As expected, the official line-up of films for the2019 Venice International Film Festivalwill includeTodd Phillips' take on theJokermythology,James Gray’s star-studdedAd Astra, and the latest pic from the problematic Polish filmmakerRoman Polanski. The official selections for competition include films from all over the world in a fairly diverse array of international voices, but the film festival has a long way to go to improve its gender disparity. Of the 21 films vying for the top prize, only two come from female directors:Haifaa Al Mansour, the first female director in Saudi Arabia whose 2012 filmWadjdawas nominated for a BAFTA, andShannon Murphy, a newcomer to the film circuit who makes her feature directorial debut withBabyteeth.
Interestingly enough, the Venice Film Festival usually throws the animation industry a few bones by including a feature or two in the line-up somewhere, but this year will see one of them in actual, honest-to-goodness competition. Chinese directorYonfanmovies into animation withJi Yuan Tai Qi Hao (No. 7 Cherry Lane)in a story that follows an English literature student living in 1960s Hong Kong who gets caught up in a love triangle with the woman he is tutoring as well as her mother. In an interview withVariety, the filmmaker said of the medium:
“Strangely enough, I found it’s easier to deliver what I want to say in an animation. Drawings and paintings can give you more imagination than the real photos. The Mona Lisa still sits in the Louvre and can touch the heart of millions. That is what a good painting can do. In ‘No. 7 Cherry Lane,’ we have thousands of wonderful moments in images, each fully capable of conveying powerful emotion. The love scenes in ‘Cherry Lane’ can be much more evocative than any painting by Andy Warhol.”
Here’s a look at the films in competition for the 76th Venice Film Festival:
The Perfect Candidate- Directed byHaifaa Al Mansourand starringMila Alzahrani, Dhay,Nourah Al Awad, andKhalid Abdulrhim
Om det oändliga (About Endlessness)- Directed byRoy Anderssonand starringJane-Ege Ferling,Martin Serner,Bengt Bergius,Tatiana Delaunay,Anders Hellström, andThore Flygel
Wasp Network- Directed byOlivier Assayasand starringPenélope Cruz,Ana de Armas,Edgar Ramírez,Wagner Moura,Gael García Bernal, andLeonardo Sbaraglia
Marriage Story- Directed byNoah Baumbachand starringScarlett Johansson,Adam Driver,Laura Dern,Alan Alda,Ray Liotta, andJulie Hagerty
Guest of Honour- Directed byAtom Egoyanand starringDavid Thewlis,Laysla De Oliveira,Luke Wilson, andRossif Sutherland
Ad Astra- Directed byJames Grayand starringBrad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler, andDonald Sutherland
A Herdade- Directed byTiago Guedesand starringAlbano Jerónimo, Sandra Faleiro, Miguel Borges, Ana Vilela da Costa, João Vicente, andJoão Pedro Mamede
Gloria Mundi- Directed byRobert Guédiguianand starringAriane Ascaride, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Gérard Meylan, Anaïs Demoustier, Robinson Stévenin, andLola Naymark
Waiting for the Barbarians- Directed byCiro Guerraand starringMark Rylance, Johnny Depp, Robert Pattinson, Gana Bayarsaikhan, andGreta Scacchi
La vérité (The Truth)- Directed byKore-eda Hirokazuand starringCatherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, Ethan Hawke, Clementine Grenier, andLudivine Sagnier
Ema- Directed byPablo Larraínand starringMariana Di GirolamoandGael García Bernal
Lan xin da ju yuan (Saturday Fiction)- Directed byYe Louand starringGong Li, Mark Chao, Joe Odagiri, Pascal Greggory, Tom Wlaschiha, andHuang Xiangli
Martin Eden- Directed byPietro Marcelloand starringLuca Marinelli, Jessica Cressy, Denise Sardisco, Vincenzo Nemolato, Marco Leonardi, andAutilia Ranieri
La mafia non è più quella di una volta - Directed byFranco Marescoand starringLetizia BattagliaandCiccio Mira
The Painted Bird- Directed byVáclav Marhouland starringPetr Kotlár, Udo Kier, Lech Dyblik, Jitka Čvančarová, Stellan Skarsgård, Harvey Keitel, andJulian Sands
Il sindaco del Rione Sanità (The Mayor of Rione Sanità)- Directed byMario Martoneand starringFrancesco Di Leva, Massimiliano Gallo, Roberto De Francesco, Adriano Pantaleo, Daniela Ioia, andGiuseppe Gaudino
Babyteeth- Directed byShannon Murphyand starringEliza Scanlen, Toby Wallace, Essie Davis, andBen Mendelsohn
Joker- Directed byTodd Phillipsand starringJoaquin PhoenixandRobert De Niro
J’Accuse- Directed byRoman Polanskiand starringJean Dujardin, Louis Garrel, Emmanuelle Seigner, andGrégory Gadebois
The Laundromat- Directed bySteven Soderberghand starringMeryl Streep, Gary Oldman, Antonio Banderas, Jeffrey Wright, Matthias Schoenaerts, James Cromwell, andSharon Stone
Ji Yuan Tai Qi Hao (No. 7 Cherry Lane)(Animation) - Directed byYonfanand featuring voice performances spoken bySylvia Chang, Zhao Wei, Alex Lam, andKelly Yao
The Venice Film Festival runs from August 28th through September 7th.
The 76th Venice International Film Festival is organised by La Biennale di Venezia, and will take place at Venice Lido from August 28th to September 7th, 2019. The Festival is officially recognised by the FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Association).
The aim of the Festival is to raise awareness and promote international cinema in all its forms as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and dialogue. The Festival also organises retrospectives and tributes to major figures as a contribution towards a better understanding of the history of cinema.
