Venice Film Festival Lineup Announced: ‘Manglehorn’, ‘Good Kill’ In Competition; Bogdanovich, Franco, Levinson, Von Trier Also In Official Selection

I’m here at Rome’s St Regis Hotel where Biennale president Paolo Baratta and Venice chief Alberto Barbera are announcing the lineup for the 71st edition of the world’s oldest international film festival. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu‘s Birdman world premieres in competition as the opener on August 27 and we’ll see 55 movies across the Official Selection through September 6. Yesterday, I wrote a primer for today’s reveal with such films as David Gordon Green‘s Manglehorn and Peter Bogdanovich‘s Squirrels To The Nuts expected to be announced today; and they have been.

Twenty films will compete in the main competition, 19 of which are world premieres with one international premiere. There are an abundance of titles from Italy, France, the U.S. and the UK. Among the U.S. titles in competition are Manglehorn with Al Pacino, Holly Hunter, Harmony Korine and Chris Messina, and Andrew Niccol’s Good Kill with Ethan Hawke, Bruce Greenwood, January Jones and Zoe Kravitz. Both of those will move on to Toronto next. Gonzalez Inarritu’s opener Birdman is in competition with a starry cast that includes Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone and Naomi Watts. The closing-night movie, as previously announced, is Ann Hui’s The Golden Era. Among the other expected players that are turning up in competition are Fatih Akin with The Cut starring Tahar Rahim (Carlos); Xavier Beauvois’ La Rançon De La Gloire; Abel Ferrara’s Pasolini with Willem Dafoe; Benoït Jacquot’s 3 Hearts and David Olehoffen’s Loin Des Hommes with Viggo Mortensen. Also particularly of note is The Act Of Killing director Joshua Oppenheimer with documentary The Look Of Silence. Ramin Bahrani, Roy Andersson and Andrei Konchalovsky are also in the mix (see full list below).

Out of competition, as I suspected is Bogdanovich’s She’s Funny That Way (aka Squirrels To The Nuts) with Owen Wilson, Imogen Poots, Jennifer Aniston, Rhys Ifans and Kathryn Hahn. Pacino will be in town for another film, Barry Levinson’s drama The Humbling which also stars Greta Gerwig, Dianne Wiest and Charles Grodin. Joe Dante’s Burying The Ex starring Anton Yelchin and Ashley Green also scored a berth as did Lisa Cholodenko’s Olive Kitteridge with Frances McDormand, Richard Jenkins and Bill Murray. The first parts of anthology series Heartbeat Of The World, Words With Gods, is an out of competition title from directors that include Guillermo Arriaga, Emir Kusturica, Amos Gitai, Mira Nair and Alex de la Iglesia. And, James Franco’s festival rounds continue with The Sound And The Fury out of competition and starring Franco, Tim Blake Nelson, Seth Rogen and Jon Hamm. Animated pic Boxtrolls is in and Lars Von Trier will bring his long-version director’s cut of Nymphomaniac Vol II to the Lido following his trip to Berlin earlier this year with Vol I.

The Horizons section will be opened by Mohsen Makmalbaf’s The President. It’s also chosen Michael Almereyda’s modern day take on Shakespeare’s Cymbeline starring Milla Jovovich, Ed Harris, Dakota Johnson, Penn Badgley, John Leguizamo, Bill Pullman and Hawke, again. Also in Horizon’s is Ami Canaan Mann’s music-themed drama with Katherine Heigl, Your Right Mind.

Joining president Alexandre Desplat on the competition panel will be Chinese actress and director Joan Chen ; German director Philip Groning; Austrian director Jessica Hausner; Indian writer Jhumpa Lahiri; English costume designer Sandy Powell; British actor Tim Roth; Palestinian director Elia Suleiman; and Italian director and author Carlo Verdone.

The Horizons jury includes president Ann Hui, along with Israeli actress Moran Atias; Swedish actress and director Pernilla August; American writer-director David Chase; Chad director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun; Italian director Roberto Minervini and Turkish critic Alin Tasciyan.

On the jury for the first film prize are Italian director Alice Rohrwacher, Argentine director Lisandro Alonso; Canadian director Ron Mann; Chinse producer Vivian Qu; and Romanian writer-director Razvan Radulescu.

Full lists of the major sections are below:

COMPETITION
Birdman, dir: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (opening film)
The Cut, dir: Fatih AKIN
A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence, dir: Roy Andersson
99 Homes, dir: Ramin Bahrani
Tales, dir: Rakhshān Bani E’Temad
La Rançon De La Gloire, dir: Xavier Beauvois
Hungry Hearts, dir: Saverio Costanzo
Le Dernier Coup De Marteau, dir: Alix Delaporte
Pasolini, dir: Abel Ferrara
Manglehorn, David Gordon Green
3 Hearts, dir: Benôit Jacquot
The Postman’s White Nights, dir: Andrei Konchalovsky
Il Giovane Favoloso, dir: Mario Martone
Sivas, dir: Kaan Mujdeci
Anime Nere, dir: Francesco Munzi
Good Kill, dir: Andrew Niccol
Loin Des Hommes, dir: David Oelhoffen
The Look Of Silence, dir: Joshua Oppenheimer
Fires On The Plain, dir: Shinya Tsukamoto
Red Amnesia, Xiaoshuai Wang

OUT OF COMPETITION
Words With Gods, dirs: Guillermo Arriaga, Emir Kusturica, Amos Gitai, Mira Nair, Warwick Thornton, Hector Babenco, Bahman Ghobai, Hideo Nakata, Alex de la Iglesia
She’s Funny That Way, dir: Peter Bogdanovich
Dearest, dir: Peter Ho-sun Chan
Olive Kitteridge, dir: Lisa Cholodenkp
Burying The Ex, dir: Joe Dante
Perez., dir: Edoardo De Angelis
La Zuppa Del Demonio, dir: Davide Ferrario
The Sound And The Fury, dir: James Franco
Tsili, dir: Amos Gitai
La Trattativa, dir: Sabina Guzzanti
The Golden Era, dir: Ann Hui (closing film)
Make-Up, dir: Im Kwontaek
The Humbling, dir: Barry Levinson
The Old Man Of Belem, dir: Manoel de Oliveira
Italy In A Day, dir: Gabriele Salvatores
In The Basement, dir: Ulrich Seidl
The Boxtrolls, dirs: Anthony Stacchi, Annable Graham
Nymphomaniac Volume II (long version) Director’s Cut, dir: Lars Von Trier

HORIZONS
Theeb, dir: Naji Abu Nowar
Line Of Credit, dir: Salome Alexi
Senza Nessuna Pieta, dir: Michele Alhaique
Cymbeline, dir: Michael Almereyda
Near Death Experience, dirs: Benoît Delépine, Gustave Kervern
La Vita Oscena, dir: Renato De Maria
Réalité, dir: Quentin Dupieux
I Spy/ I Spy, dirs: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala
Hill Of Freedom, dir: Hong Sangsoo
Bypass, dir: Duane Hopkins
The President, dir: Mohsen Makhmalbaf (opening film)
Your Right Mind, dir: Ami Canaan Mann
Belluscone, Una Storia Siciliana, dir: Franco Maresco
Nabat, Elchin Musaoglu
Heaven Knows What, dirs: Josh Safdie, Ben Safdie
These Are The Rules, dir: Ognjen Sviliviv
Court, dir: Chaitanya Tamhane