\n\tThe 83rd Biennale will also feature new features from festival faves, including Werner Herzog, Hirokazu Koreeda, Lee Chang-dong, Nanni Moretti, and Martin McDonagh.<\/p>\n
\n\tIrish director McDonagh, who has won two best screenplay Silver Lions in Venice, for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri <\/a>(2017) and The Banshees of Inisherin (2022), returns to competition with Wild Horse Nine. John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell star in the black comedy as a pair of veteran CIA officers who, ahead of the 1973 Chilean coup, are sent far from the action to Easter Island. Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits, and Parker Posey co-star.<\/p>\n \n\tThree Billboards and Banshees both received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, with the former won acting Oscars for stars Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell. McDonagh\u2019s house studio, Searchlight Pictures, will be hoping for a similar run for Wild Horse Nine after its Venice launch next month.<\/p>\n \n\tFrench director Florian Zeller, last on the Lido in 2022 with The Son<\/a>, returns to competition with Bunker. The psychological thriller stars Javier Bardem and Pen\u00e9lope Cruz as a couple whose marriage buckles after he, a celebrated architect, accepts a commission to build a bunker for a billionaire. Stephen Graham, Paul Dano and Patrick Schwarzenegger co-star. Sony Pictures Classics has picked up Bunker for North America. FilmNation Entertainment is handling international<\/a> sales.<\/p>\n \n\tRobert Pattinson will hit the Lido red carpet for the world premiere of Primetime, the feature debut of documentary director Lance Oppenheim (Some Kind of Heaven), playing NBC newsman Chris Hansen, whose To Catch a Predator format becomes a media sensation. Pattinson is also a producer on the film, which A24 is releasing stateside and selling worldwide. <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\u2018Bucking Fastard\u2019 with Rooney Mara, Kate Mara <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Lena Herzog<\/p>\n \n\tLegendary German director Werner Herzog, whose documentary Ghost Elephants <\/a>screened out of competition in Venice last year, arrives in the main selection this year with Bucking Fastard. Herzog reportedly turned down an out-of-competition slot in Cannes for his new feature, which stars siblings Rooney and Kate Mara in their first on-screen collaboration. Orlando Bloom and Domhnall Gleeson co-star. Hanway Films is selling Bucking Fastard international, with Gersh is handling U.S. sales. The film is still hunting for a domestic distributor.<\/p>\n \n\tDanish director May el-Toukhy (Queen of Hearts<\/a>) will make her Venice debut in competition with Woman Unknown. The period drama, set just after World War 2, stars Mathilde Arcel as Marie, a young nanny and housemaid who is set to marry her boss, the wealthy older widower, Christian (Carsten Bj\u00f8rnlund). But Marie\u2019s past \u2014 her shameful affair with a German soldier during occupation \u2014 threatens to catch up with her. TrustNordisk is handling world sales.<\/p>\n \n\tMay el-Toukhy is the sole female director, one out of 20, in Venice competition this year. Nearly a decade after Barbera signed the 50\/50 by 2020 pledge<\/a> to improve gender representation in Venice, it\u2019s hard to see much evidence of progress.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\u2018Woman Unknown\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAndrejs-Strokins<\/p>\n \n\tAmong the most prominent Italian titles in competition is The Echo Chamber from director Andrea Pallaoro (Monica). Adapted from the final screenplay written by the late, great Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor, The Conformist), the film stars Alicia Vikander and as Anne and Leo, lovers trapped in a bond they can neither escape nor relinquish. Paradise City is selling the title worldwide with UTA co-repping North America.<\/p>\n \n\tIn a more surprising move, Cannes darling Nanni Moretti will be returning to the Lido. Moretti\u2019s It Will Happen Tonight, a romantic drama starring Louis Garrel and Jasmine Trinca, will premiere in competition. The Italian auteur, winner of the Palme d\u2019Or for The Son\u2019s Room (2001), was last in Venice with Palombella rossa back in 1989. Playtime and Pan-Europ\u00e9enne are handling world sales for It Will Happen Tonight.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tLouis Garrel and Jasmine Trinca in \u2018It Will Happen Tonight\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of the Venice Film Festival<\/p>\n \n\tTwo of Asia\u2019s most acclaimed directors, Hirokazu Koreeda and Lee Chang-dong, will present their latest features, Look Back and Possible Love, respectively, in competition. <\/p>\n \n\tJapanese auteur Koreeda, fresh of the Cannes competition premiere of Sheep in the Box<\/a>, arrives on the Lido with his live-action adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto\u2019s beloved coming-of-age manga, already adapted as an animated feature by Kiyotaka Oshiyama in 2024. <\/p>\n \n\tEight years after\u00a0Burning<\/a>, Lee Chang-dong, the elder statesman of Korean arthouse cinema is heading to Venice with a new melodrama, backed by Netflix and starring Korean screen royalty Jeon Do-yeon and Sul Kyung-gu opposite Zo In-sung and\u00a0Parasite\u2018s Cho Yeo-jeong. The film marks Lee\u2019s first Venice appearance since 2002, when he won the best director Silver Lion for Oasis.<\/p>\n \n\tAlso in competition for the Golden Lion this year are Casey Affleck\u2019s 1970s-set gothic mystery Company starring Nick Nolte and Ben Mendelsohn, and A Bit of Light from Iranian director Ali Asgari.