Chloé Zhao, Gia Cop­po­la and Michel Fran­co head up Venice Film Fes­ti­val 2020

Fol­low­ing the (ful­ly expect­ed) can­cel­la­tion of this year’s Cannes Film Fes­ti­val, our atten­tions quick­ly turned to the two major inter­na­tion­al autumn fes­ti­vals, Venice and Toron­to. Viewed by the indus­try as the launch­pad for awards sea­son, both of these long-run­ning cul­tur­al insti­tu­tions have been faced with the dif­fi­cult deci­sion of whether or not to forge ahead with their ini­tial plans for 2020.

On that front, the organ­is­ers of TIFF have already announced a pro­gramme ​“tai­lored to fit the moment”, com­pris­ing phys­i­cal screen­ings and dri­ve-ins along­side vir­tu­al screen­ings, red car­pets, press con­fer­ences and indus­try talks. Venice, how­ev­er, will not be fol­low­ing suit, per­haps sur­pris­ing­ly giv­en the cur­rent sta­tus of the pan­dem­ic. Today, the line-up for the forth­com­ing 77^th edi­tion was announced in full, and just six weeks out it appears that the show will indeed go on.

Venezia 77 Competition

In Between Dying – Hilal Bay­darov
Le Sorelle Macalu­so – Emma Dante
The World to Come – Mona Fastvold
Nue­vo Orden – Michel Fran­co
Lovers – Nicole Gra­cia
Laila in Haifa – Amos Gitai
Dear Com­rades – Andrei Kon­chalovsky
Wife of a Spy – Kiyoshi Kuro­sawa
Sun Chil­dren – Majid Maji­di
Pieces of a Woman – Kornél Mundruczó
Miss Marx – Susan­na Nic­chiarel­li
Padrenos­tro – Clau­dio Noce
Not­turno – Gian­fran­co Rosi
Nev­er Gonna Snow Again – Mał­gorza­ta Szu­mows­ka
The Dis­ci­ple – Chai­tanya Tamhane
And Tomor­row The Entire World – Julia Von Heinz
Quo Vadis, Aida? – Jas­mi­la Žban­ić
Nomad­land – Chloé Zhao

Oriz­zon­ti Competition

Apples – Chris­tos Nikou
La Troisieme Guerre – Gio­van­ni Aloi
Mile­stone – Ivan Ayr
The Waste­land – Ahmad Bahra­mi
The Man Who Sold His Skin – Kaouther Ben Hania
I Preda­tori – Pietro Castel­lit­to
Main­stream – Gia Cop­po­la
Genus Pan – Lav Diaz
Zan­ka Con­tact – Ismael el Ira­ki
Guer­ra E Pace – Mar­ti­na Par­en­ti, Mas­si­mo D’Anolfi
La Nuit Des Rois – Philippe Lacôte
The Fur­nace – Rod­er­ick McK­ay
Care­less Crime – Shahram Mokri
Gaza Mon Amour – Tarzan Nass­er, Arab Nass­er
Sel­va Trág­i­ca – Yulene Olaizo­la
Nowhere Spe­cial – Uber­to Pasoli­ni
Lis­ten – Ana Rocha De Sousa
The Best is Yet to Come – Wang Jing
Yel­low Cat – Adilkhan Yerzhanov

Out of Competition

Sportin’ Life – Abel Fer­rara
Crazy, Not Insane – Alex Gib­ney
Gre­ta – Nathan Gross­man w/​Gre­ta Thun­berg
Final Account – Luke Hol­land
La Ver­ità Su La Dolce Vita – Giuseppe Ped­er­soli
Mol­e­cole – Andrea Seg­re
Nar­ciso em Férias – Rena­to Ter­ra, Ricar­do Calil
Pao­lo Con­te, Via Con Me – Gior­gio Verdel­li
Hopper/​Welles – Orson Welles w/​Den­nis Hop­per
City Hall – Fred­er­ick Wise­man
Lac­ci – Daniele Luchet­ti (Open­ing Film)
Las­ci­a­mi Andare – Ste­fano Mor­di­ni
Mandibules – Quentin Dupieux
Love After Love – Ann Hui
Assandi­ra – Sal­va­tore Mereu
The Duke – Roger Michell
Night in Par­adise – Park Hoong-jung
Mos­qui­to State – Fil­ip Jan Rym­sza
30 Coins: Episode 1 – Álex de la Igle­sia
Princess Europe – Camille Lot­teau
Omelia Con­tad­i­na – Alice Rohrwach­er, JR

Though it remains to be seen exact­ly how this year’s fes­ti­val will oper­ate – there’s no word yet on whether red car­pets and press con­fer­ences will take place as usu­al – it’s heart­en­ing to see the film world return­ing to some­thing resem­bling nor­mal­cy. Of course, with cin­e­mas in the UK only now prepar­ing to reopen, and things look­ing much less cer­tain else­where, we sin­cere­ly hope that Venice 2020 will be car­ried out sen­si­bly and with pub­lic safe­ty as the first priority.

But let’s focus on the pos­i­tives for now – we can’t wait to get stuck into what is a very promis­ing line-up, with a clear empha­sis on diver­si­ty and dis­cov­ery. More encour­ag­ing still, Venice and TIFF, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Tel­luride and New York Film Fes­ti­vals, will not be com­pet­ing against one anoth­er this year but rather shar­ing the wealth: Nomad­land is set to receive its world pre­mière simul­ta­ne­ous­ly on 11 Sep­tem­ber, mark­ing an unprece­dent­ed part­ner­ship between the fes­ti­vals. That in itself is sure­ly cause for celebration.

The 77^th Venice Film­Fes­ti­val takes place at Venice Lido from 2 – 12 Sep­tem­ber. For more info vis­it labi​en​nale​.org