This morning, the festival organisers at the Venice Film Festival announced their line up for the in-competition films. Despite initial reports by Variety, Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master will not be making its bow at the Lido, but new films from Terrence Malick, Harmony Korine and Brian De Palma will all be making a showing.
Whether or not The Master will now hit the festival circuit is unknown. Many have said that it will screen at Fantastic Fest and others point towards the New York Film Festival as a likely place for the film’s premiere. I have to say that it wouldn’t surprise me if Anderson skips the festival circuit entirely, The Master strikes me as a film he wouldn’t really want to discuss in front of journalists given how controversial the subject matter is. As with There Will Be Blood, I imagine he wants the film to speak for itself.
There’s still lots to be excited about, however. Despite the fact it will also show at TIFF, Terrence Malick’s new film To the Wonder will in fact debut in Venice. This is an exciting prospect for Malick fans as it will be his second film in just over a year, a record for the filmmaker who is known for his unusually long gaps between projects. With two other films also currently shooting, we could see another festival showing for Malick next year.
Another exciting inclusion is Brian De Palma, marking his return to narrative features after a five year absence. His last film was the very maligned and rather underrated Redacted. He now returns with Passion, a remake of the French thriller Love Crime. It stars Rachel McAdams (also appearing in To the Wonder) and Noomi Rapace.
Filmmakers from around the world are the ones who have taken up the majority of the line up with Takeshi Kitano, Olivier Assayas, Mira Nair and Kim ki-duk rounding out the rest of the selections.
Should be an interesting and diverse year with many hot tickets. Shame about the lack of The Master but as I said before, it wasn’t that much of a surprise.
The 69th Venice Film Festival debuts on August 29th and runs to September 8th.
Check out the official line up below:
To The Wonder – Terrence Malick (U.S.)
Something in the Air – Olivier Assayas (France)
Outrage:Beyond – Takeshi Kitano (Japan)
Fill The Void – Rama Bursztyn and Yigal Bursztyn (Israel)
Pieta – Kim Ki-duk (South Korea)
Dormant Beauty – Marco Bellocchio (Italy)
E’ stato il figlio – Daniele Cipri (Italy)
At Any Price – Ramin Bahrani (US, UK)
La Cinquieme Saison – Peter Brosens, Jessica Woodworth (Belgium, Netherlands, France)
Un Giorno Speciale – Francesca Comencini (Italy)
Passion – Brian De Palma (France, Germany)
Superstar – Xavier Giannoli (France, Belgium)
Spring Breakers – Harmony Korine (US)
Thy Womb – Brillante Mendoza (Philippines)
Linhas de Wellington – Valeria Sarmiento (Portugal, France)
Paradise: Faith – Ulrich Seidl (Austria, France, Germany)
Betrayal – Kirill Serebrennikov (Russia)