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tJack O\u2019Connell in \u2018Ink\u2019 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStudiocanal<\/p>\n \n\tVenice previously announced that Danny Boyle\u2019s Ink<\/a>, a biographical drama starring Jack O\u2019Connell, Guy Pearce and Claire Foy, about Rupert Murdoch and his British tabloid empire, will open this year\u2019s festival, on Sept. 2. Dio Ride<\/a>, an Italian period drama from director Giovanni Veronesi starring Pierfrancesco Favino (Maria, Rush) will close the fest on Sept. 12, screening out of competition. <\/p>\n \n\tAlso playing out of competition, in a new section titled Venice Open Non Fiction, are some of the most hotly-anticipated docs of this year. Alex Gibney\u2019s long-gestating Elon Musk documentary Musk, clocking in at nearly 4 hours<\/a>, an will have its world premiere on the Lido. As will Oasis: Don\u2019t Look Back In Anger, a Hulu Original film from Peaky Blinders\u2018 Steven Knight directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace (Shut Up and Play\u00a0the\u00a0Hits) following the band\u2019s triumphant 2025 reunion tour. Barbera said both Liam and Noel Gallagher would be on hand for the film\u2019s premiere in Venice. <\/p>\n \n\tOasis: Don\u2019t Look Back In Anger will open theatrically on IMAX and select theaters on Sept. 11 before streaming on Disney+ and Hulu later this year. <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\u2018Oasis: Don\u2019t Look Back in Anger\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWalt Disney Studios<\/p>\n \n\tOther can\u2019t-miss docs in Venice this year include My Undesirable Friends Part II \u2013 Exile, Julia Loktev\u2019s follow-up to her 2025 film<\/a> tracing Russia\u2019s crack down on independent journalists; and Union Town from two-time Oscar winner Barbara Kopple<\/a> (Harlan County U.S.A., American Dream). Another doc certain to attract attention is Be Brave by Italian director Francesco Carrozzini. It \u2060tells the \u200bstory of Renzo Rosso, the founder of fashion group Diesel, but was made almost \u200bentirely using artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n \n\tThe festival will also screen They\u2019re Here, a documentary short from Laura Poitras (Citizenfour, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed) and Rachel Mueller which features never-before-seen footage of the protests in Minnesota against President Trump\u2019s controversial ICE raids. <\/p>\n \n\tMaggie Gyllenhaal<\/a>\u00a0(The Lost Daughter, The Bride!) will head up this year\u2019s Venice competition jury<\/a> as president, picking the winner of the Golden Lion for best film. As previously announced, Gyllenhaal will also screen Flesh Impact, her short tribute to Marilyn Monroe, starring Dakota Johnson and Ellen Burstyn. <\/p>\n \n\tBurstyn, who also stars in Kornel Mundruczo\u2019s out of competition title Place to Be, will receive a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement<\/a> at this year\u2019s festival. As will George Clooney, a Lido regular<\/a>. <\/p>\n Among the titles screening out of competition in Venice this year are Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors, the latest from Filipino auteur Lav Diaz (Season of the Devil); Paul Schrader\u2019s new film, The Basics of Philosophy; and the Luc Besson-produced crime thriller Father Joe, from director Barthelemy Grossman starring Kiefer Sutherland and Al Pacino.<\/p>\n \n\tAnnouncing the lineup on Thursday, artistic director Barbera began with the Venice Spotlight sidebar, whose highlights include Conversation With the Sea from Palestinian director Muayad Alayan, and Hombre Al Agua from Mexican star Gael Garcia Bernal. The Spotlight line up looks like a particularly political one this year, with other highlights including Ground Floor from Hungarian director Gabor Reisz, which Barbera described as a metaphor for the Victor Orban \u201cdictatorship;\u201d and I Matter, from director Alina Serban, the first film from a Roma director to screen in the section. <\/p>\n \n\tPolitics of another kind reared its head at Thursday\u2019s presentation, when Venice Biennale chairman Pietrangelo Buttafuoco slammed a recent decision by the European Commission to withdrawing a \u20ac2 million ($2.3 million) grant to the Biennale\u2019s arts exhibition this year. The move was in response to Russia being allowed to participate in the event for the first time since the full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The umbrella Biennale organization oversees not just the Venice Film Festival<\/a> but revolving exhibitions on art, architecture, dance, music and theatre. <\/p>\n \n\tComparing the European Commission to \u201cwolves\u201d and the Biennale to \u201clambs,\u201d Buttafuoco condemned the move said as \u201ca political decision, not certainly a legal decision, and certainly not a cultural decision\u201d and accused the European body of \u201cabandoning us.\u201d Buttafuoco said he would not bow to EU pressure, claiming that would undermine \u201cthe autonomy and freedom of expression\u201d of the Biennale.<\/p>\n \n\tButtafuoco said the pulled funds would also impact activities at the Venice festival, including support for the Biennale College film fund and the Venice Production Bridge initiatives.<\/p>\n \n\tAmong the highlights of Venice\u2019s main sidebar, the Orizzonti or Horizons section are Lovers in the Blue Night, the new film from India\u2019s Anuparna Roy, whose Songs of Forgotten Trees<\/a> won best director in the section last year; and Too Much Sugar, the new documentary from Procession director Robert Greene.<\/p>\n \n\tIt remains to be seen if this year\u2019s Biennale will live up to its initial promise. Venice last year included several high-profile premieres, but many \u2014\u00a0Benny Safdie\u2019s The Smashing Machine<\/a>, Noah Baumbach\u2019s Jay Kelly<\/a>, Kathryn Bigelow\u2019s A House of Dynamite <\/a>\u2014\u00a0were award season flops. The only 2025 Venice title to go on to score at the Oscars was Guillermo del Toro\u2019s Frankenstein<\/a>, which picked up 9 Academy Award nominations, winning three, for Best Costume Design, Best Production Design and Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling. Bugonia<\/a>, from Yorgos Lanthimos, another Venice world premiere, picked up three Oscar nominations but won none. Kaouther Ben Hania\u2019s The Voice of Hind Rajab<\/a>, which won Venice\u2019s Silver Lion last year, was nominated for Best International Feature but lost out to Joachim Trier\u2019s Sentimental Value.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
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