Darren Aronofsky, Sofia Coppola and Julian Schnabel are among the big names competing for this year's Golden Lion, the Venice Film Festival announced on Thursday.
The festival will screen 22 films in competition this year. This will be augmented by out-of-competition films such as Ben Affleck’s “The Town,” Casey Affleck’s Joaquin Phoenix documentary “I’m Still Here,” Julie Taymor's "The Tempest" and Robert Rodriguez’s “Machete.”
The international festival runs Sept. 1-11.
On the Lido, Coppola will debut “Somewhere,” the story of a jaded Hollywood star and his daughter; Aronofsky will screen “Black Swan,” a thriller set in the world of ballet; and Schnabel will offer “Miral,” which chronicles the establishment of an orphanage in Jerusalem.
Two surprise omissions from the competition list were Terrence Malick’s Depression-era drama “Tree of Life” and George Clooney’s thriller “The American.” Either may still find a place at the festival as its surprise “in-competition” film, which won’t be announced until Sept. 6.
Venice is a truly international affair. In addition to the better-known American directors, this year will bring films from Germany’s Tom Tykwer, China’s Tsui Hark, and Italy’s Saverio Costanzo.
IN COMPETITION
"Black Swan," Darren Aronofsky, U.S. (Opening Film)
"La Pecora Nera," Ascanio Celestini, Italy
"Somewhere," Sofia Coppola, U.S.
"Happy Few," Antony Cordier, France
"The Solitude of Prime Numbers," Saverio Costanzo, Italy-Germany-France
"Silent Souls," Aleksei Fedorchenko, Russia
"Promises Written in Water," Vincent Gallo, U.S.
"Road to Nowhere," Monte Hellman, U.S.
"Balada Triste de Trompeta," Alex de la Iglesia, Spain-France
"Venus Noir," Abdellatif Kechiche, France
"Post Mortem," Pablo Larrain, Chile-Mexico-Germany
"Barney's Version," Richard J. Lewis, Canada-Italy
"We Believed," Mario Martone, Italy-France
"La Passione," Carlo Mazzacurati, Italy
"13 Assassins," Takashi Miike, Japan-U.K.
"Potiche," Francois Ozon, France
"Meek's Cutoff," Kelly Reichardt, U.S.
"Miral," Julian Schnabel, U.S.-France-Italy-Israel
"Norwegian Wood," Tran Anh Hung, Japan
"Attenberg," Athina Rachel Tsangari, Greece
"Detective Dee and the Mystery of Phantom Flame," Tsui Hark, China
"Three," Tom Tykwer, Germany
OUT OF COMPETITION
Opening Night Tribute to Bruce Lee:
"The Return of Chen Zhen," Andrew Lau (China-Hong Kong)
Opening Night Midnight Movie
: "Machete," Robert Rodriguez (U.S.)
"The Tempest," Julie Taymor (U.S.)
Homage to Vittorio Gassman
: "Vittorio racconta — Una vita da Mattatore," Giancarlo Scarchilli (Italy)
"The Town," Ben Affleck (U.S.)
"I'm Still Here: The Lost Year of Joaquin Phoenix," Casey Affleck (U.S.)
"Sorelle Mai," Marco Bellocchio (Italy)
"Niente Paura — Come siamo come eravamo e le canzoni di Luciano Ligabue," Piergiorgio Gay (Italy)
"Dante Ferretti — Production Designer," Gianfranco Giagni (Italy)
"Notizie degli Scavi," Emidio Greco (Italy)
"The Last Movie" (1971), Dennis Hopper (U.S.)
"Gorbaciof," Stefano Incerti (Italy)
"That Girl in Yellow Boots," Anurag Kashyap (India)
"Showtime," Stanley Kwan (China)
"Sei Venezia," Carlo Mazzacurati (Italy)
"Zebraman" (2004), Takashi Miike (Japan)
"Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City," Takashi Miike (Japan)
"The Child's Eye 3D," Oxide Pang and Danny Pang (China-Hong Kong)
"Vallanzasca – Gli angeli del male," Michele Placido (Italy)
"All Inclusive 3D," Nadia Ranocchi and David Zamagni (Italy-Austria)
"Raavan" (Tamil version), Mani Ratnam (India)
"1960," Gabriele Salvatores (Italy)
"La prima volta a Venezia," Antonello Sarno (Italy)
"A Letter to Elia," Martin Scorsese and Kent Jones (U.S.)
"Shock Labyrinth 3D," Takashi Shimizu (Japan)
"L'ultimo Gattopardo: Ritratto di Goffredo Lombardo," Giuseppe Tornatore (Italy)
"Passione," John Turturro (Italy)
"Lope," Andrucha Waddington (Spain-Brazil)
"Space Guy," Zhang Yuan (China)
