On Tuesday, July 26, the program of the 79th Venice Film Festival was announced, which will run from August 31 to September 10, 2022.

During a press conference, Biennale President Roberto Cicutto and Artistic Director Alberto Barbera announced that actress Julianne Moore would chair the main competition jury.

Together with her, the films will be judged by directors Leonardo Di Costanzo, Mariano Cohn, Audrey Divan, Rodrigo Sorogoyen, actress Leila Hatami and writer Kazuo Ishiguro.

It is also known that as part of the Biennale, director Paul Schroeder and actress Catherine Deneuve will be awarded honorary Golden Lions for their outstanding contribution to cinema.

The main competition program of the show included 23 films.

The opening film will be Noah Baumbach's White Noise, based on the satirical novel of the same name by Don DeLillo.

The picture tells about the life of Jack (Adam Driver) - a historian specializing in the study of Adolf Hitler.

The life of Jack and his family is filled with various fears, the main of which is the fear of death.

Australian director Andrew Dominik will bring a new work "Blonde" to the competition.

This is a biopic about the icon of Hollywood's golden era, Marilyn Monroe, played by Knives Out star Ana de Armas.

  • © Shot from the film "Blonde" (2022)

French writer, playwright and director Florian Zeller will show the film version of his play The Son, staged in 2019.

The plot is dedicated to a difficult teenager who is having a hard time going through the divorce of his parents (Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern).

It is known that a small role in the film will be played by Anthony Hopkins, who starred in Zeller's drama Father.

Another adaptation of the play in the competition is Darren Aronofsky's The Whale with Brendan Fraser.

The script was adapted for the film by the author of the original theatrical production, Samuel D. Hunter.

Also competing for the Golden Lion is Martin McDonagh's new work, The Banshee of Inisheer, by Martin McDonagh, author of Lay Down in Bruges and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

The film, starring Colin Farrell, Barry Keoghan and Brendan Gleeson, is set on the Irish island of Inisheer in 1923 and tells of a conflict between two friends.

Also in the main competition program were the films "Entirely and Completely" by Luca Guadagnino with Timothée Chalamet, "The Eternal Daughter" by Joanna Hogg with Tilda Swinton, "The Ant-Lord" by Gianni Amelio, "The Immensity" by Emanuele Crialese, "Saint-Omer" by Alice Diop, TÁR Todd Field, Koji Fukada's Love Life, Alejandro González Iñárritu's Bardo, Romain Gavras' Athena, Wahid Jalilvand's Beyond the Wall, Argentina 1985 Santiago Miter, Suzanne Nicchiarelli's Chiara, Andrea Pallaoro's Monica, None bears" by Jafar Panahi, "All Beauty and Bloodshed" by Laura Potrice, "The Couple" by Frederick Weissman, "Our Ties" by Roshdi Zem and "Other People's Children" by Rebecca Zlotowski.

Out of competition, among others, will be presented the work of Olivia Wilde "Don't Worry, Sunshine", Paul Schroeder's "Mr. Gardener", a new season of "Kingdom" by Lars von Trier, the series "Copenhagen Cowboy" by Nicolas Winding Refn, a new documentary by Oliver Stone and " The Call of God is the last film by South Korean film director Kim Ki-duk, who died on December 11, 2020 from complications caused by the coronavirus infection.  

Another 18 films will be included in the Horizons competition program, which traditionally involves feature films and documentaries representing new trends in the development of cinema.

  • Shot from the movie "Goliath"

  • © Online cinema START

The New Horizons section, whose projects are evaluated by the audience jury, includes nine films, including Goliath by Kazakh director and screenwriter Adilkhan Yerzhanov.

Its plot unfolds in the fictional village of Karatas, where all activities are controlled by the criminal authority Poshaev (Daniyar Alshinov).

One day he executes the poor man's wife Arzu (Berik Aitzhanov).

The head of the security guard (Dmitry Chebotarev) is assigned to look after Arzu, but it seems that he is heartbroken and does not think about revenge. 

“Goliath explores the nature of power and the nature of submission.

The idea of ​​revenge, which at first glance is impossible, the story of the confrontation between a big man and a small one - they have been floating around for a long time.

I was looking for their reflection in the plot, over the course of two years the script was rewritten several times.

The film has a very thin line between art and genre, there is a risk that this balance will not be perceived, but there is also hope that it will be appreciated, ”says director Adilkhan Yerzhanov.

For Yerzhanov, this is not the first experience of participating in the Venice Film Festival.

In 2020, his film The Yellow Cat was presented in the Horizons section.

Russian films will not be presented at the 79th Venice Film Festival.

The organizers of the Biennale have previously stated that, as a sign of solidarity with Ukraine, official Russian delegations will be banned from participating in the event.