The 77th Venice International Film Festival will take place on the Italian island of Lido from September 2 to 12. It will be the first major event in the world of cinema to be held outside of the virtual space following the lifting of restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic. The dates of its holding were not postponed. The changes mainly affected the program: according to the organizers, the competition part was somewhat reduced, and the Sconfini section ("Without borders") was also canceled. Such a measure will allow organizing more sessions in the framework of other programs and at the same time ensuring compliance with social distance at the venues.

Australian actress, Oscar and BAFTA winner Cate Blanchett will be president of the jury this year. Films of the main program will also be judged by Austrian director Veronica Franz, British director and screenwriter Joranna Hogg, Italian writer Nicola Lajoya, director and screenwriter from Germany Christian Petzold, actress Ludivine Sagnier (France) and director Christie Puyu (Romania).

The jury of the Horizons program will be headed by director, screenwriter and actress Claire Denis. The Luigi de Laurentiis Prize will be presented by a team led by director Claudio Giovannesi. Game designer Hideo Kojima is one of the judges of the Venice Virtual Reality program, and Celine Trikar is the head of the section.

Main competition

18 films are presented in the main competition of the Venice Film Festival: "Dear Comrades" by Andrei Konchalovsky, "Between Death" by Hilal Baydarov, "Sisters of Malacuzo" by Emma Dante, "The World to Come" by Mona Fastwold, "New Order" by Michel Franco, "Lovers" by Nicole Garcia, "Night in Haifa" by Amos Gitai, "And Tomorrow the World" by Julia von Heinz, "Spy's Wife" by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, "Sunny Children" by Majid Majidi, "Fragments of a Woman" by Cornela Mundruzzo, "Miss Marks" by Susanna Nikchiarelli, "Our Father" Claudio Noce, "Night" by Gianfranco Rosi, "There Will Be No More Snow" by Malgorzata Šumovska and Michal Englert, "Disciple" by Chaitanya Tamhane, "Where are you going, Aida?" Yasmila Zhbanich and "The Land of the Nomads" by Chloe Zhao.

This year Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky took part in the festival with the historical drama "Dear Comrades".

The tape tells about the strike of workers of the electric locomotive plant, which took place in June 1962 in Novocherkassk and went down in history as "Novocherkassk execution". During the dispersal of the protesters, 26 people were killed; 87 were injured. All information about these events has been classified for a long time.

The main role in the film was played by Konchalovsky's wife, actress Julia Vysotskaya. The film also stars Sergei Erlish, Yulia Burova and Andrei Gusev.

Filming took place in Novocherkassk, as well as in Moscow. The grandchildren of eyewitnesses of the tragic events took part in the work on the project.

"Dear Comrades" is the sixth film by Andrey Konchalovsky, selected for the program of the Venice Film Festival. In past years, he presented films "The First Teacher", "Beloved Mary", "House of Fools", "White Nights of the Postman Alexei Tryapitsyn" and "Paradise" at the show. The last three received festival awards.

  • Director Andrey Konchalovsky
  • RIA News
  • © Ekaterina Chesnokova

Another historical drama - "The Spy's Wife" - will be presented by Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa. The events in the film take place in 1940. The protagonist Yusaku runs a trading company. During a business trip, he learns about a terrible state secret. The hero decides to tell the whole world about his discovery, as a result of which he is accused of high treason. Only his wife believes him, ready to be with Yusaku to the end.

The main role was played by the famous Japanese actor and singer Issei Takahashi. His wife was played by Yu Aoi, who had previously worked with Kurosawa. She had a cameo appearance in his miniseries Atonement and the Journey to the Shore feature film.

Also at the festival will be the premiere of Chloe Zhao's third feature film Nomadland ("The Land of the Nomads" - RT ) starring Frances McDormand. She played a woman who suffered during an economic disaster. After her, the heroine sets off in her van on a journey across Western America and, living as a modern nomad, explores life from a new perspective.

Festival director Alberto Barbera called Zhao's tape a touching journey into a world "that exists under the radar of the mainstream public consciousness." The film is especially important today, during the seclusion caused by the pandemic, he says: it proves that mutual support and a strong sense of community can save you from loneliness, failure and despair.

Hungarian director Cornel Mundruzo will bring to Venice the emotional drama "Fragments of a Woman", which tells about the difficult relationship of a married couple. The heroes of the film took a bold step and decided on a home birth, as a result of which the child did not survive.

The actor Shia LaBeouf, known mainly for blockbusters, will appear on the screen in an unusual dramatic image. His wife was played by Vanessa Kirby.

