French films will figure prominently in the 58th Venice Film Festival from August 29 to September 8, 2001.

Titles slated for official competition include: Loin by André Techiné, Sauvage Innocence by Philippe Garrel, and Eden by Amos Gitai. Four French co-productions have also been selected: L’Après-midi d’un tortionnaire by Lucian Pintilie, Behind the Sun by Walter Salles, Hollywood Hong Kong by Fruit Chan, and How Harry Became a Tree by Boran Paskaljevic.

Also to be screened out-of-competition are: Cet Amour-là by Josée Dayan, The Lady and the Duke by Eric Rohmer, Silence. . . on tourne! by Youssef Chahine, Tosca by Benoît Jacquot, and Porto da Minha Infantile by Manoel de Oliveira.

Included in the “Cinema of the Present” section are: L’Emploi du Temps by Laurent Cantet, Reines d’un jour by Marion Vernoux, Fifi Martingale by Jacques Rozier, and Le Souffle by Damien Odoul, plus two French co-productions, Il-gon Song’s Flower Island and Fatmir Koçi’s Tirana Year Zero.

Furthermore, the “New Territories” section will feature:
– Brève Traversée by Catherine Breillat,
and the following documentaries:
– Danièle Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub, Cinéastes by Pedro Costa
– Images d’Orient, Tourisme Vandale by Jervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi
– L’Affaire Sofri by Jean-Louis Comolli
– Les Mille et une Voix by Mahmoud Ben Mahmoud
– Serbie, Année Zéro by Goran Markovic
– Elegia Dorogi by Alexander Sokurov
– Le Loup et L’Agneau: John Ford et Alfred Hitchcock by André S. Labarthe and Hubert Knapp

A tribute to Jean-Claude Rousseau will include his feature-length and short films:
– Jeune Femme à sa Fenêtre Lisant une Lettre (1983–2001)
– Keep in Touch
– La Vallée Close
– Les Antiquités de Rome (1984–1989)
– Venise N’Existe Pas (1984–2001)

The “Critics’ Week” will screen Un Moment de Bonheur by Antoine Santana and a French co-production, Rasganço, by Portuguese director Raquel Freire.

When it comes to short films, Ben Elia’s Avatars and Licia Eminenti’s Intimisto have been selected.