Venice film fest unveils lineup which includes 86 world premiers

Tom

An Old Friend
The 66th edition of the Venice Film Festival lineup includes the main festival plus the sidebar which will be playing films like Yannick Dahan's gangster zombie flick The Horde.

In competition we have the long awaited scifi awesomeness from Jaco Van Dormael, Mr. Nobody and Shinya Tsukamoto's trfiecta Tetsuo the Bulletman.

Out of competition has [Rec] 2 and the Midnight section has Nicolas Refn's long awaited Valhalla Rising which was actually made before Bronson.

Man I wish I could go! Anyone want to cover the fest for us? Use the contact link at the bottom of the page. We'd be happy to do cross-posted reviews.

Full list after the break.

66TH ANNUAL VENICE FILM FESTIVAL LINEUP
COMPETITION
"36 vues du Pic Saint Loup," Jacques Rivette (France)
"Accident," Cheang Pou-Soi (China-Hong Kong)
"Baaria," Giuseppe Tornatore (Italy) – Opening Film
"Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans," Werner Herzog (U.S.)
"Between Two Worlds," Vimukthi Jayasundara (Sri Lanka)
"Capitalism: A Love Story," Michael Moore (U.S.)
"La Doppia Ora," Giuseppe Capotondi (Italy)
"Il Grande Sogno," Michele Placido (Italy)
"Lebanon," Samuel Maoz (Israel)
"Life During Wartime," Todd Solondz (U.S.)
"Lo Spazio Bianco," Francesca Comencini (Italy)
"Lourdes," Jessica Hausner (Austria)
"Mr. Nobody," Jaco van Dormael (France)
"Persecution," Patrice Chereau (France)
"Prince of Tears," Yonfan (Hong Kong)
"The Road," John Hillcoat (U.S.)
"A Single Man," Tom Ford (U.S.)
"Soul Kitchen," Fatih Akin (Germany)
"Survival of the Dead," George Romero (U.S.)
"Tetsuo The Bullet Man," Shinya Tsukamoto (Japan)
"The Traveller," Ahmed Maher (Egypt)
"White Material," Claire Denis (France)
"Women Without Men," Shirin Neshat (Germany)

OUT OF COMPETITION
"Anni Luce," Francesco Maselli (Italy)
"Chengdu, I Love You," Fruit Chan, Cui Jian (China) – Closing Film
"The Hole," Joe Dante (U.S.)
"The Informant!," Steven Soderbergh (U.S.)
"The Men Who Stare at Goats," Grant Heslov (U.S.)
"Napoli Napoli Napoli," Abel Ferrara (Italy)
"L'oro di Cuba," Giuliano Montaldo (Italy)
"Prove per una tragedia Siciliana," John Turturro, Roman Paska (Italy)
"REC 2," Jaume Balaguero, Paco Plaza (Spain)
"Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story," Yousry Nasrallah (Egypt)
"South of the Border," Oliver Stone (U.S.)
"Yona Yona Penguin," Rintaro (Japan)

MIDNIGHT MOVIES
"Gulaal," Anurag Kashyap (India)
"Dev D," Anurag Kashyap (India)
"Brooklyn's Finest," Antoine Fuqua (U.S.)
"Delhi-6," Rakeysh Omprakash (India)
"Valhalla Rising," Nicolas Winding Refn (Denmark)

GOLDEN LION FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT 2009
JOHN LASSETER AND THE DISNEY/PIXAR DIRECTORS
"Toy Story 3-D" (New Version), John Lasseter (U.S.)
"Toy Story 2-D" (New Version), John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich, Ash Brannon (U.S.)

