The Mostra of Venice has unveiled its official selection for its 69th edition, which will take place August 28 through September 8.
Four French-majority productions will be in Competition for the Golden Lion this year: the very French Something in the Air by Olivier Assayas and Superstar by Xavier Giannoli, along with Les Lignes de Wellington by Valeria Sarmiento (who has taken over the project initiated by Raoul Ruiz), with its star cast (Isabelle Huppert, John Malkovitch, Marisa Paredes, Mathieu Amalric, Melvil Poupaud...), and Passion by Brian de Palma, the remake of Love Crime by Alain Corneau.
Six others will be presented Out of Competition: Cherchez Hortense by Pascal Bonitzer, L'Homme qui rit by Jean-Pierre Améris, El Impenetrable by Daniele Incalcaterra and Fausta Quattrini, Lullaby to My Father by Amos Gitai, Gebo et l'ombre by Manoel de Oliveira, and The Tightrope by Simon Brook.
Yema by Djamila Sahraoui will be the only French film presented in the Orrizonti section, while Venice Days will feature three: Crawl by Hervé Lasgouttes, Inheritance by Hiam Abbas, and Queen of Montreuil by Solveig Anspach.
Fifteen minority-French films complete the French contigent in the Mostra's various sections.
We should note that this edition marks the return of Alberto Barbera as Mostra director. He takes over from Marco Muller and returns to a position he held ten years ago. This change coincides with the restructuring of the spaces used by the festival on the Lido and with the creation of whole new 5-day mini-market welcoming international buyers.
