Note: Post is In Progress until tomorrow July 23 when organizers will announce Official Selection in press conference. If necessary, post could continue to be In Progress until films info in uploaded at official site.
On the 50th anniversary of the death of master filmmaker Vittorio de Sica La Mostra Pre-Opening film will screen L'Oro di Napoli (The Gold of Naples) in the Sala Darsena. It is the world premiere of the digital 4K restoration.
Actress Sveva Alviti will host the Opening (Wednesday, August 28) and Closing (Saturday, September 7) ceremonies.
The festival will run from August 28 to September 9, 2024.
The Poster
Italian illustrator and artist Lorenzo Mattotti is, for the seventh consecutive year, the creative designer of the image for the official poster, which depicts an Elephant in the Lagoon, and for the sixth year, of the opening sequence for the Venice International Film Festival of La Biennale di Venezia, this year in its 81st edition.
Lorenzo Mattotti writes: “What is an elephant doing in the Lagoon? It is certainly an unusual, unexpected image, but it takes us back in memory to when, many years ago, an elephant arrived in Venice and wandered around the narrow Venetian streets during a famous Biennale Carnival in 1981... This Elephant now crosses the Lagoon and travels the paths of Fantasy, Mystery and Magic that are discovered in Cinema. He himself is a Memory and also the History of Cinema: a party, a parade, a show! And this specially-coloured Elephant also reminds us of the Exotic, the Faraway, the East, a look towards other civilizations, other cultures... At the Mostra other worlds, other languages, other fantasies have always met, and have been arriving in the Lagoon for 92 years. An Elephant that goes towards the East, but which has the ability to welcome everyone."
La Mostra
#Venezia81 Competition
Competition Jury
President: Isabelle Huppert, actress, France
James Gray, director, USA
Andrew Haigh, writer and director, UK
Agnieszka Hollado, screenwriter, producer and director, Poland
Klebler Mendonça Filho, screenwriter, director and film programmer, Brazil
Abderrahmane Sissako, director, screenwriter and producer, Mauritania
Giuseppe Tornatore, screenwriter and director, Italy
Julia von Heinz, screenwriter and director, Germany
Zhang Ziyi, actress, China
Out of Competition
Openning Film: BeetleJuice Beetlejuice, Tim Burton, USA
Orizzonti
Feature Films
Competition
Opening Film: Nonostante (Notwithstanding), Valerio Mastandrea, Italy
Orizzonti Extra
Opening Film: September 5, Tim Fehlbaum, Germany
Short Films
Line-up of the 13 Orizzonti Short Films whose production involves 16 different countries around the world.
Competition
Duyao Mao (The Poison Cat), Tian Guan, China. 17'
Il burattino e la balena, Roberto Catani, France and Italy, 8'
James, Andrés Rodríguez, Guatemala and Mexico, 20'
Marion, Joe Weiland and Finn Constantine, France and UK, 13'
Minha Mãe é uma Vaca (My Mother is a Cow), Moara Passoni, Brazil, 15'
Moon Lake, Jeannie Sui Wonders, USA, 12'
Neredeyse Kesinlikle Yanlış (Almost Certainly False), Cansu Baydar, Turkey, 20'
Nime Baz, Nime Basteh (Ajar), Atefeh Jalali, Iran, 12'
O, Rúnar Rúnarsson, Iceland and Sweden, 20'
René va alla guerra (Rene goes to War), Mariachiara Pernisa, Luca Ferri and Morgan Menegazzo, Italy and Slovenia, 18' (documentary)
الظلال Shadows, Rand Beiruty, France and Jordan, 11' (animation)
Three Keening, Oliver McGoldrick, UK, Ireland and USA, 10'
Who Loves The Sun, Arshia, Shakiba, Canada, 19' (documentary)
Orizzonti Jury
President: Debra Granik, screenwriter and director, USA
Ali Asgari, writer, director and producer, Iran
Soudade Kaadan, director and screenwriter, Syria
Christos Nikou, director, screenwriter and producer, Greece
Tuva Novotny, actress and director, Sweden
Gábor Reisz, director, Hungary
Valia Santella, screenwriter and director, Italy
Luigui de Laurentiis Award for Debut Film Jury
President: Gianni Canova, film critic, Italy
Ricky D'Ambrose, writer and director, USA
Barbara Paz, visual artist, producer and director, Brazil
Taylor Russel, actress and director, Canada
Jacob Wong, film festival curator and producer, China
Venice Classics
Venice Classics presents the world premiere screenings of 18 film restorations of masterpieces completed over the past year from film libraries, cultural institution and productions around the world. Among the many anniversaries that will be commemorated is Marcello Mastroianni birth centennial and 50 years since Vittorio De Sica death.
To read more about the section plus all films in Venice Classics go official site here. Worth mentioning is that the documentaries about cinema and its practitioners lineup is not announced yet.
Venice Immersive
One of the festival sections that has been growing and growing as XR - Extended Reality becomes more and more accepted. Launched in 2017, the section represents the first competition and official selection for works in Extended Reality in an A-list festival. Entirely devoted to immersive arts and media and includes all types of creative XR expression: 360° videos, virtual and mixed reality and XR works of any length, including installations, haptics and virtual worlds.
Venice Immersive will present 63 projects from 25 countries and to learn more about the projects go official site announcement here.
Australian director Peter Weir and Sigourney Weaver will receive each a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.