HORIZONS
"Francesca," Bobby Paunescu (Romania) – Opening Film
"One-Zero," Kamla Abou Zekri (Egypt)
"Buried Secrets," Raja Amari (Tunisia)
"Tender Parasites," Christian Becker and Oliver Schwabe (Germany)
"Adrift," Bui Thac Chuyen (Vietnam)
"Crush," Petr Buslov, Aleksei German Jr., Borisd Khlebnikov, Kirill Serebrennikov, Ivan Vrypayev (Russia)
"Repo Chick," Alex Cox (U.S.)
"Engkwentro," Pepe Diokno (Philippines)
"The Man's Woman and Other Stories," Amit Dutta (India)
"Paraiso," Hector Galvez (Peru)
"Io sono l'amore," Luca Guadagnino (Italy)
"Cow," Guan Hu (China)
"Judge," Liu Jie (China)
"Pepperminta," Pipilotti Rist (Switzerland)
"Tris di donne e abiti nunziali," Martina Gedeck (Italy)
"Insolacao," Daniela Thomas and Felipe Hirsch (Brazil)
"1428," Du Haibin (China)
"I Travel Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You," Marcelo Gomes and Karim Ainouz (Brazil)
"Once Upon a Time Proletarian: 12 Tales of a Country," Guo Xiaolu (China)
"Villalobos," Romuald Karmakar (Germany)
"Il colore delle parole," Marco Simon Puccioni (Italy)
"The One All Alone," Frank Scheffer (The Netherlands)
"Toto," Peter Schreiner (Austria)

HORIZONS EVENTS
PROGRAM 1
"The Death of Pentheus," Philip Haas (U.S.)
"Faces of Soul," Gina Kim (U.S.)
"La Boheme," Werner Herzog (U.K.)
"Mudanza," Pere Portabella (Spain)
PROGRAM 2
"Deserto Rosa – Luigi Ghirri," Elisabetta Sgarbi (Italy)
"Reading Book of Blockade," Aleksander Sokurov (Russia)
"Armando Testa – Povero ma moderno," Pappi Corsicato
"La Danse – Le Ballet de l'Opera de Paris," Fredrick Wiseman (U.S.) (In collaboration with Dance Biennale)
"Hugo en Afrique," Stefano Knuchel (Switzerland)
"Via della Croce," Serena Nono (Italy)

CONTROCAMPO ITALIANO *– (NEW ITALIAN CINEMA TRENDS SIDEBAR)
"Poeti," Toni D'Angelo
"Negli occhi," Francesco del Grosso
"Il compleanno," Daniele Anzellotti, Marco Filiberti
"Dieci Inverni," Valerio Mieli
"Cosmonauta," Susanna Nicchiarelli
"Hollywood sul Tevere," Marco Spagnoli
"Il Piccolo," Maurizio Zaccaro

CONTROCAMPO ITALIANO EVENTS
"Giuseppe De Santis," Carlo Lizzani

CONTROCAMPO/RETROSPECTIVE EVENTS
"Lola," Giulio Questi
"Hotel Courbet," Tinto Brass

VENICE DAYS LINEUP
"Barking Water," Sterlin Harjo (U.S.)
"Celda 211," Daniel Monzon (Spain)
"Desert Flower," Sherry Horman (Germany, Austria, U.K.)
"Di Me Cosa Ne Sai," Valerio Ialongo (Italy)
"Gordos," Daniel Sanchez-Arevalo (Spain)
"Harragas," Merzak Allouache (Algeria, France)
"Honeymoons," Goran Paskaljevic (Albania, Serbia)
"I Am Happy That My Mother Is Alive," Claude Miller and Nathan Miller (France)
"The Last Days of Emma Blank," Alex Van Warmerdam (The Netherlands)
"Qu'un seul tienne, et les autres suivront," Lea Fehner (France)

SPECIAL EVENTS
"La Horde," Yannick Dahan and Benjamin Rocher (France)
"L'amore e basta," Stefano Consiglio (Italy)
"Poesia che mi guardi," Marina Spada (Italy)
"Ragazze…la vita trema," Paola Sangiovanni (Italy)
"Vittorio D.," Mario Canale and Annarosa Morri (Italy)
"Teat Beat of Sex," Signe Baumane (Lettonia, Italy)

IN COLLABORATION WITH CRITICS' WEEK
"Videocracy," Erik Gandini (Sweden)
 
While this short announcement may not contain 8 films, it packs quite a punch. Why? It includes the latest from auteur Jean-Pierre Jeunet which is now being called Micmacs (trailer). To say we're looking forward to this is an understatement as the man has done some of the most brilliant film of our time, specifically Amelie, and The City of Lost Children.

