The 83rd Venice International Film Festival announced its competition lineup on July 23. The festival runs September 2 to 12 on the Lido.
Maggie Gyllenhaal will serve as jury president, joined by Kaouther Ben Hania, Johnnie To, Xavier Giannoli, Shahrbanoo Sadat, Daniel Blumberg, and Francesco Casetti.
Twenty films compete. Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine casts John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as CIA officers dispatched to Easter Island days before the 1973 Chilean coup. Hirokazu Kore-eda brings Look Back. Lee Chang-dong enters with Possible Love. Florian Zeller's Bunker pairs Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz as a couple whose marriage buckles after he accepts a commission to build a bunker for a billionaire. Werner Herzog contributes Bucking Fastard. Casey Affleck's Company and Lance Oppenheim's Primetime round out a slate lighter on studio and streaming entries than in recent years.
Danny Boyle's Ink, a portrait of Rupert Murdoch's early tabloid years, opens the festival. Giovanni Veronesi's Dio Ride closes it.
George Clooney will receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. "I've had so many extraordinary moments in Venice," Clooney said. "This festival is without question my favorite and to be given the Golden Lion is a tremendous honor. It also probably means I'm old, but I'll take it."
Whether this year's lean toward auteur cinema is a deliberate program choice or just reflects a quieter studio calendar remains to be seen.