Venice Film Festival Lineup: Robert Pattinson’s ‘Primetime,’ Martin McDonagh’s ‘Wild Horse Nine,’ Oasis Reunion Doc and More

Buzzy new projects from top international directors, including Martin McDonagh, Florian Zeller, Danny Boyle, Werner Herzog, Lance Oppenheim, Nanni Moretti, Hirokazu Kore-eda and Lee Chang-dong, are set to bow at the Venice Film Festival.

Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera has unveiled his lineup for the upcoming 83rd edition that, somewhat similarly to Cannes earlier this year, is dominated by works from indie filmmakers peppered with plenty of A-list stars despite a dearth of Hollywood studio or streamer-backed fare.

Related Stories

Christopher Nolan Dedicates 'The Odyssey' to Late Imax Pioneer David Keighley

The Sound of 'The Odyssey': Composer Ludwig Göransson Used Ancient Greek Instruments, Scrap Metals and Gongs

Which is not to say that the Lido selection lacks luster or awards consecration potential. It’s a bit more subdued than recent editions, with less Hollywood glitz. But there’s still enough star-wattage and mouth-watering movies to keep film buffs’ pulses racing. Plus, this year’s fest will have a dose of rock ‘n’ roll with the world premiere of Oasis reunion doc “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” with British brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher expected to attend.

Unveiling the selection, Venice chief Alberto Barbera said it “bolsters the idea of cinema as an extraordinary tool to understand the real world,” adding that “All the biggest problems of contemporary existence are reflected or echoed” in the films that will be on display.

And “To those who are skeptical about the state of cinema, all they have to do is set foot in a movie theatre where they are screening Christopher Nolan’s “Odyssey” to realise not just that cinema is not on its deathbed, but that it can continuously regenerate itself, continuing to generate epiphanies and miracles of vision,” Barbera went on to note.

McDonagh — whose last two features “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and “The Banshees of Inisherin” both premiered in Venice — will be vying for the Golden Lion again with “Wild Horse Nine,” a dark comedy about CIA agents who are dispatched from Santiago to Easter Island shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup. It stars John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits and Parker Posey, with Searchlight Pictures distributing.

Zeller will be back on the Lido with “Bunker,” his hotly anticipated follow up to “The Son.” It’s an elevated psychological thriller starring Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz as a real-life couple as a mysterious construction project — a bunker, commissioned by a powerful tech mogul — begins to infiltrate their lives. Paul Dano, Stephen Graham and Patrick Schwarzenegger also star. Sony Pictures Classics has North American and Southeast Asian rights.

The previously announced in-competition opener is Boyle’s “Ink” starring Guy Pearce as Rupert Murdoch and Jack O’Connell as Larry Lamb, editor of Murdoch-owned British tabloid “The Sun.” Set in 1969, the film charts how Murdoch and Lamb launched what became Britain’s bestselling tabloid. Claire Foy plays Lamb’s fictional wife, Jules Davies, who also serves as deputy editor of the controversial newspaper. “Ink” will mark Boyle’s first time on the Lido. Netflix recently acquired the U.S. and Latin American rights to the film. 

Herzog is in competition with “Bucking Fastard,” starring sisters Rooney and Kate Mara as twins who “in search of an imaginary land where true love is possible, start digging a tunnel through a mountain range,” according to an official plot description. It marks the first time the Rooney sisters have appeared on screen together. Orlando Bloom and Domhnall Gleeson also star. Herzog’s latest was invited to Cannes earlier this year, but he declined after it wasn’t offered a competition slot.

U.S director Lance Oppenheim, who directed buzzy HBO documentary series “Ren Faire,” will be in Venice with A24-produced “Primetime,” starring Robert Pattinson as a journalist who takes on an underworld of crime and ends up changing television forever. Pattinson, who will be on the Lido to present the film, also produced alongside Ari Aster.

An under-the-radar-title from the U.S. indie trenches set to compete in Venice is the Casey Affleck-directed gothic mystery “Company,” starring Nick Nolte, Adelaide Clemens, Ben Mendelsohn, Scoot McNairy, Emily Alyn Lind and Caylee Cowan. Set on a winter night in 1975, “Company” involves parallel tales told by a mysterious woman named Evelyn who arrives uninvited at a holiday gathering. Her stories span across generations. It marks Affleck’s third directorial feature and first since 2019’s “Light of My Life.”

