This year’s pandemic-altered Venice Film Festival will include a record number of competition films directed by women, festival organizers announced on Tuesday. And two of those are also the only Hollywood studio films to make the competition lineup — Mona Fastvold’s “The World to Come” and Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland.”
In all, eight of the 18 competition features have a female director — an improvement from last year, when just two made the cut.
“Nomadland,” a drama starring Frances McDormand released by Searchlight Pictures, will simultaneously premiere through the Toronto Film Festival as well as through the New York Film Festival and the now-canceled Telluride fest (at a special drive-in screening in Southern California). Sony’s “The World to Come” stars Casey Affleck, Vanessa Kirby and Katherine Waterston.
Other top titles screening out competition include Roger Michell’s “The Duke” starring Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent, Nathan Grossman’s documentary “Greta” about teenage climate-change activist Greta Thunberg, Gia Coppola’s “Mainstream” starring Andrew Garfield and Maya Hawke; and Orson Welles’ “Hopper/Welles,” which captures a two-hour conversation between the famed director and actor-director Dennis Hopper in 1970.
Here’s the complete list of Venice Film Festival titles.
VENEZIA 77 – COMPETITION
In Between Dying, dir: Hilal Baydarov
Le Sorelle Macaluso, dir: Emma Dante
The World To Come, dir: Mona Fastvold
Nuevo Orden, dir: Michel Franco
Lovers, dir: Nicole Garcia
Laila in Haifa, dir: Amos Gitai
Dear Comrades, dir: Andrei Konchalovsky
Wife Of A Spy, dir: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Sun Children, dir: Majid Majidi
Pieces Of A Woman, dir: Kornel Mundruczo
Miss Marx, dir: Susanna Nicchiarelli
Padrenostro, dir: Claudio Noce
Notturno, dir: Gianfranco Rosi
Never Gonna Snow Again, dirs: Malgorzata Szumowska, Michal Englert
The Disciple, dir: Chaitanya Tamhane
And Tomorrow The Entire World, dir: Julia Von Heinz
Quo Vadis, Aida?, dir: Jasmila Zbanic
Nomadland, dir: Chloé Zhao
HORIZONS
Apples, dir: Christos Nikou
La Troisième Guerre, dir: Giovanni Aloi
Milestone, dir: Ivan Ayr
The Wasteland, dir: Ahmad Bahrami
The Man Who Sold His Skin, dir: Kaouther Ben Hania
I Predatori, dir: Pietro Castellitto
Mainstream, dir: Gia Coppola
Genus Pan, dir: Lav Diaz
Zanka Contact, dir: Ismael El Iraki
Guerra E Pace, dirs: Martina Parenti, Massimo D’Anolfi
La Nuit Des Rois, dir: Philippe Lacôte
The Furnace, dir: Roderick Mackay
Careless Crime, dir: Shahram Mokri
Gaza Mon Amour, dirs: Tarzan Nasser, Arab Nasser
Selva Tragica, dir: Yulene Olaizola
Nowhere Special, dir: Uberto Pasolini
Listen, dir: Ana Rocha de Sousa
The Best Is Yet To Come, dir: Wang Jing
Yellow Cat, dir: Adilkhan Yerzhanov
OUT OF COMPETITION – SPECIAL SCREENINGS
30 Monedas, Episode 1, dir: Alex de la Iglesia
Princesse Europe, dir: Camille Lotteau
Omelia Contadina, dir: Alice Rohrwacher Jr
OUT OF COMPETITION – FICTION
Lacci, dir: Daniele Lucheti
Lasciami Andare, dir: Stefano Mordini
Mandibules, dir: Quentin Dupieux
Love After Love, dir: Ann Hui
Assandira, dir: Salvatore Mereu
The Duke, dir: Roger Michell
Night In Paradise, dir: Park Soon-jung
Mosquito State, dir: Filip Jan Rymsza
OUT OF COMPETITION – NONFICTION
Sportin’ Life, dir: Abel Ferrara
Crazy, Not Insane, dir: Alex Gibney
Greta, dir: Nathan Grossman
Salvatore, Shoemaker Of Dreams, dir: Luca Guadagnino
Final Account, dir: Luke Holland
La Verita Su La Dolce Vita, dir: Giuseppe Pedersoli
Molecole, dir: Andrea Segre
Narciso Em Ferias, dirs: Renato Terra, Ricardo Calil
Paulo Conte, Via Con Me, dir: Giorgio Verdelli
Hopper/Welles, dir: Orson Welles