(Rome) Angelina Jolie, Lady Gaga, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Nicole Kidman… A shower of stars is expected from August 28 to September 7 at the 81e Venice Film Festival, whose programme was unveiled on Tuesday.
A total of 21 films will be in the running for the prestigious Golden Lion for best film, announced the Mostra’s artistic director, Alberto Barbera, during a presentation in streaming.
Among the most anticipated films is Joker: Madness for Two by Todd Phillips, who returns behind the camera for the sequel to Jokerstill with Joaquin Phoenix in the title role, this time alongside Lady Gaga.
PHOTO NIKO TAVERNISE, WARNER BROS ARCHIVES. PICTURES, PROVIDED BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga in a scene from Joker: Madness for Two.
One of the most anticipated red carpets will undoubtedly be the presentation of Mariawhere Angelina Jolie plays the famous singer Maria Callas during the last days of her life in Paris. The two buddies George Clooney and Brad Pitt will also set the Lido alight, but out of competition with Wolfs by Jon Watts.
The room next doorthe new feature film by Spanish maestro Pedro Almodovar and his first filmed in English in New York, will be in competition, starring Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore and John Turturro.
Australian star Nicole Kidman plays the lead role in Babygirlan erotic thriller by Halina Reijn about a woman dissatisfied with her marital relationship who embarks on a perilous sadomasochistic relationship.
British actor Jude Law will star in The orderby Australian Justin Kurzel, in the role of an FBI agent immersed in white supremacist circles in the 1980s.
The Return of Beetlejuice
Three French films were selected. Their children after them by twins Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma, an adaptation of the eponymous novel by Nicolas Mathieu, awarded the Prix Goncourt in 2018. Play with firethird opus of the sisters Delphine and Muriel Coulin with Vincent Lindon and Benjamin Voisin. And Three friends by Emmanuel Mouret, which focuses on three women whose romantic relationships intertwine.
Claude Lelouch will present out of competition Eventuallywith Kad Merad, Elsa Zylberstein, Michel Boujenah and Sandrine Bonnaire.
Five Italian films are in the running, including Queerthe last Luca Guadagnino (Call me by your name), based on a novel by William Burroughs with Daniel Craig (James Bond) in a role judged by Alberto Barbera as “the performance of his life”.
Elio Germano, Barbara Bobulova and Toni Servillo star in Iddu by Fabio Grassadoni and Antonio Piazza, loosely inspired by the long escape of Sicilian mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, arrested in January 2023 and died in prison a few months after his arrest.
The 81e Mostra will also mark the return of Brazilian Walter Salles 12 years after his last film, with I’m still herebased on a book telling the true story of a woman searching for her husband, a member of parliament, who was kidnapped by the Brazilian military during the dictatorship.
The jury will be chaired this year by French actress Isabelle Huppert. In addition to the Golden Lion, the jury will have the delicate task of awarding on September 7 the Silver Lion-Grand Jury Prize, the Silver Lion-Best Director Prize, the awards for best male and female performance and the award for best screenplay.
The oldest film festival will open on August 28 with the out-of-competition screening of Beetlejuice Beetlejuicethe sequel to Tim Burton’s iconic film released in 1988. An opening night that also promises a beautiful red carpet with the American actor Michael Keaton, who at 72 years old takes on the title role of the grimacing demon, surrounded in particular by Winona Ryder, Willem Dafoe and Monica Bellucci.