2011 Venice International Film Festival Lineup

Several film festivals top the list in terms of exposure and prestige, especially for indies. In North America, Toronto takes the prize. Overseas, Berlin and Venice are generally considered the cream of the crop. The Berlin Film Festival happened earlier this year. The 68th Venice International Film Festival will be taking place from August 31-September 10, just prior to (and slightly overlapping) the Toronto International Film Festival (which runs from September 8-18).

Many U.S. filmmakers will have their works on display, including George Clooney, Madonna, William Friedkin, Steve McQueen, Todd Solondz, Al Pacino, David Cronenberg, Nicholas Ray, and Steven Soderbergh. Festival sections include films In Competition (Venezia 68), Out of Competition, Orizzonti, Orizzonti 1961-1978, and Controcampo Italiano, alongide a retrospective section and two autonomous sections (International Critics' Week and Venice Days). The daily schedule of screenings will be announced after August 15th.

Here are the lineups for the high profile Competition and Out of Competition films:


In Competition (Venezia 68) - International competition of feature films competing for the Golden Lion, presented as World Premieres

TOMAS ALFREDSON - TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY
UK, Germany, 127'
Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt

ANDREA ARNOLD - WUTHERING HEIGHTS
UK, 128'
Kaya Scodelario, Nichola Burley, Steve Evets, Oliver Milburn

AMI CANAAN MANN - TEXAS KILLING FIELDS
USA, 109'
Sam Worthington, Jessica Chastain, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jeffrey Dean Morgan

GEORGE CLOONEY - THE IDES OF MARCH [OPENING FILM]
USA, 98'
Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood

CRISTINA COMENCINI - QUANDO LA NOTTE
Italy, 116'
Claudia Pandolfi, Filippo Timi, Michela Cescon, Thomas Trabacchi

EMANUELE CRIALESE - TERRAFERMA
Italy, France, 88'
Filippo Pucillo, Donatella Finocchiaro, Giuseppe Fiorello, Claudio Santamaria

DAVID CRONENBERG - A DANGEROUS METHOD
Germany, Canada, 99'
Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Vincent Cassel

ABEL FERRARA - 4:44 LAST DAY ON EARTH
USA, 82'
Willem Dafoe, Shanyn Leigh, Paz de la Huerta, Natasha Lyonne

WILLIAM FRIEDKIN - KILLER JOE
USA, 103'
Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple, Gina Gershon

PHILIPPE GARREL - UN ÉTÉ BRULANT
France, Italy, Switzerland, 95'
Monica Bellucci, Louis Garrel, Céline Sallette, Jérôme Robart

ANN HUI - TAOJIE (A SIMPLE LIFE)
China-Hong Kong, China, 117'
Andy Lau, Deanie Yip, Anthony Wong, Tsui Hark

ERAN KOLIRIN - HAHITHALFUT (THE EXCHANGE)
Israel, Germany, 94'
Rotem Keinan, Sharon Tal, Dov Navon, Shirili Deshe

YORGOS LANTHIMOS - ALPEIS (ALPS)
Greece, 93'
Ariane Labed, Aggeliki Papoulia, Aris Servetalis, Johnny Vekris

STEVE MCQUEEN - SHAME
United Kingdom, 99'
Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge, Nicole Beharie

GIAN ALFONSO PACINOTTI [GIPI] - L'ULTIMO TERRESTRE
Italy, 100'
Gabriele Spinelli, Anna Bellato, Roberto Herlitzka, Teco Celio

ROMAN POLANSKI - CARNAGE
France, Germany, Spain, Poland, 79'
Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, John C. Reilly

MARJANE SATRAPI, VINCENT PARONNAUD - POULET AUX PRUNES
France, Belgium, Germany, 90'
Mathieu Amalric, Maria De Medeiros, Golshifteh Farahani, Isabella Rossellini, Chiara Mastroianni

ALEKSANDER SOKUROV - FAUST
Russia, 134'
Johannes Zeiler, Anton Adasinskiy, Isolda Dychauk, Hanna Schygulla

TODD SOLONDZ - DARK HORSE
USA, 84'
Mia Farrow, Christopher Walken, Justin Bartha, Selma Blair

SION SONO - HIMIZU
Japan, 129'
Shôta Sometani, Fumi Nikaidô, Tetsu Watanabe, Mitsuru Fukikoshi

TE-SHENG WEI - SEEDIQ BALE
China, Taiwan, 135'
Da-Ching, Umin Boya, Landy Wen, Lo Mei-ling


Out of Competition - Important works by directors already established in previous editions of the Festival

COLLECTIF ABOUNADDARA - THE END
Syria, 3'30

COLLECTIF ABOUNADDARA - VANGUARDS
Syria, 1'30

CHANTAL AKERMAN - LA FOLIE ALMAYER
Belgium, France, 130'
Stanislas Merhar, Marc Barbé, Aurora Marion, Zac Andrianasolo

MARCO BELLOCCHIO - NEL NOME DEL PADRE [GOLDEN LION FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT 2011]
Italy, 90'
Yves Beneyton, Renato Scarpa, Laura Betti, Lou Castel

MARCO BRAMBILLA - EVOLUTION (MEGAPLEX) [3D]
USA, 3'
(experimental film)

TONY SIU-TUNG CHING - BAISH ECHUANSHUO (THE SORCERER AND THE WHITE SNAKE)
China-Hong Kong, China, 99'
Jet Li, Eva Huang, Raymond Lam, Charlene Choi