The single Hollywood major studio title in the Venice selection is Disney’s “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” which follows Oasis’ recent reunion world tour and is touted as featuring the first joint interviews with Noel and Liam in over 25 years. “Don’t Look Back in Anger” has been created by BAFTA and Oscar-nominated writer, producer and director Steven Knight (“Peaky Blinders”) and is directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace (“Shut Up and Play the Hits,” “Meet Me in the Bathroom”).

The Oasis doc – which is playing in Venice as a special event – will open in Imax venues and cinemas worldwide for a limited theatrical engagement beginning Sept. 11, before streaming exclusively on Disney+ internationally and on Hulu and Disney+ in the U.S. later this year.

Russell Crowe is also expected in Venice for “What Love Builds,” his feature-length documentary chronicling performances and tours of his band “Indoor Garden Party” across Europe, the U.S., U.K. and Australia.

The Luc Besson-penned and produced action thriller “Father Joe,” starring Kiefer Sutherland as a man of faith who wages a violent war against 1990s New York City’s criminal underworld, is among other out-of-competition titles. Al Pacino plays a powerful mob boss whose empire collides with Father Joe’s crusade. Barthélémy Grossmann (“Arthur: Malediction”) directs.

Then there is Paul Schrader’s “The Basics of Philosophy,” about a philosophy professor — played by Jack Huston — who has been contending with guilt over a decision from his past when the victim suddenly returns to his life. Daniel Zovatto, Bill Pullman and Shiloh Fernandez and Sofia Boutella also star. The drama is said to continue Schrader’s “man in a room” stories that began with his script for Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” and have also included Schrader’s more recent features “First Reformed,” “The Card Counter” and “Master Gardener.” 

Other out-of-competition standouts include Hungarian filmmaker Kornél Mundruczó’s “Place to Be,” starring Ellen Burstyn, Taika Waititi and Pamela Anderson. The drama follows the unlikely friendship of an elderly woman and middle-aged man as they travel from Chicago to New York to return a lost racing pigeon home.

Alex Gibney will bow his Elon Musk documentary “Musk,” that’s described as an epic investigation behind the public persona of one of the world’s most influential and controversial business figures.

Barbara Kopple will be in Venice with her new doc “Union Town,” interweaving interconnected labor stories in and around New York City, involving delivery workers, including those working for Amazon, UPS and food-delivery apps.

Palestinian director Ahmed Hassouna will be in Venice with doc “Citizen Osama,” which portrays a photographer as he attempts to juggle his roles as father and a journalist while capturing the realities of war in Gaza.

Kurdish-Norwegian director “Hiding Saddam Hussein” will unveil his feature “No Paradise if You Are Killed by a Woman,” which follows a female sniper who returns to the battlefield she once escaped, driven by vengeance and by the desperate hope of rescuing her younger sister, still imprisoned by ISIS.

Back to the competition. Veteran auteur Nanni Moretti leads a robust Italian contingent with “It Will Happen Tonight,” featuring French star Louis Garrel and Italian A-lister Jasmine Trinca (“La Storia,” “Supersex”). Though the plot is being kept under wraps, it’s loosely based on the short story collection “Hungry Heart” (Lev Raev) by Israeli writer Eshkol Nevo. “Happen Tonight” will mark the first time in more than two decades that Moretti — who has had nine movies in competition at Cannes — will launch a movie from the Lido.

Chilean-Italian helmer Marco Bechis (“Olympic Garage”) is also competing with “Back to Buenos Aires,” his new drama about the crimes of the Argentine dictatorship.

“The Echo Chamber,” the latest drama from Andrea Pallaoro starring Alicia Vikander and Luca Marinelli as enraptured lovers and featuring Susan Sarandon — and based on an unfinished script by Bernardo Bertolucci — is among other Italian competition standouts. Italy’s younger generation is also repped by Paolo Strippoli’s high-concept thriller “The Spiral” (“L’estranea”), about a problematic mother-daughter relationship starring Jasmine Trinca and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, and dark tragicomedy “Il Fuoco che ti Porti Dentro” by Edoardo De Angelis.

The copious French contingent comprises Stéphane Brizé’s “A Good Little Soldier,” starring Italy’s Alba Rohrwacher as a woman navigating a corporate environment where vulnerability is not an asset. Vincent Lindon also stars. Then there is Cédric Kahn’s “15/18” (aka “A Place to Heal”), that is set in a French public hospital’s adolescent psychiatry unit, and Nicolas Pariser’s “A Bit Before Midnight,” with Melvil Poupaud as a man examining his life after his father dies. Léonie Simaga, Chiara Mastroianni and Golshifteh Farahani also star. 

