Venice Film Festival chief Alberto Barbera recently unveiled the official lineup for the 2015 Venice Film Festival, revealing a schedule packed with buzzy Oscar contenders and A-list stars.
The wild assortment of titles include a sci-fi romance starring Kristen Stewart and Nicholas Hoult (Equals), a drama in which Eddie Redmayne plays an artist undergoing a sex change operation (The Danish Girl), a blockbuster survival epic set on Mount Everest (Everest) and an African war drama starring Idris Elba as the commander of an army of child soldiers (Beasts of No Nation).
Interestingly, some titles that were presumed to be in contention for awards later this year, like Tom McCarthy’s journalism drama Spotlight and Scott Cooper’s Whitey Bulger action-drama Black Mass, are screening out of competition. That’s by no means a death knell for their Oscar campaigns, but it’s nonetheless surprising that they won’t be in the running for prizes.
The 72nd Venice Film Festival opens September 2 with the world premiere of Everest, certainly one of the more mainstream popcorn movies screening. The festival will then run until September 12, when Gravity director Alfonso Cuaron will lead a jury in awarding the Golden Lion for best film and other prizes.
Full list of titles below:
COMPETITION
Frenzy, dir: Emin Alper
Turkey, France, Qatar
Heart Of A Dog, dir: Laurie Anderson
U.S
Sangue Del Mio Sangue, dir: Marco Bellocchio
Italy, France, Switzerland
Looking For Grace, dir: Sue Brooks
Australia
Equals, dir: Drake Doremus
U.S.
Remember, dir: Atom Egoyan
Canada, Germany
Beasts Of No Nation, dir: Cary Fukunaga
U.S.
Per Amor Vostro, dir: Giuseppe M. Gaudino
Italy, France
Marguerite, dir: Xavier Giannoli
France, Czech Republic, Belgium
Rabin, The Last Day, dir: Amos Gitai
Israel, France
A Bigger Splash, dir: Luca Guadagnino
Italy, France
The Endless River, dir: Oliver Hermanus
South Africa, France
The Danish Girl, dir: Tom Hooper
U.S.
Anomalisa, dirs: Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson
U.S.
L’Attesa, dir: Piero Messina
Italy, France
11 Minutes, dir: Jerzy Skolimowski
Poland, Ireland
Francofonia, dir: Aleksandr Sokurov
France, Germany, Netherlands
El Clan, dir: Pablo Trapero
Argentina, Spain
Desde Alla, dir: Lorenzo Vigas
Venezuela, Mexico
L’Hermine, dir: Christian Vincent
France
Behemoth, dir: Liang Zhao
China, France
OUT OF COMPETITION
Everest, dir: Baltasar Kormakur (opening film)
UK, U.S.
Mr Six, dir: Guan Hu (closing film)
China
Go With Me, dir: Daniel Alfredson
U.S., Canada, Sweden
Non Essere Cattivo, dir: Claudio Caligari
Italy
Black Mass, dir: Scott Cooper
U.S
Spotlight, dir: Thomas McCarthy
U.S.
La Calle De La Amargura, dir: Arturo Ripstein
Mexico, Spain
The Audition, dir: Martin Scorsese
U.S.
Winter On Fire, dir: Evgeny Afineevsky (documentary)
Ukraine
De Palma, dirs: Noah Baumbach, Jake Paltrow (documentary)
U.S
Janis, dir: Amy Berg (documentary)
U.S
Sobytie (The Event), dir: Sergei Loznitsa (documentary)
Netherlands, Belgium
Gli Uomini Di Questa Citta Io Non Li Consoco, dir: Franceo Maresco (documentary) Italy
L’Esercito Piu Piccolo Del Mondo, dir: Gianfranco Pannone (documentary)
Vatican City State, Italy, Switzerland
Na Ri Xiawu (Afternoon), dir: Tsai Ming-liang
China, Taiwan
In Jackson Heights, dir: Frederick Wiseman (cumentary)
U.S
SPECIAL SCREENING
Human, dir: Yann Arthus-Bertrand (documentary)
France
GOLDEN LION FOR CAREER ACHIEVEMENT
Bertrand Tavernier, screening La Vie Et Rien D’Autre
France
HORIZONS (ORRIZONTI)
Madame Courage, dir: Merzak Allouache
Algeria, France, UAE
A Copy Of My Mind, dir: Joko Anwar
Indonesia, South Korea
Pecore In Eerba, dir: Alberto Caviglia
Italy
Tempête, dir: Samuel Collardey
France
The Childhood Of A Leader, dir: Brady Corbet
UK, Hungary, Belgium, France
Italian Gangster, dir: Renato De Maria
Italy
Chaharshanbeh, 19 Ordibehesht (Wednesday, May 9), dir: Vahid Jalivand
Iran
Mountain, dir: Yaelle Kayam
Israel
Krigen (A War), dir: Tobian Lindholm
Denmark
Visaarani (Interrogation), dir: Vetri Maaran
India
Free In Deed, dir: Jake Mahaffy
U.S., New Zealand
Boi Neon, dir: Gabriel Mascaro
Brazil, Uruguay, Netherlands
Man Down, dir: Dito Montiel
U.S.
Lama Azavtani (Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me), dir: Hadar Morag
Israel, France
Un Monstruo De Mil Cabezas, dir: Rodrigo Pla
Mexico
Mate-Me Por Favor, dir: Anita Rocha Da Silveira
Brazil, Argentina
Taj Mahal, dir: Nicolas Saada
France, Belgi
Interruption, dir: Yorgos Zois
Greece, France, Croatia