The Venice Film Festival has revealed the competition and out-of-competition films for its 70th edition.
The festival organizers announced that 25 films will compete for the coveted Golden Lion (The Best Picture of the festival). Films in competition will include Terry Gilliam's "The Zero Theorem" starring Christoph Waltz and Matt Damon; Jonathan Glazer's highly anticipated "Under the Skin" with Scarlett Johansson; Stephen Frears' "Philomena" with Judi Dench and David Gordon Green's "Joe" starring Nicolas Cage.
The competition slate will also feature John Curran's "Tracks" and James Franco's "Child of God."
During the press conference announcement, the festival director Alberto Barbera said, "Venice on paper takes more risks, for example, taking two documentaries in competition, a first by any festival, and organizing an auteur cinema to support and promote these films."
He added that he wanted to include Jim Jarmusch and the Coen brothers' films that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, but the films were not available. He continued, "The names working today are not so many and since they were all in Cannes, Venice had to make do with what was ready and available in this period of the year."
In the out-of-competition slate Alfonso Cuaron's "Gravity" will be featured as the opening night film. Lindsay Lohan's controversial film "The Canyons" will also have special screening.
On Monday and Tuesday the festival announced its Critic's week and Venice Days selection which included many films from emerging filmmakers.
The Venice Film Festival is synonymous with showcasing the best in art film. In recent year it has featured "Spring Breakers," "The Reluctant Fundamentalist," "The Master," "Black Swan," "Atonement," "Burn after Reading," "Shame," "Carnage," and "The Wrestler."
The festival will run from Aug. 28 to Sept. 7.
2013 Lineup:
Competition:
"Miss Violence," Alexandros Avranas
"Tracks," John Curran
"Tom at the Farm," Xavier Dolan
"Child of God," James Franco
"Philomena," Stephen Frears
"Es-Stouh (The Rooftops)," Merzak Allouache
"L'intrepido," Gianni Amelio
"Via Castellana Bandiera," Emma Dante
"La Jalousie," Philippe Garrel
"The Zero Theorem," Terry Gilliam
"Ana Arabia," Amos Gitai
"Under the Skin," Jonathan Glazer
"Joe," David Gordon Green
"Die Frau des Polizisten (The Police Officer's Wife)," Philip Groning
"Parkland," Peter Landsman
"Kaze tachinu," Hayao Miyazaki
"The Unknown Known: the Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld," Errol Morris(
"Night Moves," Kelly Reichardt
"Sacro GRA," Gianfranco Rosi
"Jiaoyou (Stray Dogs)," Tsai Ming-liang
Out of Competition:
"Yurusarezaru mono (Unforgiven)," Lee Sang-Il
"Wolf Creek 2," Greg McLean
"Gravity," Alfonso Cuaron
"Moebius," Kim Ki-duk
"Space Pirate Captain Harlock," Aramaki Shinji
"Locke," Steven Knight
"Die Andere Heimat -- Chronik einer Sehnsucht (Home from Home -- Chronicle of a Vision)," Edgar Reitz
"The Canyons," Paul Schrader