Following the success of Cannes and official lineup reveal for TIFF, Venice is up next on the 2021 festival circuit. The prestigious celebration holds yet another special place in the upcoming awards season, acting as a clear bellwether for future big hitters. The 78th edition of the festival will kick off at the very beginning of September and will run until the 11th. Modern visionary Bong Joon Ho will be presiding over the festival’s main jury (as Spike Lee just did at Cannes). However, Joon Ho’s jury happens to include recent Oscar-winner and rising icon Chloé Zhao.
Venice’s highest honor, the Golden Lion, is awarded to the one film that undeniably breaks the mold from the competition. The Golden Lion always signals a massive wave of incoming success for the lucky winner; Nomadland won in 2020 and Joker won in 2019. This year, Venice will be honoring Jamie Lee Curtis with the only other Golden Lion honor, the one for Lifetime Achievement. Tilda Swinton was graced with the same award last year. Curtis will, of course, also be at the festival to rep Halloween Kills, premiering out of competition at Venice 2021.
Venice is also well-known for highlighting today’s global trendsetters with its ‘Horizons’ division – a selection of films from across the world that seek to push the limits of cinema. This year welcomes the addition of ‘Horizons Extra’ – an extension of the group that is less restrained by time and format (with films only needing to surpass 1 hour to qualify). With the official lineup announcement finally here, read on to see which films will be joining highly-anticipated titles like Denis Villeneuve’s Dune and Pablo Larrain’s Spencer at this year’s Venice Film Festival. Stay tuned here on DiscussingFilm as we cover more of Venice 2021!
In Competition
“Parallel Mothers,” Pedro Almodovar — Opening Film
“Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon,” Ana Lily Amirpour
“Un Autre Monde,” Stephane Brize
“The Power of the Dog,” Jane Campion
“America Latina,” Damiano D’Innocenzo, Fabio D’Innocenzo
“L’Evenement,” Audrey Diwan
“Official Competition,” Gaston Depart, Mariano Cohn
“The Hole,” Michelangelo Frammartino
“Sundown,” Michel Franco
“Lost Illusions,” Xavier Giannoli
“The Lost Daughter,” Maggie Gyllenhaal
“Spencer,” Pablo Larrain
“Freaks Out,” Gabriele Mainetti
“Qui Rido Io,” Mario Martone
“On The Job: The Missing 8,” Erik Matti
“Leave No Traces,” Jan P. Matuszyski
“Captain Volkonogov Escaped,” Natasha Merkulova, Aleksey Chupov
“The Card Counter,” Paul Schrader
“The Hand of God,” Paolo Sorrentino
“Reflection,” Valentyn Vasyanovych
“La Caja,” Lorenzo Vigas
Out of Competition – Fiction
“Il Bambino Nascosto,” Roberto Andò – Closing Film
“Les Choses Humaines,” Yvan Attal
“Ariaferma,” Leonardo Di Costanzo
“Halloween Kills,” David Gordon Green
“La Scuola Cattolica,” Stefano Mordini
“Old Henry,” Potsy Ponciroli
“The Last Duel,” Ridley Scott
“Dune,” Denis Villeneuve
“Last Night in Soho,” Edgar Wright
Out of Competition – Non-Fiction
“Life Of Crime,” Jon Alpert
“Tranchees,” Loup Bureau
“Viaggio Nel Crepuscolo,” Augusto Contento
“Republic of Silence,” Diana El Jeiroudi
“Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song,” Daniel Geller, Dayna Goldfine
“DeAndre#Deandre Storia di un Impiegato,” Roberta Lena
“Django & Django,” Luca Rea
“Ezio Bosso. Le Cose Che Restano,” Giorgio Verdelli
Out of Competition – TV Series
“Scenes From a Marriage,” (Episodes 1-5) Hagai Levi
Horizons
“Les Promesses,” Thomas Kruithof – Opening Film
“Atlantide,” Jury Ancarani
“Miracle,” Bugdan George Apetri
“Pilgrims,” Laurynas Bareisa
“The Peackock’s Paradise,” Laura Bipuri
“The Falls,” Chung Mong-Hong
“El Hoyo En La Cerca,” Joachin Del Paso
“Amira,” Mohammed Diab
“A Plein Temps,” Eric Gravel
“107 Mothers,” Peter Kerkekes
“Vera Dreams of the Sea,” Kaltrina Krasniqi
“White Building,” Kavich Neang
“Anatomy of Time,” Jakrawal Nilthamrong
“El Otro Tom,” Rodrigo Pla, Laura Santullo
“El Gran Movimiento,” Kiro Russo
“Once Upon a Time in Calcutta,” Adita Vikram Sengupta
“Rhino,” Oleg Sentsov
“True Things,” Harry Wootliff
“Inu-Oh,” Yuasa Maasaki
Horizons Extra
“Land of Dreams,” Shirin Neshat, Shoja Azari
“Costa Brava” (AKA Lebanon) Mounia Akl
“Mama, I’m Home,” Vladimir Bitokov
“Ma Nuit,” Antoinette Boulot
“La Ragazza Ha Volato,” Wilma Labate
“7 Prisoners,” Alexandre Moratto
“The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic,” Teemu Nikki
“La Macchina Delle Immagini di Alfredo C,” Rolando Sejko