Asian entries competing include Japanese festival circuit darling Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Look Back,” a live-action adaptation of a Tatsuki Fujimoto manga story about two girls chasing their dreams of becoming manga artists. It marks Kore-eda’s second premiere this year after his sci-fi fable “Sheep in the Box,” which competed at Cannes. There is also beloved Korean helmer Lee Chang-dong’s Netflix movie “Possible Love,” which centers on two couples whose vastly different lifestyles create unexpected intersections. The film marks Chang-dong’s first feature since 2018’s “Burning.” There is also cult Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto’s “Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?,” starring U.S. stage actor Rodney Hicks and Geoffrey Rush in a portrait of Vietnam veteran Allen Nelson.

Japanese filmmaker Sabu’s detective comedy “Arrested Memory,” starring Taiwan’s Ethan Juan, is screening out-of-competition.

Danish-Egyptian director May el-Toukhy, who made a splash with 2019 Sundance audience award-winner “Queen of Hearts,” will bow post-WWII drama “Woman, Unknown.” The film is about a former housekeeper named Marie who, while preparing to celebrate her engagement to the patriarch of the house, is haunted by secrets of her past. El-Toukhy, who has also directed episodes of Netflix’s “The Crown,” is the single female director in the 20-title competition.

Berlin-based Ilya Khrzhanovsky will unveil the new entry in his monumental “DAU” project, which he spent over two and a half years finishing. “DAU. Natasha” and “DAU. Degeneration” previously premiered at the 2020 Berlinale. Khrzhanovsky renounced his Russian citizenship and has been an outspoken critic of Putin’s regime, but he’s also faced allegations about the way he treated women on the set of “DAU. Natasha.”

Iranian director Ali Asgari, who was in Venice Horizons last year with dark satire “Divine Comedy,” is back — in competition this time — with his new feature “A Bit of Light.”

Gael García Bernal will present his third feature as a director, “Hombre Al Agua” in the Spotlight sidebar section.

Laura Poitras will bow a short directed in tandem Rachel Mueller titled “They’re Here” featuring footage of the protests in Minnesota against Trump’s controversial ICE raids there that resulted in 4,000 arrests and two fatal shootings by immigration officers.

Opening the Horizons section dedicated to more cutting-edge works is Alina Marazzi’s “La Ragazza Con La Leica” (“The Girl With the Leica”), about war photographer Gerda Taro, the first woman photojournalist killed in war who was also photographer Robert Capa’s muse.

As previously announced, Maggie Gyllenhaal will preside over the jury. She will also be presenting an out-of-competition short about Marilyn Monroe titled “Flesh Impact” with Ellen Burstyn, Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard and Sepideh Moafi.

Gyllenhaal is joined on the jury by Hong Kong filmmaking giant Johnnie To, Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, Afghan filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat, French director and screenwriter Xavier Giannoli, “The Brutalist” composer Daniel Blumberg and U.S.-based Italian film academic Francesco Casetti.

George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn will also be honored with lifetime achievement awards.

The 83rd Venice Film Festival runs from Sept. 2 to 12.

See the full lineup below.

COMPETITION

“Ink,” Danny Boyle (opening film)

“Company,” Casey Affleck

“Kami Nour” (“A Bit of Light”), Ali Asgari

“Ritorno a Buenos Aires,” Marco Bechis

“Un Bon Petit Soldat” (“A Good Little Soldier”), Stéphane Brizé

“Il Fuoco Che Ti Porti Dentro,” Edoardo De Angelis

“Kvinde Ukendt” (“Woman Unknown”), May El-Toukhy

“Bucking Fastard,” Werner Herzog

“15/18 (A Place to Heal),” Cèdric Kahn

“Dau,” Ilya Khrzhanovsky

“Look Back,” Hirokazu Kore-eda

“Ga-Neung-Han Sa-Rang” (“Possible Love”), Lee Chang-Dong

“Wild Horse Nine,” Martin McDonagh

“It Will Happen Tonight,” Nanni Moretti

“Primetime,” Lance Oppenheim

“The Echo Chamber,” Andrea Pallaoro

“Un Peu Avant Minuit” (“A Bit Before Midnight”), Nicolas Pariser

“L’Estranea,” Paolo Strippoli

“Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?,” Shinya Tsukamoto

“Bunker,” Florian Zeller

VENICE OPEN (OUT OF COMPETITION — FICTION)

