The Venice Film Festival officially announces its lineup!

The last few days have seen plenty of festival news, and here's the actual slate of films to be playing at Venice:

Venice 2011 Competition

The Ides Of March – George Clooney (US) [opening film]
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – Tomas Alfredson (UK, Germany)
Wuthering Heights – Andrea Arnold (UK)
Texas Killing Fields – Ami Canaan Maan (US)
Quando La Notte – Cristina Comencini (Italy)
Terraferma – Emanuele Crialese (Italy/France)
A Dangerous Method – David Cronenberg (Germany/Canada)
4:44 Last Day On Earth – Abel Ferrara (US)
Killer Joe – William Friedkin (US)
Un Ete Brulant – Philippe Garrel (France/Italy/Switzerland)
A Simple Life (Taojie) – Ann Hui (China/Hong Kong)
The Exchange (Hahithalfut) – Eran Kolirin (Israel)
Alps (Alpeis) -Yorgos Lanthimos (Greece)
Shame – Steve McQueen (UK)
L’ultimo Terrestre – Gian Alfonso Pacinotti (Italy)
Carnage – Roman Polanski (France/Germany/Spain/Poland)
Chicken With Plums – Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud (France/Belgium/Germany)
Faust – Aleksander Sokurov (Russia)
Dark Horse – Todd Solondz (US)
Himizu – Sion Sono (Japan)
Seediq Bale – Wei Te-Sheng (Taiwan)

Out of Competition

Vivan las Antipodas! – Victor Kossakovsky
(Germany/Argentina/Holland/Chile/Russia) [opening film]
Damsels In Distress – Whit Stillman (US) [closing film]
La Folie Almayer – Chantal Akerman (Belgium/France)
The Sorcerer And The White Snake (Baish Echuanshuo) – Tony Ching Siu-Tung (China/Hong Kong)
Giochi D’estate – Rolando Colla (Switzerland/Italy)
La Desintegration – Philippe Fauchon (Belgium)
The Moth Diaries – Mary Harron (Canada/Ireland)
Alois Nebel – Tomas Lunak (Czech Republic/Germany)
W.E. – Madonna (UK)
Eva – Kike Maillo (UK)
Scossa – Francesco Maselli, Carlo Lizzani, Ugo Gregoretti, Nino Russo (Italy)
La Cle Des Champs – Claude Nuridsany, Marie Perennou (France)
Il Villaggio Di Cartone – Ermanno Olmi (Italy)
Wilde Salome – Al Pacino (US)
Tormented – Takashi Shimizu (Japan)
Contagion – Steven Soderbergh (US)
La Meditazione Di Hayez – Mario Martone (Italy) (short)
Tahrir 2011 – Tamer Ezzat, Ahmad Abdalla, Ayten Amin, Amr Salama (Egypt)
The End – Collectif Abounaddara (Syria)
Vanguard – Colleftif Abounaddara (Syria)
Evolution (Megaplex)(3D – Marco Brambilla (US)

Out of Competition Events


Questa Storia Qua – Alessandro Paris, Sibylle Righetti (Italy)
Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel – Lisa Immordino Vreeland (US)
Golden Career Lion – Nel Nome Del Padre – Marcho Bellocchio (Italy)

-Joey's Two Cents: A very interesting grouping of well known and under the radar auteurs...thoughts?

Making sense of what's playing (and not playing) on the festival circuit this year...

...especially in terms of the Oscar hopefuls. Here's the story from Deadline:

With today's announcement of the 36th annual Toronto International Film Festival lineup (or at least the first phase of titles) and the imminent announcement Thursday of the Venice International Film Festival lineup, the buzzing about Oscar possibilities -- at least as far as the all-important Fall Festival circuit is concerned -- is off and running, even with five weeks to go before Venice and Telluride's increasingly important Labor Day weekend festival get the six-month season off to its official launch. As for that latter fest, we will have to wait until Sept. 1, the day before it opens, to find out what potential Oscar goodies it might have in store.

There is indeed a pecking order in the way these announcements are made, and the reason Telluride does not go the splashy weeks-in-advance press conference route like Toronto (this year's dates: Sept. 8-18) and Venice (Aug. 31-Sept. 10) do -- as well as October's New York Film Festival -- is because it doesn't mind keeping its lineup secret and not labeled as "World" or "North American" premieres in return for actually getting the movies and their filmmakers to attend the oh-so-cool movie geek fest (my fave) high in the Colorado mountains. Studios and distributors who participate in Telluride are sworn to secrecy as to their plans as usual (one publicist was even afraid to admit to me they weren't going for fear of retribution), but that can't keep us from some informed speculation which Oscar hopefuls will be making the trip there as well as to the other fests. Last year, you may recall Telluride was the first North American stop for The King's Speech, 127 Hours and Black Swan among other big Oscar titles.

Strategies abound as to which festival is right for your film, and jockeying will continue long after these announcements and right up to festival time. A wrong decision can be deadly for a film's potential marketing and awards campaign, which is why studios and distributors are so cautious about jumping into the early fall festival waters, particularly, as in many cases this year, where the film isn't even scheduled until the holiday season.