ROLANDO COLLA - GIOCHI D’ESTATE
Switzerland, Italy, 101'
Armando Condolucci, Fiorella Campanella, Alessia Barela, Antonio Merone

TAMER EZZAT, AHMAD ABDALLA, AYTEN AMIN, AMR SALAMA - TAHRIR 2011
Egypt, 90'
(documentary)

PHILIPPE FAUCON - LA DÉSINTÉGRATION
France, 80'
Rachid Debbouze, Yassine Azzouz, Perset Ymanol, Mohamed Nachit

MARY HARRON - THE MOTH DIARIES
Canada, Ireland, 85'
Sarah Bolger, Sarah Gadon, Lily Cole, Scott Speedman

TODD HAYNES - MILDRED PIERCE [TRIBUTE TO TODD HAYNES]
USA, 5x60'
Kate Winslet, Guy Pearce, Evan Rachel Wood, Melissa Leo

MANI KAUL - DUVIDHA [MANI KAUL (25.12.1944-6.7.2011)]
India, 82'
Ravi Menon, Raeesa Padamsi

VICTOR KOSSAKOVSKY - VIVAN LAS ANTIPODAS! [OPENING FILM]
Germany, Argentina, Holland, Chile, Russia, 100'
(documentary)

TOMÁS LUNÁK - ALOIS NEBEL
Czech Republic, Germany, 80'
Miroslav Krobot, Marie Ludvikova, Leos Noha, Karel Roden

MADONNA - W.E.
United Kingdom, 115'
Andrea Riseborough, Abbie Cornish, James D’Arcy, Oscar Isaac

KIKE MAILLO - EVA
Spain, France, 94'
Daniel Brühl, Marta Etura, Alberto Ammann, Claudia Vega

PIETRO MARCELLO - MARCO BELLOCCHIO, VENEZIA 2011
Italy, 11'
(documentary) Marco Bellocchio

MARIO MARTONE - LA MEDITAZIONE DI HAYEZ
Italy, 6'

FRANCESCO MASELLI, CARLO LIZZANI, UGO GREGORETTI, NINO RUSSO - SCOSSA
Italy, 95'
Amanda Sandrelli, Massimo Ranieri, Paolo Briguglia, Lucia Sardo

CLAUDE NURIDSANY, MARIE PERENNOU - LA CLÉ DES CHAMPS
France, 81'
Simon Delagnes, Lindsey Henocque, Jean-Claude Ayrinhac

ERMANNO OLMI - IL VILLAGGIO DI CARTONE
Italy, 87'
Michael Lonsdale, Rutger Hauer, Massimo De Francovich, Alessandro Haber

AL PACINO - WILDE SALOME
USA, 95'
Al Pacino, Jessica Chastain, Kevin Anderson

ALESSANDRO PARIS, SIBYLLE RIGHETTI - QUESTA STORIA QUA [EVENTS]
Italy, 75'
(documentary) Vasco Rossi

NICHOLAS RAY - WE CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN [NEW RECONSTRUCTED AND RESTORED VERSION] [NICHOLAS RAY 1911-2011]
USA, 93'
Nicholas Ray, Tom Farrell, Jill Gannon, Jane Heymann

SUSAN RAY - DON'T EXPECT TOO MUCH [NICHOLAS RAY 1911-2011]
USA, 70'
(documentary) Nicholas Ray, Jim Jarmusch, Victor Erice, Tom Farrel

ROBERTO ROSSELLINI - INDIA, MATRI BHUMI [NEW RESTORED VERSION] [ROSSELLINI RITROVATO]
Italy, France, India, 90'
(documentary)

TAKASHI SHIMIZU - TORMENTED
Japan, 83'
Hikari Mitsushima, Teruyuki Kagawa, Takeru Shibuya, Tamaki Ogawa

STEVEN SODERBERGH - CONTAGION
USA, 105'
Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishburne

WHIT STILLMAN - DAMSELS IN DISTRESS [CLOSING FILM]
USA, 98'
Greta Gerwig, Adam Brody, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Analeigh Tipton

LISA IMMORDINO VREELAND - DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL [EVENTS]
USA, 92'
(documentary)

DAVID ZAMAGNI, NADIA RANOCCHI - JOULE [3D] [PERSOL 3-D AWARD 2011]
Italy, 22'
Cristiana Capelli, Maria Sole Ugolini, Fabrizio Fabbri

DAVID ZAMAGNI, NADIA RANOCCHI - SPELL. THE HYPNOTIST DOG [3D] [PERSOL 3-D AWARD 2011]
Italy, 20'
Werner Hirsch, Chimera, Monaldo Moretti, Nadia Ranocchi

DAVID ZAMAGNI, NADIA RANOCCHI - SUITE [3D] [PERSOL 3-D AWARD 2011]
Italy, 5'
Li Weilong, Paolo Bisi, Elena Biserna, Eleonora Amadori


Here are the complete lineups for the remaining sections (click section titles for film lists) :

Controcampo Italiano - The new trends in Italian cinema
Orrizonti - The new trends in world cinema
Orizzonti 1961-1978 - Retrospective section on Italian experimental cinema of the 60s and 70s
International Critics’ Week - A series of 7 films, debut works, independently organized by a commission nominated by the National Union of Italian Film Critics
Venice Days - Independent section promoted by the Italian Association of Filmmakers ANAC and 100 Autori