by InTrieste
The 83rd Venice Film Festival will emphasize director-driven cinema over major studio productions when it returns to the Lido from Sept. 2 to Sept. 12, artistic director Alberto Barbera announced on Friday.
The festival will open with Ink, Danny Boyle’s biographical drama about media magnate Rupert Murdoch. The film stars Guy Pearce in the title role alongside Jack O’Connell and Claire Foy. Italian director Giovanni Veronesi’s Dio Ride has been selected as the closing film.
This year’s competition for the Golden Lion features a roster of internationally recognized filmmakers, including Martin McDonagh, Werner Herzog, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Lee Chang-dong, Florian Zeller, May el-Toukhy and Casey Affleck. McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine stars John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as CIA officers dispatched to Easter Island in the period preceding Chile’s 1973 military coup.
Other competition titles include Primetime, starring Robert Pattinson, as well as new films by Julia Loktev, Tsai Ming-liang, Lav Diaz, Luca Guadagnino, Nanni Moretti, Lance Oppenheim and Paul Schrader.
The out-of-competition program includes Kornél Mundruczó’s Place to Be, featuring Ellen Burstyn, Taika Waititi and Pamela Anderson. Also scheduled are a documentary chronicling Oasis’ reunion tour and filmmaker Alex Gibney’s documentary on Elon Musk.
Actress and filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal will serve as president of the international competition jury. She will be joined by director Kaouther Ben Hania, filmmaker Johnnie To, director Xavier Giannoli, filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat, composer Daniel Blumberg and film scholar Francesco Casetti.
The festival will also honor George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn with Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement.
As in previous years, Venice will present world premieres exclusively, maintaining a distinction from other major fall festivals, including Telluride and Toronto.
Venice Days, the festival’s independent sidebar, will celebrate its 23rd edition with a program dedicated to the memory of its founder, Giorgio Gosetti, who died in March. The section will present 25 world premieres, with more than half directed by women. It opens with Lili Horvát’s English-language debut, My Notes on Mars, starring Mackenzie Davis and Rupert Friend.
Venice Critics’ Week, organized by Italy’s National Union of Film Critics, will feature seven first-time directors. The section opens with Marco Santi’s Il Grande Giaffa and concludes with the Milan-set musical Rider.