What was interesting about today's Toronto list was not so much what wasincluded but what wasn't. My colleague Mike Fleming in his story about the announcement intriguingly speculated that Focus Features' Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy might have been left off because it may be going to lead off the New York Film Festival, which demands complete exclusivity for their opening-night film on Sept. 30. Last year that fest scored big by grabbing the true world premiere ofThe Social Network, which became an instant Oscar player. Focus says there is no official word yet on anything NY Fest-related for Tinker Tailor (which is said to have major awards bait in Gary Oldman's lead performance in the John le Carre ilm adaptation), but they do confirm its world premiere will be at Venice largely because its UK and Ireland opening date of Sept. 16 is far ahead of other territories such as the U.S. (Nov. 18) and a Venice unveiling was a necessity due to the timing of the Euro launch. I have learned Tinker Tailor will not be making a stop in Toronto. Incidentally, another strong potential for the NYFF opening (or closing) slot might be Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar, with Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role. Eastwood is a favorite there, and the film's Oct. 21 release date would fit nicely into the NY Fest's timeline and Warner Bros' marketing plans.

Also conspicuously missing from today's Toronto announcement was Paramount's eagerly awaited Young Adult, directed by Jason Reitman, written by Diablo Cody and starring Charlize Theron in a performance said to have some awards potential. I would have bet this film (which Paramount just dated for Dec. 9) would show up in Toronto, but I have confirmed it definitely won't be riding the fest circuit -- a first for Reitman. Don't look for it in Telluride either despite being Reitman's "good luck" festival where future Best Picture nominees Juno and Up In The Air had wildly successful unofficial premieres. Last year, Paramount's The Fighter skipped the fest circuit entirely (except for an unadvertised sneak intro'd by Mark Wahlberg at the AFI Fest in November) and went on to win two Best Supporting Oscars and a Best Pic nom.

On the other hand, I would bet the ranch that Fox Searchlight's George Clooney-starrer The Descendants from director Alexander Payne, announced today as one of Toronto's World Premieres, will also likely have a warm-up fest run in Telluride, where Payne is a favorite and former guest programmer. Clooney's own directorial effort, The Ides of March (the screen adaptation of the play Farragut North, in which he also has a starring role), will likely hopscotch from its Venice opening-night world premiere straight to Toronto.

Also missing from the initial Toronto list and any speculation about Venice is Meryl Streep's The Iron Lady,which will likely hold off emulating the route The Weinstein Company's eventual Best Picture The King's Speech followed last year as it kicked off in Telluride and Toronto. Since the film doesn't open until Dec. 16 in the U.S. and the logistics of getting Streep to go on the fest circuit is challenging, I would think Harvey Weinstein might want to wait. The film is still in post-production, another drawback, and I have heard Harvey is worried about competing with himself as Madonna's W.E. (also tipped for Venice) and Cannes sensation The Artist are going to have major unspoolings in Toronto -- to name just two Weinstein Co. products on the circuit. The Artist, a new silent film, would seem to be a no-brainer as well for Telluride, which caters to classic silents as part of its programming.

Among Toronto's most intriguing "gets" are the world premieres of Roadside's Glenn Close Oscar hopeful Albert Nobbs; Jim Field Smith's Jennifer Garner/Hugh Jackman Capra-esque comedy Butter; David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method; Fernando Meirelles' 360 with Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins and Rachel Weisz; Friends With Kids from Jennifer Westfeldt, starring Jon Hamm and Kristen Wiig among others; and Bennett Miller's (Capote) baseball yarn Moneyball with Brad Pitt, the project started by Steven Soderbergh before he had a parting of the ways with Sony just before production was to begin. Luc Besson's world premiere of The Lady is also one to watch with what I have been told is a world-class Oscar nomination-bound performance by Michelle Yeoh as Burma's national heroine Aung San Suu Kyi. The film needs a distributor though before it can jump into this year's Oscar race.

A good number of the Toronto titles will have first premiered at Venice, likely including Steve McQueen's (Hunger) second film, Shame, and Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights, which both have some Oscar potential, at least on paper.

Two films tipped only for Venice include the movie Soderbergh did make (and which I have seen), Contagion, a tight thriller with an all-star cast caught up in a world health catastrophe. It screens on the fest's second day and will open in the U.S. on Sept. 9. Another film currently scheduled only for Venice is Roman Polanski's screen adaptation of God Of Carnage, now called simplyCarnage, which Sony Pictures Classics is hoping has Oscar potential for stars Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly. Other fests it may turn up at are still a question (or least being kept quiet so far), in part due to the ability of its director to attend I would imagine.

Of course the Fall Fest circuit will also include a number of movies and stars with Oscar potential that we already saw in Cannes including Tilda Swinton in We Need To Talk About Kevin; Drive with Ryan Gosling and an award-worthy supporting turn from Albert Brooks; Pedro Almodovar's The Skin I Live In; as well as several Sundance refugees including Focus Features' well-reviewed Pariah, which I am told is definitely going to be added to the Toronto lineup in upcoming announcements.

