The 80th Venice International Film Festival is one of the most high-profile events of 2023. It takes place from August 30th to September 9th. This event shows only new films that have not yet been released anywhere else.
In the main program of the 80th festival, 23 world premieres are announced, and all of them will compete for the main prize, the Golden Lion, and will appear on wide screens in the fall or winter. Unfortunately, due to the strike of actors and scriptwriters, some films were withdrawn or replaced.
Comandante
- Genre: Drama, Military, Biography, History
- Production: Italy, Belgium / 2023
- Director: Edoardo De Angelis
- Starring: Pierfrancesco Favino, Johannes Virics, Johan Heldenberg, Tim Deisch, Ariadna Claudia, Luca Cicovani, Silvia D’Amico, Lucas Tavernier, Massimiliano Rossi, Julius Greco
The opening film of the festival is an Italian-Belgian war drama based on real events directed by Edoardo De Angelis. The action takes place during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II.
The commander of the submarine “Comandante Cappellini” Salvatore Todaro sinks a suspicious armed merchant ship, but, contrary to orders, rescues the crew of the sinking ship and disembarks in the nearest safe harbor. For the success of this mission, Todaro spends three days in a dangerous area, literally getting hit by enemy ships.
Filming took place in Taranto, a coastal town in Southern Italy.
La Bête
- Genre: Fantasy, Thriller, Drama, Melodrama
- Production: France, Canada / 2023
- Director: Bertrand Bonello
- Starring: Léa Seydoux, George MacKay, Dasha Nekrasova, Julia Faure, Guslagi Malanga, Tom Neal, Tiffany Hofstetter, Lottie Andersen, Parker Henry, Lucas Johnesko
French-Canadian romantic dystopia set in three time eras: 1910, 2014 and 2044.
In 2044, Gabrielle decides to have her DNA purified in a special machine that will rid her of all strong feelings and regrets. But shortly before the procedure, she meets a man named Louis, and for some reason the woman feels a strong attraction to him. It seems to her that she has known him for a very long time.
Director and screenwriter Bertrand Bonello was inspired by Henry James’ 1903 short story “The Beast in the Jungle.”
Poor Things
- Genre: Fantastic, melodrama
- Production: USA, Ireland, UK / 2023
- Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
- Starring: Emma Stone, Willem Defoe, Rami Youssef, Mark Ruffalo, Kathryn Hunter, Christopher Abbott, Jerrod Carmichael, Susie Bemba, Margaret Qually, John Locke
Yorgos Lanthimos’ fantasy thriller with Emma Stone and Willem Defoe is a mesmerizing story in which scientist Godwin Baxter, unable to accept the death of his only daughter Bella, raises her from the dead by transplanting the girl with the brain of her unborn baby.
Godwin then begins to raise Bella as a normal child, teaching her all the skills from scratch. However, when Bella begins to realize what is happening around her, she runs away from her father with a shrewd lawyer, wanting to learn about the world.
The movie is based on Alasdair Gray’s novel inspired by the famous “Frankenstein”.
El Conde
- Genre: Fantasy, comedy
- Production: Chile / 2023
- Director: Pablo Larraín
- Starring: Alfredo Castro, Paula Luchsinger, Gloria Münchmeyer, Jaime Vadel
A quality Chilean black satire with a fantasy about the dictator Pinochet. In the story, he is a grim ancient vampire whose character is seriously tainted by numerous age-related illnesses and family squabbles.
When he turns 250 years old, Augusto Pinochet decides to retire and try to die, which is not easy for an immortal bloodthirsty creature. The movie is filled with great irony and symbolism.
The movie is financed by Netflix Latin America, and for director Pablo Larraín, this is his tenth feature film.
Hors Saison
- Genre: Drama
- Production: France / 2023
- Director: Stéphane Brizet
- Starring: Sharif Andoura, Emmy Boissart Paumel, Guillaume Canet, Alba Rohrwacher
This romantic drama by French director Stéphane Brizet tells about a 50-year-old famous actor Laurent, who lives in Paris and often remembers his only love of his life, music teacher Hélène, who lives in a small seaside town. They were together 15 years ago and then separated.
Over the years, the pain of separation and anger in Laurent subsided. And then one day the actor goes to a spa center to unwind and accidentally meets his unforgettable love there.
His director co-wrote the screenplay with Marie Drucker.
Priscilla
- Genre: Biography, Music, Drama
- Production: USA, UK, Italy / 2023
- Director: Sofia Coppola
- Starring: Kaylee Spaney, Jacob Elordi, Dagmara Dominczyk, Dan Abramovici, Dan Byrne, Austin Ball, Olivia Barrett, Giorgia Cadence, Eri Cohen
A 2023 biographical drama from Sofia Coppola, daughter of the creator of the iconic “The Godfather.” Her movie centers on the life of Elvis Presley’s only wife, actress Priscilla, née Beaulieu.
