Lido is ready to welcome its guests once again: the 76th Venice International Film Festival will take place from August 28th to September 7th, 2019.

Created to celebrate Italian culture, focusing on the movie industry, the Venetian film festival transformed massively since 1932, hosting an immense number of directors, actors and artists; the only thing that has not changed during the years is the great interest that this event is able to attract, with yearly raising numbers of attendance: tickets are selling like hotcakes and subscriptions finished at the beginning of the sale.

The edition of 2019 seems then to be the product of a newly found perspective, with Biennale Cinema focusing on themes such as: the reconstruction of past events as glasses that allow a better view on the present, and the seventh art as a medium that can be used to investigate reality rather than being an instrument for escapism.
Despite the premises the festival will present a great number of genres, from thrillers to animation.

Last year, on its 75th edition, of the 21 movies selected to compete for the Golden Lion only one was directed by a woman – earning festival organisers a severe backlash in terms of public image. While Guillermo del Toro passionately spoke about fighting for these numbers to change – to progress toward an industry that recognises women both in front and behind a camera -, directors Barbera and Baratta seemed to struggle to find a satisfying answer when addressed on the issue.
This topic, propelled by the #metoo scandal, certainly was one of the stepping stones that lead this year festival to focus so much on the condition of women in the world – and in the movie business as well -.

Young filmmakers will be the protagonists of this year, but established authors will not miss with ten Oscar winners among the guests and jury, Roman Polanski certainly being one of the most awaited returns; as well as Steven Soderbergh, Pablo Larraín who will come back to the Lido as well after receiving and award at the 73th edition of the festival and Hirokazu Kore-eda who will start the dances with his La Vérité, starring Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche e Ethan Hawke.
To mention a few other: Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro, Joaquin Phoenix, Antonio Banderas, Donald Sutherland, John Malkovich, Jude Law, Roman Polanski, Meryl Streep, Louis Garrel, Jean Dujardin, Johnny Deep, Roger Waters e Mick Jagger, Julie Andrews, Pedro Almodovar – who will awared for his brillliant carreer – will be present as well.

While Todd Phillips’Joker is certainly one of the most debated movies participating to the contest, Lido is excitedly awaiting for Haifaa Al-Mansour, the first female director from Saudi Arabia, with her The Perfect Candidate, portraying the story of a young doctor who runs for mayor of an ultra-conservative town; Swede Roy Andersson will present his About Endlessness, after being awarded with a Golden Lion for A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence in 2014.
French director Olivier Assayas will bring his Wasp Network, an espionage movie on a group of special agents working for the Cuban government of Castro; the cast features Penélope Cruz and Gael García Bernal.
That’s only a taste! These are only few of the movies that will be presented, unluckily Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman will not be part of it:

Barbera: Martin Scorsese? It is a dream we all cherished, but the film isn’t ready, we’re talking of late November.

Yet the list is rich and varied. The selection for this year’s edition for the competition:

The Truth – Hirokazu Kore-eda (France/Japan) (opening film)
The Perfect Candidate – Haifaa Al-Mansour (Saudi Arabia/Germany)
About Endlessness – Roy Andersson (Sweden/Germany/Norway)
Wasp Network – Olivier Assayas (France/Belgium)
Marriage Story – Noah Baumbach (US)
Guest of Honour – Atom Egoyan (Canada)
Ad Astra – James Gray (US)
A herdade – Tiago Guedes (Portugal/France)
Gloria Mundi – Robert Guédiguian (France/Italy)
Waiting for the Barbarians – Ciro Guerra (US/Italy)
Ema – Pablo Larraín (Chile)
Saturday Fiction (Lan xin da ju yuan) – Lou Ye (China)
Martin Eden – Pietro Marcello (Italy/France)
La mafia non è più quella di una volta – Franco Maresco (Italy)
The Painted Bird – Václav Marhoul (Czech Republic/Ukraine/Slovakia)
Il sindaco del Rione Sanità – Mario Martone (Italy)
Babyteeth – Shannon Murphy (Australia)
Joker – Todd Phillips (US)
An Officer and a Spy – Roman Polanski (France/Italy)
The Laundromat – Steven Soderbergh (US)
No. 7 Cherry Lane (Ji yuan tai qi hao) – Yonfan (Hong Kong)

For the whole list click here.

To read the articles from last year edition click here.