Valérie Donzelli (À Pied d’Oeuvre), Cai Shangjun (The Sun Rises on Us All), Kaouther Ben Hania (The Voice of Hind Rajab) and the directorial debut by Hou Hsiao-Hsien muse Shu Qi arriving with “Nühai” (Girl) are some of the surprise inclusions for the 82nd Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion competition. Of course this year is no different from previous editions – it is stacked with heavyweights such as Park Chan-wook, Mona Fastvold, Jim Jarmusch, Olivier Assayas, Kathryn Bigelow, former Golden Lion winners Guillermo del Toro and Yorgos Lanthimos. Paolo Sorrentino leads the Italian delegation alongside filmmakers Gianfranco Rosi, Leonardo di Costanzo, Franco Maresco and Pietro Marcello, while we have a double dose of Hungarian blood from the likes of Ildikó Enyedi and László Nemes. François Ozon returns ot the Lido – when he recently made the surprise news that L’Étranger was ready for a 2025 rollout we figured Alberto Barbera was high on the film and many folks will be curious about The Smashing Machine by Benny Safdie – could this “rock” the Lido like Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler did back in 2008? IONCINEMA.com will be on hand to cover the entire competition section:
“La Grazia,” Paolo Sorrentino (opening film)
“The Wizard of the Kremlin,” Olivier Assayas
“Jay Kelly,” Noah Baumbach
“The Voice of Hind Rajab,” Kaouther Ben Hania
“A House of Dynamite,” Kathryn Bigelow
“Ri Gua Zhong Tian” (“The Sun Rises on Us All”), Cai Shangjun
“Frankenstein,” Guillermo del Toro
“Elisa,” Leonardo di Costanzo
“À Pied d’Oeuvre,” Valérie Donzelli
“Silent Friend,” Ildikó Enyedi
“The Testament of Ann Lee,” Mona Fastvold
“Father Mother Sister Brother,” Jim Jarmusch
“Bugonia,” Yorgos Lanthimos
“Duse,” Pietro Marcello
“Un Film Fatto Per Bene,” Franco Maresco
“Orphan,” László Nemes
“L’Étranger,” François Ozon
“Eojjeol Suga Eopda” (“No Other Choice”), Park Chan-wook
“Sotto Le Nuvole,” Gianfranco Rosi
“The Smashing Machine,” Benny Safdie
“Nühai” (“Girl”), Shu Qi