A four-hour documentary about , Martin McDonagh’s dark CIA comedy 鈥淲ild Horse Nine鈥� and films featuring Robert Pattinson, Pen茅lope Cruz and Javier Bardem are among the movies premiering at the in September.
Alberto Barbera, the festival’s artistic director, unveiled the lineup Thursday for the 83rd edition of the festival, the first of many in a busy fall film season that culminates in the Hollywood awards showdown. Like the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, the selection is lighter on Hollywood studio films than in years past.
鈥淲ild Horse Nine,鈥� starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as CIA agents in Chile before the 1973 coup, is among the higher-profile titles playing in competition. It will play alongside 鈥淧rimetime,鈥� in which Pattinson stars as 鈥淭o Catch a Predator鈥� host Chris Hansen. The broader slate has anticipated documentaries like Alex Gibney’s 鈥淢usk,鈥� a sweeping portrait of the billionaire, and Julia Loktev鈥檚 鈥淢y Undesirable Friends: Part II 鈥� Exile,鈥� which follows Russian independent journalists after they leave the country. Similar to the first part, it runs 355 minutes.
The festival’s main competition includes a diverse array of international and American films, like Werner Herzog鈥檚 鈥淏ucking Fastard,鈥� in which sisters Rooney and Kate Mara play identical twins.
Also on the program are Florian Zeller鈥檚 thriller 鈥淏unker,鈥� with Bardem and Cruz playing a married couple, Lee Chang-dong鈥檚 鈥淧ossible Love,鈥� St茅phane Briz茅鈥檚 鈥淎 Good Little Soldier鈥� and Hirokazu Kore-eda鈥檚 鈥淟ook Back,鈥� a coming of age story about two girls who dream of being manga artists. Casey Affleck will be in competition for the first time with 鈥淐ompany,鈥� starring Nick Nolte and Ben Mendelsohn. Nanni Moretti also returns for the first time since 1989.
Notable documentary premieres out of competition include 鈥淥asis: Don’t Look Back in Anger,鈥� Barbara Kopple鈥檚 鈥淯nion Town,鈥� Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s 鈥淓verest: The Other Side,鈥� Luca Guadagnino鈥檚 seven-hour Bernardo Bertolucci film 鈥淛oie de Vivre,鈥� Wim Wenders’ look at architect Peter Zumthor, Russell Crowe鈥檚 autobiographical musical concert movie, 鈥淲hat Love Builds,鈥� and Laura Poitras鈥檚 short about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis, 鈥淭hey’re Here.鈥�
Barbera said he expects Noel and Liam Gallagher to attend on behalf of the film, which was directed by Steven Knight and will be in theaters soon after, on Sept. 11.
The festival is set to open on Sept. 2 with an adaptation of James Graham鈥檚 stage play which dramatizes the rise of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch. 鈥淚nk鈥� is also playing in the main competition and in the running for awards such as the Golden Lion, a prize that is decided upon by a jury led this year by filmmaker and actor . Other jurors include filmmakers like Kaouther Ben Hania, Johnnie To and Shahrbanoo Sadat and composer Daniel Blumberg.
Gyllenhaal has a film playing as well: A Marilyn Monroe-inspired short, 鈥淔lesh Impact,鈥� in which Dakota Johnson and Ellen Burstyn 鈥済ive body and voice to the myth of Marilyn,鈥� Barbera said. The 93-year-old Burstyn will also get a lifetime achievement award from the festival.
Venice has in the last 15 years proved a desirable launching pad for Oscar hopefuls, even if not everything breaks through. Last year鈥檚 edition had plenty of star power in the lineup, with Julia Roberts, George Clooney and Dwayne Johnson movies among the splashy premieres. But the glow of the festival moment was short-lived: The films, 鈥淎fter the Hunt,鈥� 鈥淛ay Kelly鈥� and 鈥淭he Smashing Machine,鈥� were neither triumphant with audiences in theaters (鈥淛ay Kelly鈥� was a Netflix release) nor with awards voters.
Still, there鈥檚 usually a best picture nominee in the slate: Last year there were two in 鈥淔rankenstein鈥� and 鈥淏ugonia.鈥�
This year won鈥檛 be bereft of a Clooney moment either: The Venice regular is getting a .
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