The Norwegian director Mona Fastwold will present at the festival the drama The World to Come, based on the story of the same name by Jim Shepard. The cast includes Catherine Waterstone, Vanessa Kirby, Casey Affleck and Christopher Abbott.

The events of the picture unfold in the middle of the 19th century on the border of the development zone of the Wild West. In the center of the plot are neighbors who maintain warm relations, despite the forced isolation from each other.

According to the director, The World to Come is a rich and gripping portrait of four second-generation Americans battling their environment and ultimately each other.

"Horizons"

The opening film of the Horizons program will be a film by Christos Nikou Mila ("Apples"), co-produced by Greece, Poland and Slovenia.

Gia Coppola's film "Mainstream" about the world of show business, where Maya Hawke, Andrew Garfield, Chris Messina and Nat Wolfe starred, can become a notable picture of the section.

Also in the competition "Horizons" - the film "Yellow Cat" by Kazakhstani director Adilkhan Yerzhanov. According to the plot, the young man Kermek returned home from prison, where a gang established its own rules. Together with his girlfriend, he tries to escape from the criminal world at any cost.

In total, the Horizons program this year includes 19 full-length films and 14 short films, including two out of competition.

Out of competition

The non-competitive feature film program, which consists of eight films, includes the opening film Lacci (Ties), directed by Italian director Daniele Luchetti. This story is about how a married couple decided to separate due to infidelity. In this case, the heroes are held together by common children. Popular Italian actors Alba Rohrwacher, Luigi Lo Cascio and Silvio Orlando play the central roles.

Another important tape in the section is "Love After Love" by Hong Kong director Anne Hui. It is already known that the director will receive the honorary Golden Lion. In the story, a young girl goes from Shanghai to Hong Kong to get an education, but in the end she has to work for a relative and seduce influential men.

  • Hong Kong film director Anne Hui
  • AFP
  • © Philippe Lopez

The British film "The Duke" directed by Roger Michelle is notable for its cast: roles are played by Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent, Finn Whitehead and other celebrities.

The non-competitive section of documentary films will open a day before the start of the festival with the film "Molecules" by Venetian director Andrea Segre. The film contains visual evidence of quarantine, including in Venice due to the coronavirus pandemic. Segre admitted: during the filming, he did not even realize that he was creating the film.

Another topical topic is Nathan Grossman's film "Greta" about the trip of activist Greta Thunberg from Europe to America. Grossman documented a two-week sailing trip from the coast of Britain to New York. It was reported that Thunberg chose this mode of transport because she considered it the safest for the environment.

Also in the documentary section - "Sports Life" from the laureate of the Abel Ferrara festival with the participation of Willem Dafoe and Oscar-winning Alex Gibney's film "Mad But Not Crazy" about the research of the psychiatrist Dorothy Otnow Lewis. In addition, the program included a restored Orson Welles film with Dennis Hopper "Hopper / Wells" and a dedicated film "Paolo Conte Gone With Me" for musician Paolo Conte, directed by Giorgio Verdelli, starring Roberto Benigni. There are ten items in the program.

Three more films make up the out-of-competition program of special screenings: "Princess Europe" by Camille Lotto, "Try, a Peasant" by Alice Rohrwacher, as well as the first episode of the horror series "30 Silversmiths", which was shot by Spanish director Alex de la Iglesia.

"Days of Venice"

Previously announced were the films selected for the independent program Giornate degli autori (Days of Venice -  RT ), which runs in conjunction with the Venice Film Festival. The section included two Russian films: "Conference" by Ivan Tverdovsky and "Whaler" by Philip Yuriev. 

  • Shot from the film "Conference"
  • © kinopoisk.ru

In the center of the plot of the film "Conference" is the heroine of Natalya Pavlenkova, who witnessed the terrorist attack in the Theater Center on Dubrovka in October 2002. She managed to escape, but her family remained hostage. After the incident, the woman lived in the monastery for many years. After 18 years, she returns to Moscow in the hope of correcting the main mistake of her life.

According to the director, the authors did not try to recreate the events that took place in the Theater Center. They focused on the inner problems of the heroine and her attempts to cope with PTSD.

Adventure drama by Philip Yuriev "Kitboy" was co-produced by Russia, Belgium and Poland. The film was shot in Chukotka, and the main roles were played by non-professional actors - local residents Vladimir Onokhov and Vladimir Lyubimtsev. Christina Asmus is also involved in the film.

According to the plot, the main character falls in love with a girl whom he met in a video chat. After that, he sets out on a dangerous journey through the Bering Strait to meet his beloved.