DON'T MISS A THING

The Venice Film Festival, one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious film events, is set to dazzle audiences once again in 2024. Since its founding in 1932, the festival has been a cornerstone of cinematic innovation, held on the scenic Lido Island in Venice, Italy. This year’s edition is anticipated to showcase a diverse selection of films, from avant-garde experiments to highly anticipated mainstream releases, highlighting the festival’s role as a vital platform for emerging and established filmmakers alike.

With its storied tradition of honoring cinematic excellence through accolades such as the Golden Lion for Best Film and various Silver Lions, the Venice Film Festival continues to play a crucial role in the film industry’s awards season. As the city’s historic canals and elegant venues set the stage, the 2024 festival promises to be a celebration of artistic vision and storytelling, drawing film lovers and industry professionals from around the globe for a memorable and impactful event.

The 2024 Venice Film Festival’s competition lineup features an intriguing mix of narratives that span across genres, offering both depth and diversity in storytelling. Here’s a closer look at the stories these films bring to the screen:

“The Room Next Door”

Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Main Cast: Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore, John Turturro, Alessandro Nivola, Juan Diego Botto,
Raúl Arévalo, Victoria Luengo, Alex Hogh Andersen, Esther McGregor, Alvise Rigo, Melina
Matthews
Synopsis: “Ingrid and Martha were close friends in their youth, when they worked together at
the same magazine. Ingrid went on to become an autofiction novelist while Martha became a
war reporter. Eventually, they were separated by the circumstances of life. After years of being
out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation.”

“Campo di Battaglia”

Director: Gianni Amelio
Main Cast: Alessandro Borghi, Gabriel Montesi, Federica Rosellini, Giovanni Scotti, Vince Vivenzio, Alberto Cracco, Luca Lazzareschi, Maria Grazia Plos, Rita Bosello
Synopsis: “The First World War is drawing to a close. Two Army doctors, and childhood friends, work in the same military hospital where the seriously wounded come in every day from the front. Many of them, however, have self-inflicted wounds—impostors who would do anything not to return to the battlefield.
From an upper-middle-class family, with a father who dreams of a future in politics for him, Stefano is his own brand of cop in addition to being a physician, and is obsessed with these self-harmers. Giulio is apparently more understanding and tolerant, but he is uncomfortable at the sight of blood, is more inclined towards research work, and would have preferred a career in biology. Anna, their friend since university, volunteers for the Red Cross, a hard job that she carries out with determination, while aware that it’s the price she’s made to pay for being a woman. In those days, without an influential family backing her up, it was hard for a woman to get a degree in medicine. Meanwhile, something strange is happening among the patients: many of them are mysteriously getting worse. Somebody might be purposely causing complications to their wounds, so that the soldiers may be sent home, even crippled, even mutilated, as long as they don’t make it back to the combat zone.
There is a saboteur inside the hospital. Anna is the first to suspect so. But right towards the end of the conflict a sort of infection starts spreading at the front, striking down more people than the enemy weapons. And it soon spreads over to the civilian population…”

“Leurs Enfants Après Eux”

Director: Zoran Boukherma, Ludovic Boukherma
Main Cast: Paul Kircher, Angélina Woreth, Sayyid El Alami, Gilles Lellouche, Ludivine Sagnier, Louis Memmi
Synopsis: “August 1992. A stifling hot afternoon in a lost valley somewhere in Eastern France with its extinguished blast furnaces and its lake. Anthony, 14 years old, and his cousin kill boredom by the lake, meeting with Steph and Clem. For Anthony, this will turn out to be the summer of his first love, that which defines everything. The bittersweet moment in life marking the end of childhood and one’s coming of age. But there’s also Hacine, a young rebel from the neighbourhood. And a motorcycle he steals from Anthony, that turns their whole life upside down. Over the course of four crucial summers, the destinies of Anthony, Steph and Hacine intersect, collide and intertwine. And in the midst of all this turmoil, love will try to find its way…”

“The Brutalist”

Director: Brady Corbet
Main Cast: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones
Synopsis: “Corbet’s visually stunning film, with Brody and Jones at the forefront, tells the story of an architect whose ambition leads to personal ruin, set against a backdrop of post-war architecture.”

“Jouer Avec Le Feu”

Director: Delphine Coulin, Muriel Coulin
Main Cast: Vincent Lindon, Benjamin Voisin, Stefan Crepon
Synopsis: “Pierre, 50, raises his two sons alone. The three of them are very close. Louis, the youngest, is about to leave home to go to university in Paris. Fus, slightly older, is becoming secretive. Fascinated by violence, he becomes active in far-right extremist groups, at the very opposite of his father’s values. Between them, there is love and hate, until tragedy hits.”