“Dio Ride,” Giovanni Veronesi (closing film)

“Nessun Dolore” (“No Pain”), Gianni Amelio

“Makikiraan Po” (“Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors”), Lav Diaz

“Father Joe,” Barthélémy Grossmann

“Scherzetto” (“Trick”), Mario Martone

“Place to Be,” Kornél Mundruczó

“No Paradise if You Are Killed by a Woman,” Halkawat Mustafa

“Arrested Memory,” Sabu

“The Basics of Philosophy,” Paul Schrader

“Un Bon Avocat,” Tristan Séguéla

“Jupiter,” Alexander Smia

OUT OF COMPETITION — NON-FICTION

“Be Brave,” Francesco Carrozzini

“What Love Builds,” Russell Crowe

“Burgundy,” Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw

“Musk,” Alex Gibney

“The Road to Jericho,” Amos Gitai

“Al Mowaten Osama” (“Citizen Osama”), Ahmed Hassaouna

“Union Town,” Barbara Kopple

“Holy Wood Dust,” Victor Kossakovsky

“Listy” (“Letters From the Silenced Country”), Andrei Kutsila

“Biografía De Jorge Luis Borges,” Mariano Llinás

“My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile,” Julia Loktev

“Boatbuilders,” Luke Lorentzen

“Imperium,” Sergei Loznitsa

“Shumei – The Living Legacy of Kabuki,” Takashi Miike

“Queer Edward II,” Theo Rollason

“Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger,” Dylan Southern, Will Lovelace

“Dust,” Tsai Ming-Liang

“Everest: The Other Side,” Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin

“From Inside Out — The Architecture of Peter Zumthor,” Wim Wenders

SPECIAL SCREENING

“Dai Nostri Inviati. La Rai Racconta La Mostra del Cinema di Venezia 2001-2012,” Giuseppe Giannotti, Enrico Salvatori, Nicoletta Berardi

FILM ON FILMS

“Juso Per Ferie,” Karen Di Porto

“Nino – Un Film Su Nino Rota,” Walter Fasano

“The Pervert’s Guide to Utopias,” Sophie Fiennes

“Joie De Vivre,” Luca Guadagnino

“Twist and Shoot Mister Suzuki,” Yves Montmayeur

“Intermission,” Yonfan

OUT OF COMPETITION — SHORTS

“Flesh Impact,” Maggie Gyllenhaal

“Halayon” (“Wild Asparagus”), Avi Mograbi

“They’re Here,” Laura Poitras, Rachel Mueller

OUT OF COMPETITION — SERIES

“Peccato,” Valerio Vestoso

HORIZONS

“La Ragazza Con La Leica,” Alina Marazzi (opening film)

“Yak Mai” (“The Burning Giants”), Phuttiphong Aroonpheng

“Cudze Rzeczy” (“What Belongs to Others”), Grzegorz Dębowski

“Una Storia,” Anna Foglietta

“La Città Dei Vivi,” Edoardo Gabriellini

“Moragheb” (“Falling House”), Mohsen Gharaei

“Too Much Sugar,” Robert Greene

“The Difficult Bride,” Rubaiyat Hossain

“La Maison Du Vent,” Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu

“I Figli Della Scimmia,” Tommaso Landucci

“Mia Mera Sti Zoi Tis Tzo: Kefalaio Faidra” (“A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra”), Jaqueline Lentzou

“Oase” (“Oasis”), Jannis Lenz

“Do Kraja Dana” (“Until the Day Ends”), Jelena Maksimović

“La Moula,” Jérôme Pierrat

“Lovers in the Blue Night,” Anuparna Roy

“Un Détour Par Diane,” Ann Sirot, Raphaël Balboni

“The Color of the Sun,” Xavier Tera

“Eklipse,” Manuel Wetscher

“Huangyan Shenghuo” (“Big Little Things”), Michelle Zhou

VENICE SPOTLIGHT

“Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing,” Erik Shirai

“Hiwar Ma’ Albahr” (“Conversation With the Sea”), Muayad Alayan

“Hombre Al Agua,” Gael García Bernal

“Serpenti,” Roberto De Paolis Maino

“Furies,” Rami Kodeih

“Guria,” Levan Koguashvili

“Földszint” (“Ground Floor”), Gábor Reisz

“Eu Contez” (“I Matter”), Alina Șerban

Elsa Keslassy contributed to this report.