Venice lineup leans indie as studios thin out and stars still swarm
The 83rd Venice Film Festival has unveiled a lineup light on studio fare but rich in star power, political films and fresh debate over gender parity.
By Bianca Rossi · Entertainment Editor
3 min read
The Venice Film Festival has set the table for its 83rd edition, and the first surprise is who is barely on the menu: the Hollywood studios.
Festival organizers announced the lineup Thursday at La Biennale’s historical archive, ahead of the event’s Sept. 1 opening. Deadline reported that the selection continues a wider European festival pattern this year, with major studios keeping many of their fall titles away from the festival circuit, except for animation-heavy Annecy.
Warner Bros. is not bringing Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Digger, starring Tom Cruise, or Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part 3, according to Deadline. Netflix, a frequent Venice heavyweight in recent years, has reduced its footprint, though Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love is in competition.
Disney’s presence is also limited, with the ESPN-backed documentary Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing selected for the Venezia Spotlight section. Toronto, by contrast, has landed studio and streamer titles including Amazon MGM Studios’ Sylvester Stallone biopic I Play Rocky and Apple TV’s opening-night film Being Heumann, directed by CODA filmmaker Siân Heder, Deadline reported.
Stars are still headed for the red carpet
The studio pullback does not mean Venice will be short on famous faces. Robert Pattinson is due at the festival with Lance Oppenheim’s Primetime, a film inspired by NBC’s To Catch a Predator and host Chris Hansen. Pattinson stars in and produces the project.
Other names in the lineup include Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem in Florian Zeller’s Bunker, Rooney Mara, Kate Mara and Orlando Bloom in Werner Herzog’s Bucking Fastard, and Alicia Vikander and Susan Sarandon in The Echo Chamber.
Russell Crowe is expected with his documentary What Love Builds. Festival chief Alberto Barbera also said Noel and Liam Gallagher will attend for Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace’s Oasis: Don’t Look Back In Anger, a documentary about the band’s reunion tour.
George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn will appear outside the main selection as recipients of the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement. Maggie Gyllenhaal will attend as jury president.
Gender parity slips back into focus
The competition lineup has revived questions about representation. Deadline reported that Danish-Egyptian filmmaker May el-Toukhy is the only woman in the 20-title competition, selected with the post-World War Two drama Woman Unknown.
The figure marks a sharp contrast with recent Venice years. After Guillermo del Toro urged the festival in 2018 to work toward a 50:50 gender split in competition, women-directed films won the Golden Lion three years running: Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland in 2020, Audrey Diwan’s Happening in 2021 and Laura Poitras’ All the Beauty and the Bloodshed in 2022.
Last year’s competition included six prominent films directed by women, including Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab and Mona Fastvold’s The Testament of Ann Lee.
Guadagnino returns with a seven-hour Bertolucci film
Luca Guadagnino will be back in Venice, though not with his OpenAI-themed feature Artificial. Instead, he is bringing Joie De Vivre, a 435-minute documentary portrait of Bernardo Bertolucci.
Deadline reported that Barbera called the film an “extraordinary documentary” and said it would keep viewers “hooked to your chair” despite its running time. Guadagnino has described the project as a personal film built around conversations with filmmakers about Bertolucci.
Politics remain part of the program
The lineup also includes films tied to the Middle East conflict, including Muayad Alayan’s Conversation With The Sea, Ahmed Hassouna’s Citizen Osama, Avi Mograbi’s short Wild Asparagus and Amos Gitai’s Road to Jericho.
Beyond the festival slate, La Biennale is in a fight with the European Union after inviting Russia to its Art Biennale earlier this year. Deadline reported that the EU pulled $2.3 million in funding, and Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco opened Thursday’s press conference by challenging the cut and promising legal action.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.