Four French films, directed by Robert Guédiguian, Roman Polanski, Olivier Assayas and, more surprisingly, Hirokazu Kore-Eda (a French-majority coproduction) will be presented in the Official Competition at the upcoming Venice Film Festival (August 28—September 7). All up, around thirty French films (including coproductions and all production formats) will make their world premieres at the 2019 edition of the world's longest-standing film festival.
In addition to the four films in the Official Competition—which include the festival's opening film The Truth by Hirokazu Kore-Eda—around ten French productions and majority-French coproductions, as well as around ten minority coproductions) will be showcased at the event. These titles include the latest films by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Costa Gavras, and, in the Orizzonti section, debut features by Jessica Palud and Antoine de Bary, as well as a new version Irreversible by Gaspar Noé titled Irréversible - Inversion intégrale.
New films by Dominik Moll and Fabienne Berthaud will be screened in the competitive sidebar section Venice Days, including the experimental film Bartabas, Time of the Untamed, which will be screened as closing film.
Four French shorts will be showcased at this year's festival, not to mention a selection of VR works, with five French productions in the competitive and non-competitive sections of the third edition of Venice VR.
France will also be represented at the festival in the juries, with Stacy Martin joining the Official Competition jury, and Rachid Bouchareb in the Orizzonti jury.
French films at the 2019 Venice Film Festival
Competition
- Gloria Mundi by Robert Guédiguian
- J'accuse by Roman Polanski
- The Truth by Hirokazu Kore-Eda
- Wasp Network by Olivier Assayas
- Martin Eden by Pietro Marcello (minority coproduction)
- The Domain by Tiago Guedes (minority coproduction)
Out of Competition
- Woman by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Anastasia Mikova
- Adults in the Room by Costa Gavras
- Irreversible - director's cut by Gaspar Noé
Orizzonti Section
- My Days of Glory by Antoine De Bary
- Back Home by Jessica Palud
- Hava, Maryam, Ayesha by Sahraa Karimi
- Madre by Rodrigo Sorogoyen (minority coproduction)
- White on White by Théo Court (minority coproduction)
- A Son by Mehdi M. Barsaoui (minority coproduction)
Orizzonti - Short Films
- The Diver by Jamie Helmer, Michael Leonard
- Sh_t Happens by Michaela Mihalyi, David Stumpf
- The Tears Thing by Clémence Poésy
Orizzonti (Short Films) - Out of Competition
Venice VR - Competition
- Ex Anima Experience by Pierre Zandrowicz, Bartabas
- BattleScar by Martin Allais, Nico Casavecchia (Chapters 1, 2, 3)
- Gloomy Eyes by Jorge Tereso, Fernando Maldonado (Chapter 2)
Venice VR - Out of Competition
College Cinema
Venezia Classici
Critics' Week
- Parthenon by Mantas Kvedaravicius (minority coproduction)
- All This Victory by Ahmad Ghossein (minority coproduction)
- Bombay Rose by Gitanjali Rao (minority coproduction)
Venice Days
- Only the Animals by Dominik Moll
- A Bigger World by Fabienne Berthaud
- Arab Blues by Manele Labidi
- Time of the Untamed by Bartabas (closing film, presented out of competition)
- The Weeping Woman by Jayro Bustamante (minority coproduction)
- 5 is the Perfect Number by Igort (minority coproduction)
- Corpus Christi by Jan Komasa (minority coproduction)
- You Will Die at 20 by Amjad Abu Alala (minority coproduction)
Furthermore, we can note that four productions coproduced by France have been selected for the 7th Final Cut in Venice Workshop, whose mission is to finalize six international projects from African or Near-Eastern countries.
Fiction
- Un jour de plus à Baghdad by Maysoon Pachachi (French production company: Les Contes Modernes)
- Mica by Ismaël Ferroukhi (French production company: Elzévir Films)
Documentaries
- Downstream to Kinshasa by Dieudo Hamadi (French production company: Les Films de l'Oeil Sauvage)
- Nardjes A. by Karim Aïnouz (French production company: MPM Film - Movie Partners in Motion Film)
