2011 Venice Int. Film Festival: Steve McQueen, Yorgos Lanthimos, Eran Kolirin and Andrea Arnold Among 20 Vying For Golden Lion

Today’s announcement for the 2011 Venice Film Festival lineup basically crosses off plenty of sure bets we had been anticipating and makes us circle a bunch of titles we thought had a chance for a 2011 showing, but now become hot items for the 2012 campaign. Films such as Juan Diego Solanas’ Upside Down, Rodrigo Cortés’ Red Lights, Pen-ek Ratanaruang’s Headshot, Brillante Mendoza’s Prey look more and more like Cannes 2012 items, while acquisition titles such as Antonio Campos’ Simon Killer and Nick Cassavetes’ Yellow wouldn’t be out of place for a Sundance showing. And all of a sudden, Wong Kar-wai going to Cannes with The Grandmaster isn’t such a far-fetched idea after all, but Thierry Frémaux probably already knew this.

Among the titles we look forward in seeing in the Competition line-up that should follow in the double premiere route from Lido to downtown Toronto such as the already announced Shame, there is Yorgos Lanthimos’ Alpeis (Alps), Eran Kolirin’s The Exchange, and Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights.

Among the surprises/unexpected inclusions in the Competition, Sion Sono follows in last year’s footsteps of Hong Sang-soo, presenting two brand new films in the two major film festivals. Guilty of Romance (Cannes) will be followed by Sono’s Manga tale Himizu. The trailer for Wei Te-sheng’s Seediq Bale evokes thoughts of previous epic Asian films that have competed for the Golden Lion, we weren’t thinking that Marco Muller would include the title but we weren’t sure if he’d be just as inviting towards the Taiwanese director who hasn’t directed a film in more than a dozen years. We’re now officially curious about Ann Hui’s A Simple Life, the drama is also TIFF-bound for a Special Presentations showing. Finally, it appears that there might be some strong directing skills in Michael Mann’s daughter, Ami Canaan. Her sophomore project, Texas Killing Fields receives a major boost out of this prestigious showing, which will most likely be followed by a big screening at TIFF or the NYFF. Finally, a great friend of the festival Abel Ferrara will indeed move from a Locarno masterclass snip-it showing of 4:44 Last Day on Earth and into a competition slot, not an out of comp slot as we would have normally thought. 

Among the noticeably items in the Out of Competition items, we notice Tomas Lunak’s animated first film Alois Nebel is indeed ready, that Eva’s Kike Maillo which is opening the Sitges Film Festival appears to be a buzz title we’ll be hearing about for the full year to come, Todd Haynes will present the five-hour, perhaps with one bathroom break version of Mildred Pierce, and another Killer Film’s alumni in Mary Harron will present The Moth Diaries. A Midnight Madness screening at TIFF would be apropos. And speaking of horror, Takashi Shimizu’s Tormented has lost part of its longer title, but shall be presented in 3D all the same. Here’s the complete listing of the Venice Film Festival including the previously announced opening and closing films (The Ides of March and Damsels in Distress).

In competition:
“Alpeis,” (Alps”), Yorgos Lanthimos

“A Burning Hot Summer” (“Un Ete Briulant”), Philippe Garrel

“Carnage,” Roman Polanski

“A Dangerous Method,” David Cronenberg
“Dark Horse,” Todd Solondz

“The Exchange,” Eran Kolirin
“Faust,” Alexander Sokurov

“Himizu,” Sion Sono

“Killer Joe,” William Friedkin
“4:44 Last Day on Earth,” Abel Ferrara

“Poulet aux prunes,” Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud

“Quando la notte,” Cristina Comencini

“Seediq Bale,” Wei Te-sheng

“Shame,” Steve McQueen
“Taojie” (“
A Simple Life”), Ann Hui
“Terraferma,” Emanuele Crialese

“Texas Killing Fields,” Ami Canaan Mann
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” Tomas Alfredson
“L’ultimo terrestre,” Gipi

“Wuthering Heights,” Andrea Arnold

Out of Competition:

“Alois Nebel,” Tomas Lunak
“Baish Echuanshuo” (The Sorcerer and the Snake”), Siu-Tung Ching
“Contagion,” Steven Soderbergh
“Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel,” Lisa Irrmordino Vreeland
“Don’t Expect Too Much (Nicholas Ray 1911-2011),” Susan Ray
“Duvidha,” Mani Kaul
“Evolution,” Marco Brambilla
“Giochi D’Estate,” Rolando Colla
“Il Villagigio Di Cartone,” Ermanno Olmi
“India, Matri Bhumi” (Restored Version), Roberto Rossellini
“Joule,” David Zamagni, Nadia Ranocchi
“Kike Maillo,” Eva
“La Cle Des Champs,” Claude Nuridsany, Marie Perennou
“La folie Almayer,” Chantal Akerman
“La Meditazione Di Hayez,” Mario Martone
“Marco Bellocchio, Venezia 2011,” Pietro Marcello
“Mildred Pierce,” Todd Haynes
“The Moth Diaries,” Mary Harron
“Nel Nome Del Padre,” Marco Bellocchio
“Questa Storia Qua,” Alessandro Paris, Sibylle Righetti
“Scossa,” Francesco Maselli, Carlo Lizzani, Ugo Gregoretti, Nino Russo
“Spell, The Hypnotist Dog,” David Zamagni, Nadia Ranocchi
“Suite,” David Zamagni, Nadia Ranocchi
“Tahrir 2011,” Tamer Ezzat, Ahmad Abdalla, Ayten Amin and Amr Salama
“Tormented,” Takashi Shimizu
“Vivan Las Antipodas!,” Victor Kossakovsky
“W.E.,” Madonna