Starry 2023 Venice Lineup Includes Cooper’s ‘Maestro,’ Coppola’s ‘Priscilla,’ Fincher’s ‘The Killer,’ Mann’s ‘Ferrari,’ DuVernay’s ‘Origin’

Glitzy lineup marred by the inclusion of films from accused rapists and sexual assaulters like Woody Allen, Roman Polanski and Luc Besson

The lineup for the 80th Venice International Film Festival has been announced and it’s a starry set of films in spite of the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA union strikes that have rocked the industry due to studios and executives refusing to pay them fair wages and a provide them with an equitable contract.

The Lido this year will see the world premieres of Maestro, the second directorial effort from Bradley Cooper, which he also co-wrote and stars in as famed composer Leonard Bernstein (he premiered his first film, A Star Is Born here in 2018), Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, based on Priscilla Presley’s 1985 memoir “Elvis and Me,” David Fincher’s The Killer, starring Michael Fassbender and Tilda Swinton, Michael Mann’s Enzo Ferrari biopic Ferrari starring Adam Driver and Penélope Cruz, Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things with Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe (which, incidentally, was just moved from its September berth to a new early December opening in the U.S.) and Origin from Ava DuVernay, which stars Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson in her quest to find the origins of injustice as well as Niecy Nash-Betts. DuVernay is the first African American woman director to have a film in competition at the festival in its 80 years.

Last week it looked like the festival might hit some turbulence in securing big titles as Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers, the sexy tennis menage a trois drama starring Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor, pulled out of its opening night slot and moved off the 2023 calendar entirely (it now opens April 2024) but, according to Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera, every other American film had been locked in early and stayed.

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“This past week has been a bit turbulent due to the actors’ strike which, combined with the screenwriters’ strike, took us a bit by surprise,” he said at the festival press conference. “Luckily the impact of the actors’ strike, the reasons for which are largely understandable, is very modest,” he continued, and that even though many actors and actresses will not be able to attend that their premieres, that “actors who are in independent [U.S.] productions – and there are many in Venice – will be coming” and that the red carpet “will not be empty.” It’s unclear how or if Cooper will be on the Lido in the capacity of director of his film and how SAG-AFTRA will consider a festival presence by the actor-director.

For Netflix, along with premiering Maestro and The Killer, will also present the new film from Pablo Larraín (Spencer, Jackie) called El Conde, which wildly fantasizes a world where former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet has been living as a vampire for 250 years. They join the previously announced Society of the Snow from J.A. Bayona (The Orphanage, The Impossible, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), a retelling of the harrowing saga of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which had been chartered to fly a rugby team to Chile, crashed in the heart of the Andes in 1972. Only 29 of its 45 passengers survived the accident. The film will close the festival.

Venice also chose to feature not one but three of the most controversial director figures working; out of competition slots for Roman Polanski (who won the Silver Lion here in 2019, causing actress Adele Haenel to publicly walk out the ceremony) and Woody Allen (who hasn’t had a film released in the U.S. since 2017’s Wonder Wheel) and an in competition slot for Luc Besson. All three have been accused of rape and/or sexual assault either recently or throughout their storied careers. Polanski, who won the Best Director Oscar for 2002’s The Pianist and received a standing ovation despite his lack of presence was and is still not allowed in the United States.

Wes Anderson, who just premiered Asteroid City at Cannes earlier this summer, will be in Venice for the out-of-competition premiere of The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, a short film inspired by a collection of stories from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory author Roald Dahl. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend, Dev Patel and Ralph Fiennes.

Damien Chazelle, who premiered La La Land and First Man in competition in Venice, heads up this year’s international jury, along with Jane Campion, Saleh Bakri, Mia Hansen-Løve, Gabriele Mainetti, Martin McDonagh, Santiago Mitre, Laura Poitras, and Shu Qi.

Last year’s fest was the launching pad for several major Oscar players this last season including Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, which won the Best Actor Oscar for Brendan Fraser, plus the multi-noiminated TÁR from Todd Field (his first film in 16 years) and Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin among them.

Here is the complete lineup of the 80th Venice International Film Festival, which runs August 30-September 9.

