big year at the Venice International Film Festival when films by Kitano Takeshi, Errol Morris, and Abel Ferrara are playing out of competition.
Headlining the 74th Venice Film Festival are world premieres of Darren Aronofsky’s horror thriller Mother! and new films by George Clooney (Suburbicon) and Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water). Australia’s Warwick Thorton, also returns with the premiere of Sweet Country. It will have its Australian debut at the Adelaide Film Festival in October.
Australia is well represented in the selection, with Jason Raftopoulos’ Melbourne-shot West of Sunshine (formerly known as Father’s Day) making its international debut in the Orizzonti section. Alena Lodkina’s Strange Colours is the first Australian film to screen at the festival as part of the 2016/2017 Biennale College – Cinema selection. Additionally, Australian short film The Knife Salesman, from Golden Moss Films, has is one of only 12 short films competing for the Orizzonti Short Film Prize.
Other highlights that are competing for the Golden Lion, from a jury led by Annette Bening, are Alexander Payne’s Downsizing, which will open the festival in competition, and the always impeccable Koreeda Hirokazu’s The Third Murder.
Out of Competition, it is notable that Netflix will feature Our Souls at Night, Errol Morris’ Wormwood, and their first Italian production with a series based on Suburra. This is not a new relationship for Venice, but it is certainly a statement following the controversy at Cannes this year over Okja. By contrast, Amazon Studios has Ai Weiwei’s Human Flow in competition.
Kitano Takeshi’s latest yakuza film Outrage Coda will close the festival. A complete list of films in and out of competition, including documentaries and special events, can be found below.
COMPETITION
Human Flow, Ai Weiwei
Mother!, Darren Aronofsky
Suburbicon, George Clooney
The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro
L’insulte, ZIad Doueiri
La Villa, Robert Guediguian
Lean on Pete, Andrew Haigh
Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno, Abdellatif Kechiche
The Third Murder, Koreeda Hirokazu
Jusqu’a la Garde, Xavier Legrand
Ammore e Malavita, Manetti Brothers
Foxtrot, Samuel Maoz
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Martin McDonagh
Hannah, Andrea Pallaoro
Downsizing, Alexander Payne
Angels Wear White, Vivian Qu
Una Famiglia, Sebastiano Riso
First Reformed, Paul Schrader
Sweet Country, Warwick Thornton
The Leisure Seeker, Paolo Virzi
Ex Libris – The New York Public Library, Frederick Wiseman
OUT OF COMPETITION FEATURES
Our Souls at Night, Ritesh Batra
Il Signor Rotpeter, Antonietta de Lillo
Victoria & Abdul, Stephen Frears
La Melodie, Rachid Hami
Outrage Coda, Kitano Takeshi
Loving Pablo, Fernando Leon de Aranoa
Zama, Lucrecia Martel
Wormwood, Errol Morris
Diva!, Franceso Patierno
Le FIdele, Michael R. Roskam
Diva!, Franceso Patierno
Il Colore Nascosto Delle Cose, Silvio Soldini
The Private Life of a Modern Woman, James Toback
Brawl in Cell Block 99, S. Craig Zahler
OUT OF COMPETITION DOCUMENTARIES
Cuba and the Cameraman, Jon Alpert
My Generation, David Batty
Piazza Vittorio, Abel Ferrara
The Devil and Father Amorth, William Friedkin
This is Congo, Daniel McCabe
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda, Stephen Nomura Schible
Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond. The Story of Jim Carrey, Andy Kaufman and Tony Clifton, Chris Smith
Happy Winter, Giovanni Totaro
SPECIAL EVENTS
Casa d’Altri, Gianni Amelio
Michael Jackson’s Thriller 3D, John Landis
Making of Michael Jackson’s Thriller (1983), Jerry Kramer
HORIZONS COMPETITION
Disappearance, Ali Asgari
Especes Menacees, Gilles Bourdos
The Rape of Recy Taylor, Nancy Buirski
Caniba, Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Verena Paravel
Les Bienheureux, Sofia Djama
Marvin, Anne Fontaine
Invisible, Pablo Giorgelli
Brutti e Cattivi, Cosimo Gomez
The Cousin, Tzahi Grad
The Testament, Amichai Greenberg
No Date, No Signature, Vahid Jalilvand
Los Versos del Olvido, Alireza Khatami
The Night I Swam, Damien Manivel, Igarashi Kohei
Nico, 1988, Susanna Nicchiarelli
Krieg, Rick Ostermann
West of Sunshine, Jason Raftopoulos
Gatta Cenerentola, Alessandro Rak, Ivan Cappiello, Marino Guarnieri, Dario Sansone
Under the Tree, Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson
La Vita in Comune, Edoardo Winspeare
CINEMA NEL GIARDINO
Manuel, Dario Albertini
Controfigura, Ra di Martino
Woodshock, Kate Mulleavy, Laura Mulleavy
Nato a Casal di Principe, Bruno Oliviero
Suburra – The Series, Michele Placido, Andrea Molaioli, Giuseppe Capotondi
Tueurs, Francois, Troukens, Jean-Francois Hensgens
VENICE CLASSICS DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Light Years, Manuel Abramovich
Evviva Giuseppe, Stefano Consiglio
La Lucida Follia di Marco Ferreri, Selma Jean Dell’Olio
The Russian Revolution Through its Films, Emmanuel Hamon
The Prince and the Dybbuk, Elwira Niewiera
La Voce di Fantozzi, Mario Sesti
This is the War Room!, Boris Hars-Tschachotin
SPECIAL DOCUMENTARY SCREENINGS
La Lunga Strada del Ritorno, Alessandro Blasetti
Barbiana ’65 La Lezione di Don Milani, Alessandro G. A. D’Alessandro
Lievito Madre, Le Ragazze del Secolo Scorso, Concita de Gregorio, Esmeralda Calabria
BIENNALE COLLEGE
Beautiful Things, Giorgio Ferrero
Martyr, Mazen Khaled
Strange Colours, Alena Lodkina