The list of potential awards fodder goes on and on, but many of these films first need to find distributors, so its unlikely a large number of them will show up in this year's race. Last year, Rabbit Hole was a rare exception that came into Toronto distrib-less; it left holding hands with Lionsgate and eventually nabbed a Best Actress Oscar nod for Nicole Kidman.

The first bell in the 2011 Oscar race has been rung, and we will keep following it as the contenders start to pile up.

-Joey's Two Cents: I'm very surprised that Reitman isn't taking his film the festival route, especially since it sounds like a harder sell than usual...thoughts?

The Venice Film Festival is shaping up to be a pretty strong one...

...judging by the early word on what films will be playing. We'll know the official slate on Thursday, but for now this look from indieWIRE will do:

While the official announcement won’t occur until Thursday, Variety is reporting what appears to be the majority of the lineup for the 2011 Venice Film Festival, including new works from David Cronenberg, Steven Soderbergh, Roman Polanski, Todd Solondz, Jonathan Demme, Alexander Sokurov, Mary Harron, William Friedkin and Madonna. They come in addition to the already announced “The Ides of March,” George Clooney’s political drama that will open the festival.

The article also suggested that new films Walter Salles, Wong Kar Wai, Luc Besson, Brillante Mendoza and Fatih Akin will not be ready for the festival.

Below is the full list of films the article notes (not listed is Soderbergh’s film, which isn’t explicitly noted in the Variety story though one can probably assume it’s “Contagion” and not “Haywire”).

In Competition:
“Alps,” directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
“A Burning Hot Summer,” directed by Philippe Garrel
“Carnage,” directed by Roman Polanski
“A Dangerous Method,” directed by David Cronenberg
“Dark Horse,” directed by Todd Solondz
“The Exchange,” directed by Eran Kolirin
“Faust,” directed by Alexander Sokurov
“Himizu,” directed by Sion Sono
“Killer Joe,” directed by William Friedkin
“The Ides of March,” directed by George Clooney (Opening Night)
“Last Day on Earth,” directed by Abel Ferrara
“The Moth Diaries,” directed by Mary Harron
“Poulet aux prunes,” directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
“Quando la notte,” directed by Cristina Comencini
“Seediq Bale,” directed by Wei Te-sheng
“Shame,” directed by Steve McQueen
“Terraferma,” directed by Emanuele Crialese
“Texas Killing Fields” directed by Ami Canaan Mann
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” directed by Tomas Alfredson
“L’ultimo terrestre,” directed by Gipi
“W.E.,” directed by Madonna
“Wuthering Heights,” directed by Andrea Arnold

Out of Competition:
“La folie Almayer,” directed by Chantal Akerman

Horizons section:
“I’m Carolyn Parker: The Good, the Mad and the Beautiful,” directed by Jonathan Demme
“Sal,” directed by James Franco

-Joey's Two Cents: It's looking pretty good from my end...thoughts?

The Venice Film Festival announces its Jury!

The Hollywood Reporter has the announcement:

The Venice Film Festival on Friday announced members of its main competition jury, choosing an eclectic group of industry figures with deep Venice roots to work under previously announced jury head Darren Aronofsky.

The jury will include Todd Haynes, whose latest film to screen on the Venice Lido, I’m Not There took home the jury prize in 2007; French auteur Andre Techine, whose 1969 classic Pauline is Leaving premiered at the fest in 1969; and director Mario Martone and actress Alba Rohrwacher – both Italians – who appeared in Venice as recently as last year’s festival, with We Believed and The Solitude of Prime Numbers, respectively.

Other jury members include musician David Byrne and Finish visual artist Ejia-Liisa Ahtila. Byrne, the former frontman of the 1980s alternative music band Talking Heads, has worked on soundtracks for numerous films, including Bernardo Bertolucci’s nine-time Oscar winner The Last Emperor, while Ahtila has been a regular at the Venice visual arts Biennale, appearing most recently in 2005.

It was already announced that the jury will be headed by Aronofsky, whose last three films all premiered in competition on the Venice Lido, with The Wrestler taking home the festival’s top prize in 2008 and Black Swan given the honor of being the festival’s opening film a year ago before going on to earn five Oscar nominations.

The jury will vote on the festival’s main prizes a year after the previous jury, headed by U.S. director Quentin Tarantino, sparked widespread protests in Italy based on charges that it handed out many of the main prizes to directors with close personal ties to Tarantino. Then-Italian Minister of Culture Sandro Bondi said at the time the Italian government should have a voice in selecting the festival’s jury, but the idea never gained traction and this year’s jury – like those from previous editions – was chosen entirely by the festival.

This year’s edition of the Venice festival, the 68th, will take place Aug. 31-Sept. 10.

-Joey's Two Cents: I'm eager to see the films that end up competing for the Golden Lion...thoughts?