Competition

Comandante, dir: Edoardo de Angelis (opening night film)

Adagio, dir: Stefano Sollima
La Bête, dir: Bertrand Bonello
DogMan, dir: Luc Besson
El Conde, dir: Pablo Larrain
Enea, dir: Pietro Castellitto
Evil Does Not Exist, Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Ferrari, dir: Michael Mann
Finalmente L’Alba, dir: Saverio Costanzo
The Green Border, dir: Agnieszka Holland
Holly, dir: Fien Troch
Hors-Saison, dir: Stéphane Brizé
Io Capitano, dir: Matteo Garrone
The Killer, dir: David Fincher
Lubo, dir: Giorgio Diritti
Maestro, dir: Bradley Cooper
Memory, dir: Michel Franco
Origin, dir: Ava DuVernay
Poor Things, dir: Yorgos Lanthimos
Priscilla, dir: Sofia Coppola
The Promised Land, dir: Nikolaj Arcel
Die Theorie Von Allem, dir: Timm Kroger
Woman Of, dirs: Malgorzata Szumowska, Michal Englert

Out of Competition

Fiction

Aggro Dr1ft, dir: Harmony Korine
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, dir: William Friedkin
Coup de Chance, dir: Woody Allen
Daaaaaal!, dir: Quentin Dupieux
Hit Man, dir: Richard Linklater
L’Ordine del Tempo, dir: Liliana Cavani
The Palace, dir: Roman Polanski
The Penitent, dir: Luca Barbareschi
Snow Leopard, dir: Pema Tseden
Vivants, dir: Alix Delaporte
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, dir: Wes Anderson (short)

Short

Welcome to Paradise, dir: Leonardo Di Costanzo

Non-Fiction

Amor, dir: Virginia Eleuteri Serpieri
Enzo Jannacci Vengo Anch’io, dir: Giorgio Verdelli
Frente a Guernica (Version Integrale), dirs: Yervant Gianikian, Angela Ricci Lucchi
Hollywoodgate, dir: Ibrahim Nash’at
Menus Plaisirs – Les Troisgros, dir: Frederick Wiseman
Ryuichi Sakamoto Opus, dir: Neo Sora

Series

D’Argent et de Sang (episodes 1-12), dirs: Xavier Giannoli, Frederic Planchon
I Know Your Soul (episodes 1-2), dirs: Alen Drljevic, Nermin Hamzagic

Special Screening

La Parte del Leone: Una Storia della Mostra, dirs: Baptiste Etchegary, Guiseppe Bucchi

Horizons

En Attendant la Nuit, dir: Céline Rouzet
Behind the Mountains, dir: Mohamed Ben Attia
A Cielo Abierto, dirs: Mariana Arriaga, Santiago Arriaga
City of Wind, dir: Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir
Dormitory, dir: Nehir Tuna
El Paraiso, dir: Enrico Maria Artale
Explanation for Everything, dir: Gabor Reisz
The Featherweight, dir: Robert Kolodny
Gasoline Rainbow, dirs: Bill Ross, Turner Ross
Heartless, dirs: Nara Normande, Tiao
Hesitation Wound, dir: Selman Nacar
Housekeeping for Beginners, dir: Goran Stolevski
Invelle, dir: Simone Massi
Paradise Is Burning, dir: Mika Gustafson The Red Suitcase, dir: Fidel Devkota Shadow of Fire, dir: Shinya Tsukamoto
Una Sterminata Domenica, dir: Alain Perroni
Tatami, dirs: Guy Nattiv, Zar Amir Ebrahimi

Horizons Extra

Bota Jone, dir: Luana Bajrami
Day of the Fight, dir: Jack Huston
Felicita, dir: Micaela Ramazzotti
Forever Forever, dir: Anna Buryachkova
L’Homme d’Argile, dir: Anais Tellenne
In the Land of Saints and Sinners, dir: Robert Lorenz
Pet Shop Boys, dir: Olmo Schnabel
Stolen, dir: Karan Tejpal
The Rescue, dir: Daniela Goggi

Venice Classics

Non-Fiction

Un Altra Italia Era Possibile, Il Cinema Di Guiseppe De Santis, dir: Stefano Della Casa
Bill Douglas My Best Friend, dir: Jack Archer
Dario Argento Panico, dir: Simone Scafidi
Frank Capra: Mr America, dir: Matthew Wells
Ken Jacobs From Orchard Street to the Museum of Modern Art, dir: Fred Riedel
Le Film Pro-Nazi d’Hitchcock, dir: Daphne Baiwir
Landrian, dir: Ernesto Daranas Serrano
Michel Gondry Do It Yourself, dir: François Nemeta
Thank You Very Much, dir: Alex Braverman

Photo: Jason McDonald/Netflix