The lineup for the Venice Film Festival 2021 is being announced from Rome as of this writing. 

Alberto Barbera will be the Festival Director for the 2021 event organized by La Biennale di Venezia. The event will be held at Venice Lido from September 1 through September 11, 2021.

The film festival officially recognized by the FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Association) had long been about raising awareness and promoting international cinema on all three aspects: art, entertainment, and industry, in the spirit of freedom and dialogue. 

Apart from featuring never-before-seen feature-length movies and short films, the festival also organizes retrospectives and tributes to major figures to facilitate a better understanding of the history of cinema for all. 

For this year's event, the window of submission was dictated to be from January 11, 2021, to June 11, 2021. As for virtual reality projects, the deadline was set to May 31, 2021. 

Selection of Films

The submission criteria also ensured that the movies featured during the festival were not completed before September 12, 2020, and had not been presented to the public in any other format or length, not even as a work in progress or for any selection in previous iterations of the same festival. 

The only exception to this works in VR. La Biennale di Venezia expounded that Venice VR Expanded works in competition would be accepted even if they had been screened in public, but only in their country of origin. 

While the festival took these mandates seriously, certain exceptions could be made at the discretion of the Festival Director. 

All works submitted to be featured during the festival were via an exclusive link provided during the registration process or sent directly to the Venice Film Festival in DCP, DVD, or Blu-ray disc formats for feature films. Short films would only be accepted as direct file uploads. 

The Lineup

As for the lineup of the 78th Venice Film Festival, the following titles have been announced thus far:

Venezia 78 – Competition

Madres Paralelas, dir: Pedro Almodovar
Mona Lisa And The Blood Moon, dir: Ana Lily Amirpour
Un Autre Monde, dir: Stéphane Brizé
The Power Of The Dog, dir: Jane Campion
America Latina, dir: Damiano D’Innocenzo, Fabio D’Innocenzo
L’Evénement, dir: Audrey Diwan
Competencia Oficial, dirs: Gaston Duprat, Mariano Cohn
Il Buco, dir: Michelangelo Frammartino
Sundown, dir: Michel Franco
Illusions Perdues, dir: Xavier Giannoli
The Lost Daughter, dir: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Spencer, dir: Pablo Larrain
Freaks Out, dir: Gabriele Mainetti
Qui Rido Io, dir: Mario Martone
On The Job: The Missing 8, dir: Erik Matti
Leave No Traces, dir: Jan P Matuszynski
Captain Volkonogov Escaped, dirs: Natasha Merkulova, Aleksey Chupov
The Card Counter, dir: Paul Schrader
The Hand Of God, dir: Paolo Sorrentino
La Caja, dir: Lorenzo Vigas
Reflection, dir: Valentyn Vasyanovych

Out Of Competition – Fiction

Il Bambino Nascosto, dir: Roberto Ando
Les Choses Humaines, dir: Yvan Attal
Ariaferma, dir: Leonardo Di Costanzo
Halloween Kills, dir: David Gordon Green
La Scuola Cattolica, dir: Stefano Mordini
Old Henry, dir: Potsy Ponciroli
The Last Duel, dir: Ridley Scott
Dune, dir: Denis Villeneuve
Last Night In Soho, dir: Edgar Wright

Out Of Competition – Non-fiction

Life Of Crime 1984-2020, dir: Jon Alpert
Tranchées, dir: Loup Bureau
Viaggio Nel Crepuscolo, dir: Augusto Contento
Republic Of Silence, dir: Diana El Jeiroudi
Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song, dirs: Daniel Geller, Dayna Goldfine
Deandré#Deandré Storio Di Un Impiegato, dir: Roberta Lena
Django & Django, dir: Luca Rea
Ezio Bosso. Le Cose Che Restano, dir: Giorgio Verdelli

Out Of Competition – Series

Scenes From A Marriage (Episodes 1-5), dir: Hagai Levi

Out Of Competition – Short Films

Plastic Semiotic, dir: Radu Jude
The Night, dir: Tsai Ming-liang
Sad Film, dir: Vasili

Special Screenings

Le 7 Giornate Di Bergamo, dir: Simona Ventura
La Biennale Di Venezia: Il Cinema Al Tempo Del Covid, dir: Andrea Segre

Horizons Extra

Land Of Dreams, dirs: Shirin Neshat, Shoja Azari
Costa Brava, dir: Mounia Akl
Mama I’m Home, dir: Vladimir Bitokov
Ma Nuit, dir: Antoinette Boulat
La Ragazza Ha Volato, dir: Wilma Labate
7 Prisoners, dir: Alexandre Moratto
The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic, dir: Teemu Nikki
La Macchina Delle Immagini Di Alfredo C, dir: Roland Sejko

Horizons

Les Promesses, dir: Thomas Kruithof
Atlantide, dir: Yuri Ancarani
Miracle, dir: Bogdan George Apetri
Pilgrims, dir: Laurynas Bareisa
Il Paradiso Del Pavone, dir: Laura Bispuri
The Falls, dir: Chung Mong-Hong
El Hoyo En La Cerca, dir: Joaquin Del Paso
Amira, dir: Mohamed Diab
A Plein Temps, dir: Eric Gravel
107 Mothers, dir: Peter Kerekes
Vera Dreams Of The Sea, dir: Kaltrina Krasniqi
White Building, dir: Kavich Neang
Anatomy Of Time, dir: Jakrawal Nilthamrong
El Otro Tom, dirs: Rodrigo Pla, Laura Santullo
El Gran Movimento, dir: Kiro Russo
Once Upon A Time In Calcutta, dir: Aditya Vikram Sengupta
Rhino, dir: Oleg Sentsov
True Things, dir: Harry Wootliff
Inu-Oh, dir: Yuasa Masaaki

Horizons Short Films – Competition

Don’t Get Too Comfortable, dir: Shaima Al Tamimi
Techno, Mama, dir: Saulius Baradinskas
4 AM, dir: Mehdi Fikri
Sandstorm, dir: Seemab Gul
Heltzear, dir: Mikel Gurrea
Los Huesos, dirs: Cristobal Leon, Joaquin Cocina
Hair Tie, Egg, Homework Books, dir: Runxiao Luo
Il Turno, dir: Chiara Marotta
Fall Of The Ibis King, dir: Josh O’Caoimh
New Abnormal, dir: Sorayos Prapapan
La Fête Des Roberts, dir: Léahn Vivier-Chapas
The Last Day, dir: Momi Yamashita

Horizons Short Films – Out Of Competition

Ato, dir: Barbara Paz
Diario Di Una Passeggiata, dir: Giuseppe Piccioni

Biennale College – Cinema

Al Oriente, dir: José Maria Aviles
Nuestros Dias Mas Felices, dir: Sol Berreuzo Pichon-Rivière
La Santa Piccola, dir: Silvia Brunelli
The Cathedral, dir: Ricky D’Ambrose
Mon Pere, Le Diable, dir: Ellie Foumbi
La Tana, dir: Beatrice Baldacci

Biennale College Cinema – Virtual Reality

Lavrynthos, dirs: Fabito Rychter, Amir Admoni