“Vermiglio”

Director: Maura Delpero
Main Cast: Tommaso Ragno, Giuseppe De Domenico, Roberta Rovelli, Martina Scrinzi, Orietta Notari, Carlotta Gamba, Santiago Fondevila Sancet, Rachele Potrich, Anna Thaler, Patrick Gardner, Enrico Panizza, Luis Thaler, Simone Bendetti, and with Sara Serraiocco
Synopsis: “In four seasons nature completes its cycle. A girl can become a woman. A belly can swell and become a creature. One can lose the path that led safely home, one can sail seas towards unknown lands. In four seasons one can die and be reborn. Vermiglio tells of the last year of the Second World War in a large family and how, by a paradox of fate, with the arrival of a refugee soldier it loses its peace at the very moment in which the world finds its own.”

“Iddu (Sicilian Letters)”

Director: Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza
Main Cast: Toni Servillo, Elio Germano, Daniela Marra, Barbora Bobulova, Giuseppe Tantillo,Fausto Russo Alesi, Antonia Truppo, Tommaso Ragno, Betti Pedrazzi, Filippo Luna, RosarioPalazzolo, Roberto De Francesco, Vincenzo Ferrera, Maurizio Marchetti, Gianluca Zaccaria, LucioPatanè
Synopsis: “Sicily, early 2000s. After a few years in prison for mafia, Catello, a career politician, has lost everything. When the Italian intelligence service asks him for help in catching Matteo, his godson and the last prominent fugitive mafia boss out there, Catello seizes the opportunity to get back in the game. A cunning man with a hundred faces, a tireless illusionist who turns truth into lies and lies into truth, Catello launches into a peculiar and unlikely exchange of letters with the fugitive, whose emotional void he tries to exploit. But a gamble with one of the most wanted criminals in the world involves a certain risk…”

“Queer”

Director: Luca Guadagnino
Main Cast: Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Lesley Manville, Jason Schwartzman, Andra Ursuta, Michael Borremans, David Lowery
Synopsis: “William Lee, an American expat in Mexico City in his early 50s, spends his days
almost entirely alone, except for a few contacts with other members of the small American
community. His encounter with Eugene Allerton, a young student new to the city, shows him,
for the first time, that it might be finally possible to establish an intimate connection with
somebody.”

“Kjaerlighet (Love)”

Director: Dag Johan Haugerud
Main Cast: Andrea Bræin Hovig, Tayo Cittadella Jacobsen, Marte Engebrigtsen, Lars Jacob Holm, Thomas Gullestad, Marian Saastad Ottesen, Morten Svartveit
Synopsis: “Marianne, a pragmatic doctor, and Tor, a compassionate nurse, are both avoiding conventional relationships. One evening, after a blind date, Marianne encounters Tor on the ferry. Tor, who often spends his nights there seeking casual encounters with men, shares his experiences of spontaneous intimacy and meaningful conversations. Intrigued by his perspective, Marianne begins to question societal norms and explores whether such casual intimacy could also be an option for her. Kjærlighet is the next film in the trilogy Sex Drømmer Kjærlighet.”

“April”

Director: Dea Kulumbegashvili
Main Cast: Ia Sukhitashvili, Kakha Kintsurashvili, Merab Ninidze
Synopsis: “After a newborn dies during delivery, the morals and professionalism of an ob-gyn, Nina, come under scrutiny amid rumors that she performs illegal abortions for those in need.”

“The Order”

Director: Justin Kurzel
Main Cast: Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Jurnee Smollett, Marc Maron
Synopsis: “In 1983, a series of increasingly violent bank robberies, counterfeiting operations, and armored car heists frightens communities throughout the Pacific Northwest. As baffled law enforcement agents scrambled for answers, a lone FBI agent, stationed in the sleepy, picturesque town of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, comes to believe the crimes are not the work of traditional, financially motivated criminals, but of a group of dangerous domestic terrorists, inspired by a radical, charismatic leader, plotting a devastating war against the federal government of the United States.”

“Maria”

Director: Pablo Larraín
Main Cast: Angelina Jolie, Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher, Haluk Bilginer, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Stephen Ashfield, Valeria Golino
Synopsis: “Maria tells the tumultuous, beautiful and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest female opera singer, relived and reimagined during her final days in 1970s Paris.”

“Trois Amies”

Director: Emmanuel Mouret
Main Cast: Camille Cottin, Sara Forestier, India Hair, Grégoire Ludig, Damien Bonnard, Vincent Macaigne, Éric Caravaca
Synopsis: “Joan is no longer in love with Victor, but it pains her to feel she is being dishonest with him. Alice, her best friend, reassures her: she herself doesn’t feel passionate about her partner Eric and yet their relationship is smooth sailing. She has no idea he is having an affair with Rebecca, their mutual friend. When Joan finally decides to leave Victor and he disappears, the lives of the three friends and their relationships are turned upside down.”