On a side note, Joe Dante's remake of The Hole is getting huge play now. It's premiering at Venice and having it's North American premier at TIFF. I would of completely ignored this film, but with all this major fest play, maybe it's quite brilliant? What gives?

Full list after the break.
GALAS

The Damned United Tom Hooper, United Kingdom
North American Premiere
Set in 1960's and 1970's England, this is the confrontational and darkly humorous story of Brian Clough's doomed 44 day tenure as manager of the reigning champions of English football Leeds United. Previously managed by his bitter rival Don Revie, and on the back of their most successful period ever as a football club, Leeds was perceived by many to represent a new aggressive and cynical style of football. Taking the Leeds job without his trusted lieutenant, Peter Taylor, by his side, Clough encounters a changing-room full of players who - in his mind - were still Don's boys. An examination of Clough's belligerence and brilliance, The Damned United stars Michael Sheen, is written by Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon) and directed by Tom Hooper (John Adams, Longford).

Dil Bole Hadippa Anurag Singh, India
World Premiere
In a village where girls don't play cricket, Veera (Rani Mukherjee) has to put on a turban and beard and become a man to fulfill her dreams. Her brilliance on the field earns her a place in Rohan's (Shahid Kapoor) team and Veera Kaur becomes Veer Pratap Singh. And then begins a roller-coaster journey of Veera, Rohan and Veer filled with music, romance and comedy through Punjab and beyond.

Micmacs Jean-Pierre Jeunet, France
World Premiere
Is it better to live with a bullet lodged in your brain, even if it means you might drop dead any time or would you rather have the bullet taken out and live the rest of your life as a vegetable? Are zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes? Is scrap metal worth more than landmines? Can you get drunk from eating waffles? Can a woman fit inside a refrigerator? What is the human cannonball world record? Micmacs, a fantastical comedy from the world class director of Amélie and Delicatessen, answers these questions and way more.

What's Your Raashee? Ashutosh Gowariker, India
World Premiere
What's Your Raashee? is a romantic comedy about a young man who has always wanted to marry for love. When he suddenly is told that he must find his dream girl within ten days in order to save his family from utter ruin, he discovers that finding her is even hard when it has to happen in a hurry. The film is based on the Gujarati novel, Kimball Ravenswood, by Madhu Rye and stars Harman Baweja and Priyanka Chopra.

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS


The Good Heart Dagur Kári, Iceland
World Premiere
A homeless boy Lucas (Paul Dano), meets Jacques (Brian Cox), a grumpy bar-owner, whose unhealthy lifestyle has brought him five heart attacks. Jacques takes Lucas under his wing with the intention of having him continue his legacy. Everything is going according to plan until a drunken stewardess named April enters the bar.

The Hole Joe Dante, USA
North American Premiere
After moving into a new town, brothers Dane and Lucas and their neighbour Julie discover a bottomless hole in their basement that brings their nightmares to life. With shadows lurking around every corner, they must face their darkest fears in order to put an end to the mystery of the hole.

Soul Kitchen Fatih Akin, Germany
North American Premiere
From the director of Head-on comes the story of a young restaurant owner Zinos is down on his luck. His girlfriend Nadine has moved to Shanghai, his Soul Kitchen customers are boycotting the new gourmet chef, and he's having back trouble. Things start looking up when the hip crowd embraces his revamped culinary concept, but that doesn't mend Zinos' broken heart. He decides to fly to China for Nadine, leaving the restaurant in the hands of his unreliable ex-con brother Illias.

Up in the Air Jason Reitman, USA
World Premiere
From Jason Reitman, the Oscar®-nominated director of Juno, comes a comedy starring George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, a corporate downsizing expert whose cherished life on the road is threatened just as he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and just after he's met the frequent-traveller woman of his dreams.
 
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