Venice Film Festival reveals 2013 lineup
The Venice Film festival has revealed its complete 2013 lineup, launching bang this year as the techno-thriller "Gravity" starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as astronauts stranded in outer space opens the 70th edition of the world's oldest festival.
Twenty films will vie for the coveted Golden Lion, including Terry Gilliam's "The Zero Theorem" starring Christoph Waltz and Matt Damon, Jonathan Glazer's "Under the Skin" featuring Scarlett Johansson, Stephen Frears' "Philomena" with Judi Dench and "Joe" starring Nicolas Cage. "Gravity" is among 17 films showing out of competition in the festival that runs from Aug. 28-Sept. 7.
The festival lineup is strong on auteur films but light on film fest blockbusters, a delicate point for festival organizers competing with Cannes, which shows in the spring, and Toronto, which overlaps with Venice.
"Venice on paper takes more risks, for example, taking two documentaries in competition, a first by any festival, and organizing an auteur cinema to support and promote these films," festival director Alberto Barbera told a news conference. Barbera said he would have loved to show films by Jim Jarmusch or the Coen brothers, who premiered "Only Lovers Left Alive" and "Inside Llewyn Davis," respectively, in Cannes -- but they weren't available.
"The names working today are not so many and since they were all in Cannes, Venice had to make do with what was ready and available in this period of the year," Barbera said.
The festival features 53 new feature films, all but two world premieres, with 33 countries represented in the overall selection, which also includes sections on new trends and short films. Five U.S., four British and three Italian films are competing for the Golden Lion, which will be decided by a jury headed by Oscar-winning director Bernardo Bertolucci.
The lineup includes film by three Oscar-winning directors: Hayao Miyazaki with an animated film about a Japanese fighter plane designer and Errol Morris with a documentary about former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld -both in competition -- and Poland's Andrzej Wajda with a movie depicting the life of Solidarity leader Lech Walesa, showing out of competition. The other documentary in competition is Gianfranco Rosi's "Sacro GRA," about life on the highway that rings Rome.
The James Franco-directed "Child of God" and "The Canyons," starring Lindsay Lohan, will also appear at the festival.
Three previous Golden Lion winners are returning to the Lido. They include Italy's Gianni Amelio with
"L'intrepido," or "The Intrepid," and Taiwan-based director Tsai Ming-liang with "Stray Dogs," both in competition. Last year's winner Kim Ki-duk premieres "Moebius," his follow-up to "Pieta" that has generated controversy at home in South Korea for its graphic content.
The 2012 Venice Film Festival opened with "The Reluctant Fundamentalist," starring Kate Hudson, Liev Schreiber and Riz Ahmed.
Here is a rundown of the 2013 lineup:
Competition:
"Miss Violence," Alexandros Avranas
"Tracks," John Curran
"Tom at the Farm," Xavier Dolan
"Child of God," James Franco
"Philomena," Stephen Frears
"Es-Stouh (The Rooftops)," Merzak Allouache
"L'intrepido," Gianni Amelio
"Via Castellana Bandiera," Emma Dante
"La Jalousie," Philippe Garrel
"The Zero Theorem," Terry Gilliam
"Ana Arabia," Amos Gitai
"Under the Skin," Jonathan Glazer
"Joe," David Gordon Green
"Die Frau des Polizisten (The Police Officer's Wife)," Philip Groning
"Parkland," Peter Landsman
"Kaze tachinu," Hayao Miyazaki
"The Unknown Known: the Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld," Errol Morris(
"Night Moves," Kelly Reichardt
"Sacro GRA," Gianfranco Rosi
"Jiaoyou (Stray Dogs)," Tsai Ming-liang
Out of Competition:
"Yurusarezaru mono (Unforgiven)," Lee Sang-Il
"Wolf Creek 2," Greg McLean
"Gravity," Alfonso Cuaron
"Moebius," Kim Ki-duk
"Space Pirate Captain Harlock," Aramaki Shinji
"Locke," Steven Knight
"Die Andere Heimat -- Chronik einer Sehnsucht (Home from Home -- Chronicle of a Vision)," Edgar Reitz
"The Canyons," Paul Schrader