“El Jockey (Kill the Jockey)”

Director: Luis Ortega
Main Cast: Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Úrsula Corberó, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Mariana Di Girolamo,
Daniel Fanego, Osmar Núñez, Luis Ziembrowski
Synopsis: “Remo Manfredini is a legendary jockey, but his self-destructive behaviour is beginning to outshine his talent and threaten his relationship with his girlfriend Abril.
On the day of the most important race of his career, which will clear him of his debts from his mobster boss Sirena, he has a severe accident, disappears from the hospital, and wanders the streets of Buenos Aires. Free from his identity, he starts to discover who he is truly meant to be. But Sirena wants him found, dead or alive.”

“Joker: Folie à Deux”

Director: Todd Phillips
Main Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz
Synopsis: “The much-anticipated sequel sees Phoenix reprising his Oscar-winning role, joined by Lady Gaga, as Phillips dives deeper into the chaos and madness of the Joker’s world.”

“Babygirl”

Director: Halina Reijn
Main Cast: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Antonio Banderas, Sophie Wilde, Esther McGregor
Synopsis: “A high-powered CEO puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much younger intern.”

“Ainda Estou Aqui (I’m Still Here)”

Director: Walter Salles
Main Cast: Fernanda Torres, Selton Mello, Fernanda Montenegro
Synopsis: “Brazil, 1971: a country in the tightening grip of a military dictatorship. A mother is forced to reinvent herself when her family’s life is shattered by an act of arbitrary violence.”

“Diva Futura”

Director: Giulia Louise Steigerwalt
Main Cast: Pietro Castellitto, Barbara Ronchi, Denise Capezza, Tesa Litvan, Lidija Kordić, Davide
Iachini, Marco Iermanò
Synopsis: “Italy, 1980s–1990s. With his agency Diva Futura, Riccardo Schicchi revolutionises mass
culture by turning the hippie utopia of free love into a new phenomenon: porn. Under his guidance, “girls next door” Ilona Staller, Moana Pozzi, Eva Henger and many others suddenly become world-famous stars and enter Italian homes thanks to the boom of private TVs and VCRs. “Pornstar,” a word coined at the time, marks the beginning of a new era.
The media impact is so overwhelming that it leads to the election to Parliament of Ilona Staller, known as “Cicciolina,” the birth of the Partito dell’Amore, and Moana Pozzi’s running for mayor of Rome.
The adventure of this big “family”—which sets off jealousies, ordeals and contradictions that leave the pornography industry in shambles—is told through the eyes of Debora, a young secretary at the agency with a mortgage to worry about.
All this happened because of desires as private as they were widespread: the ones everybody had.”

“Harvest”

Director: Athina Rachel Tsangari
Main Cast: Caleb Landry Jones, Harry Melling, Rosy McEwen, Arinzé Kene, Thalissa Teixeira,
Frank Dillane
Synopsis: “Over seven hallucinatory days, a village with no name, in an undefined time and place, disappears. In Tsangari’s tragicomic take on a Western, townsmanturned-farmer Walter Thirsk and befuddled lord of the manor Charles Kent are childhood friends about to face an invasion from the outside world: the trauma of modernity.”

“Qing Chun: Gui (Youth: Homecoming)”

Director: Bing Wang
Main Cast: (Documentary film)
Synopsis: “As New Year’s break approaches, Zhili’s textile workshops are almost deserted. The few remaining employees are desperate to be paid for their trip home. From the banks of the Yangtze River to the mountains of Yunnan, everyone will be celebrating the festivities in their hometown and performing the rituals of prosperity among their families.
For Shi Wei, it’s also the opportunity to get married, as it is for Fang Lingping. Her husband, a former IT specialist, will have to follow her to Zhili after the ceremony. Learning is hard but does not hinder the advent of a new generation of workers.”

“Stranger Eyes”

Director: Siew Hua Yeo
Main Cast: Wu Chien-Ho, Lee Kang-Sheng, Anicca Panna, Vera Chen, Pete Teo, Xenia Tan,
Maryanne Ng-Yew
Synopsis: “After the mysterious disappearance of their baby daughter, a young couple begins to receive strange videos, realising someone has been filming their daily life—even their most intimate moments. The police set up surveillance around their home to catch the voyeur, but the family starts to crumble as secrets unravel under the scrutiny of eyes watching them from all sides.”

This selection of films in competition at the Venice Film Festival 2024 showcases a wide range
of stories, each with its own unique perspective and style. From psychological thrillers to
intimate dramas, these films promise to offer audiences a rich and varied cinematic experience.

Words by Catarina Duque
All Film Stills Courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia
Feature Image: Cate Blanchett attends a red carpet for “Disclaimer” during the 81st Venice International Film Festival on August 29, 2024 in Venice, Italy | Photo by Ernesto Ruscio/Getty Images

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