Venice begins Oscar buzz with strong line-up

George Clooney behind the camera, the long-anticipated return of Alexander Payne and Darren Aronofsky’s first venture into horror territory are three of the much-anticipated moments.

All eyes are on Suburbicon, Clooney’s sixth directorial effort and one of two Matt Damon films opening at the festival.

The black comedy, set in the 1950s, was written by the Coen brothers and also stars Josh Brolin, Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac.

The other big surprise in the line-up is the return of Alexander Payne, who had been away from the circuit since 2013’s Oscar-nominated Nebraska.

Payne will open his latest sci-fi drama Downsizing at the Venice Lido.

The film stars Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern, Christoph Waltz and Jason Sudekis, and follows a man who decides to shrink himself to better deal with life.

Another surprise return is Darren Aronofsky, whose first horror flick Mother! has given us nothing but a lurid poster with Jennifer Lawrence placidly holding her heart in her hands.

Also in the sci-fi/horror realm is Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape Of Water – a bizarre-sounding love story between a sea creature and a lonely government clerk.

“I’m very satisfied,” said Venice director Alberto Barbera after announcing the lineup.

“I have to say that I am 97% satisfied in the sense that there are only maybe two or three films that we wanted to have for the festival, and we couldn’t because they will go to other festivals.”

Martin McDonaugh’s dark thriller Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri also features, and sees Frances McDormand going against a small town’s police chief after her daughter is murdered.

As for the streaming giants, Venice has only one competition entry from Amazon and none from Netflix or Hulu.

Netflix will be in Venice though, with its first Italian show Suburra, screening a new show called Wormwood, and the film Our Souls At Night, starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, who will both receive honorary Golden Lions.

The festival will also feature a special section dedicated solely to virtual reality, including a reworked 3D version of Michael Jackson’s Thriller directed by John Landis.

The Venice film festival will run from 30 August to 9 September.

Full line-up:

COMPETITION

Downsizing, Alexander Payne (opening film)
Human Flow, Al Weiwei
Mother!, Darren Aronofsky
Suburbicon, George Clooney
The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro
L’insulte, Ziad Doueiri
La Villa, Robert Guediguian
Lean on Pete, Andrew Haigh
Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno, Abdellatif Kechiche
Sandome No Satsujin (The Third Murder), Hirokazu Koreeda
Custody (Jusqu’a La Garde), Xavier Legrand
Ammore e Malavita, Manetti Bros
Foxtrot, Samuel Maoz
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Martin McDonagh
Hannah, Andrea Pallaoro
Jia Nian Hua (Angels Wear White), Vivian Qu
Una Famiglia, Sebastiano Rosa
First Reformed, Paul Schrader
Sweet Country, Warwick Thornton
The Leisure Seeker, Paolo Virzi
Ex Libris – New York Public Library, Frederick Wiseman

OUT OF COMPETITION (FICTION)

Our Souls At Night, Ritesh Batra
Victoria And Abdul, Stephen Frears
La Melodie, Rachid Hami
Outrage Coda, Takeshi Kitano (closing film)
Loving Pablo, Fernando León de Aranoa
Il Signor Rotpeter, Antonietta de Lillo
Diva!, Francesco Patierno
Racer and The Jailbird, Michaël R. Roskam
Zama, Lucrecia Martel
Wormwood, Errol Morris
The Private Life of A Modern Woman, James Toback
Brawl In Cell Block 99, S. Craig Zahler
Il Colore Nascosto Delle Cose, Silvio Soldini

OUT OF COMPETITION (NON-FICTION)

Cuba and the Cameraman, Jon Alpert
My Generation, David Batty
The Devil and Father Amorth, William Friedkin
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda, Stephen Nomura Schible
Piazza Vittorio, Abel Ferrara
This Is Congo, Daniel McCabe
Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond: The Story of Jim Carrey, Andy Kaufman and Tony Clifton, Chris Smith
Happy Winter, Giovanni Totaro

SPECIAL EVENTS

Casa d’Altri, Gianni Amelio
Michael Jackson’s Thriller 3D, John Landis
Making Of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Jerry Kramer

ORIZZONTI

Disappearance, Ali Asgari
Especes Menacees, Gilles Bourdos
The Rape of Recy Taylor, Nancy Buirski
Caniba, Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Verena Paravel
Les Bienheureux, Sofia Djama
Marvin, Anne Fontaine
Invisible, Pablo Giorgelli
Brutti e Cattivi, Cosimo Gomez
The Cousin, Tzahi Grad
The Testament, Amichai Greenberg
No Date, No Signature, Vahid Jalilvand
Los Versos Del Olvido, Alireza Khatami
The Night I Swam, Damien Manivel, Igarashi Kohei
Nico, 1988, Susanna Nicchiarelli
Krieg, Rick Ostermann
West Of Sunshine, Jason Raftopoulos
Gatta Cenerentola, Alessandro Rak, Ivan Cappiello, Marino Guarnieri, Dario Sansone
Under The Tree, Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson
La Vita in Comune, Edoardo Winspeare

CINEMA IN THE GARDEN

Manuel – Dario Albertini
Controfigura – Rä Di Martino
Woodshock – Kate Mulleavy, Laura Mulleavy
Nato a Casal di Principe – Bruno Oliviero
Suburra – La serie – Michele Placido, Andre Molaili, Guiseppe Capotondi
Tuers – François Troukens, Jean-François Hensgens

SPECIAL DOCUMENTARY SCREENINGS

La Lunga Strada del Ritorno, Alessandro Blasetti
Barbiana ’65 La Lezione di Don Milani, Alessandro G. A. D’Alessandro
Lievito Madre, Le Ragazze del Secolo Scorso, Concita de Gregorio, Esmeralda Calabria