It’s not often the case, but on paper, the 2024 edition of the Venice Film Festival appears poised to outshine the Cannes Film Festival with its lineup of potential high-grade film items. Ahead of the 81st edition’s kickoff on Wednesday, I wanted to spotlight not two dozen most anticipated film items but a curated five of my most anticipated films across the festival’s major sections: the competition for the Golden Lion, Out of Competition section, Orizzonti (Horizons), Giornate degli Autori (Venice Days), and the Settimana Internazionale della Critica (Venice International Film Critics’ Week). Our film critic in chief Nicholas Bell and I will be covering the fest from day one until award’s night — so please support the site by visiting and leaving your comments.
Competition
The Brutalist
Brady Corbet‘s third feature film is set to be perhaps the cinematic event at this year’s Venice Film Festival, and possibly at its upcoming screenings in Toronto and New York. This isn’t just another movie screening—it’s a rare chance to experience a three-hour-plus epic, projected in 70mm, complete with an actual pee break — with an intermission. Alberto Barbera has been big on this filmmaker and he has added his own buzz to the title in several interviews about this line-up. The project, first announced in 2018, faced delays due to the pandemic and changes in its original cast, but production finally kicked off in 2023. Corbet recreates the 1950s, utilizing period-specific camera technology to ensure the era looks the part and among the key collaborators we find co-writer and filmmaker Mona Fastvold, cinematographer Lol Crawley, marking his third collaboration with Corbet after The Childhood of a Leader (2015) and Vox Lux (2018), and composer Daniel Blumberg, who previously scored Fastvold’s The World to Come. Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce topline this saga.
Dark Horse Title: Dea Kulumbegashvili’s April
Out of Competition
Maldoror
It’s this Belgian filmmaker’s eighth feature film but on paper it feels like somewhat of a 180 degree flip or detour from his previous body of work. Fabrice Du Welz works from a template that merges fiction inside the parameters of the true-life national tragedy — it’s a cinematic power move that might open old wounds but could critically reassess the failure of the system. Key player onboard here is Manuel Dacosse – who has been du Welz’s cinematographer since what still remains the filmmaker’s best film in Alléluia (2014). Another returning film crew person includes film score person Vincent Cahay and it would not be an Du Welz film without brief appearances of Laurent Lucas and Béatrice Dalle but this is young actor Anthony Bajon’s big film in his early filmography. We look forward to seeing how he bites into the part of the young gendarme.
Dark Horse Title: Asif Kapadia’s 2073
Orrizonti
Happyend
Son of film composer Ryuichi Sakamoto who would give us Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus (2023) – a Venice Film Festival entry, Neo Sora moves into the sci-fi realm for his debut which was a 2022 Sundance Institute Screenwriting and Directing labs project (under the title Earthquake). Hayato Kurihara toplines as Yuta – Set in near-future Tokyo, two best friends are about to graduate high school, while threats of an earthquake looms. One night, they pull a prank on their principal, leading to a surveillance system being installed. They respond in contrasting ways.
Dark Horse Title: Elizabeth Lo’s Mistress Dispeller
Giornate degli Autori
To Kill a Mongolian Horse
There appears to be a small group of female Mongolian filmmakers making major film festival waves with Zoljargal Purevdash having hit Cannes for If Only I Could Hibernate and Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir hitting last year’s Venice with City of Wind. We can officially add NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts grad Jiang Xiaoxuan‘s debut feature to the group. Another project supported by Sundance, on the wintry steppes, a Mongolian horseback performer’s dual life unfolds as he grapples with the disintegration of the traditional way of life.
Dark Horse Title: Jan-Willem Van Ewijk’s Alpha.
SIC – Settimana Internazionale della Critica
Peacock
This directorial debut from Austrian filmmaker Bernhard Wenger looks to be a biting, below the belt punching satire that fits in our wheelhouse – Peacock is toplined by actor Albrecht Schuch (key supporting player in All Quiet on the Western Front) who takes on the role of Matthias — a master of his profession. Do you need a ‘cultured boyfriend’ to impress your friends? A ‘perfect son’ to influence your business partners’ opinion of you? Or maybe just a sparring partner to rehearse an argument? Whatever it is, just rent Matthias! While he excels at pretending to be someone else every day, just being himself is the real challenge.
Dark Horse Title: Michael Premo’s Homegrown