Elvis and Priscilla had an unusual dating and marriage. For a long time they lived apart altogether, as the King was too busy with his career. It wasn’t until many years after they first met that they married. The movie tells about the family life of the great Elvis from a woman’s point of view.
The movie is based on Priscilla Presley’s own autobiography, many facts from which prominent Elvis biographers have questioned.
Bastarden
- Genre: Drama, Biography, History
- Production: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany / 2023
- Director: Nikolaj Arcel
- Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Gustav Lind, Amanda Collin, Magnus Krepper, Kristin Kuyat Torp, Søren Malling, Felix Kramer, Thomas W. Gabrielsson, Jakob Ulrik Lohmann, Morten Hee Andersen
Denmark, Germany and Sweden have teamed up to make Nikolaj Arcel’s historical drama starring Mads Mikkelsen. The movie is set in 18th century Denmark.
The reigning monarch Frederick V decides to develop the vast wastelands of the Jutland peninsula in order to civilize the savages and tax them. The king’s will is carried out by the brave adventurer Ludwig von Kahlen, who will have the most amazing journey of his life.
The movie is based on the book The Captain and Ann Barbara by Danish writer Ida Jenssen.
Maestro
- Genre: Biography, Music, Drama, Melodrama
- Production: USA / 2023
- Director: Bradley Cooper
- Starring: Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Miriam Shore, Maya Hawke, Matt Bomer, Sarah Silverman, Alexa Swinton, Michael Urie, Gideon Glick, Sam Nivola
An excellent biopic from Bradley Cooper, a well-known actor who seems to be becoming quite a good director. His movie is about the life and love of conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, and was produced by Scorsese, Spielberg and Phillips.
Cooper himself plays Bernstein, who in 1946 met the charming actress Felicia Montealegre. The romance between the two creative people ended in an engagement, which, however, was broken off. Only a few years later, Felicia married the musical celebrity, accepting his faith and later giving him three children.
Cooper co-wrote the screenplay himself with Josh Singer, and this is Bradley Cooper’s second feature directorial effort.
Origin
- Genre: Drama, History
- Production: USA / 2023
- Director: Ava DuVernay
- Starring: Jon Bernthal, Connie Nielsen, Vera Farmiga, Ongeanu Ellis, Nick Offerman, Victoria Pedretti, Donna Mills, Finn Wittrock, Niecy Nash, Blair Underwood
The film Origin was produced by black female director Ava DuVernay and is about one of the central events in the 20th century United States, the Great Migration of African Americans.
This was the forced relocation of blacks from agricultural states to industrial states in order to bring about an increase in factory labor. The event turned into bloody race riots and in many ways shaped modern society in the United States.
In 2017, DuVernay was named to Time news publication’s list of the world’s most influential people, and in 2020 she was elected to the board of directors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts, which awards the Oscars.
Zielona granica
- Genre: Drama
- Production: Poland, Germany, France, Czech Republic, Belgium / 2023
- Director: Agnieszka Holland
- Starring: Behi Janati Atai, Agata Kulesza, Piotr Stramowski, Maja Ostaszewska, Jasmina Polak, Maciej Stur, Tomasz Wlosok, Magdalena Popławska
In this heartbreaking drama from Polish director Agnieszka Holland, a Syrian family leaves behind their violence-filled country, hoping to make their way through Belarus to Poland and then to safe Sweden.
Their plan fails on the Polish-Belarusian border, where chaos reigns, diplomatically dubbed a humanitarian crisis created by the political ambitions of the two governments.
The movie will be shown at the Venice Film Festival, then Toronto, New York, and only then released.
Adagio
- Genre: Criminal
- Production: Italy / 2023
- Director: Stefano Sollima
- Starring: Pierfrancesco Favino, Tony Servillo, Adriano Giannini, Valerio Mastandrea, Francesco Di Leva, Lorenzo Adorni, Emilio Francini, Silvia Salvatori, Marzio El Moeti
Stefano Sollima’s Italian crime drama is the latest installment of his dark trilogy of crime and revenge. The first two installments, are the well-rated 2008 TV series Criminal Romance and the 2015 movie Suburra: Mafia City.
16-year-old Manuel lives in Rome and takes care of his elderly father. He is blackmailed by criminals, forcing him to go to a party to take some pictures they need. Manuel decides to run away and ask for protection from two old gangsters, former friends of his father.
The script of the movie is written by the director himself in co-authorship with the famous Stefano Bises.
DogMan
- Genre: Action
- Production: France, USA / 2023
- Director: Luc Besson
- Starring: Christopher Denham, Caleb Landry Jones, Marisa Berenson, Clemens Schick, Michael Garza, James Payton, Derek Sioux, Jojo T. Gibbs, Avan Strangel, John Charles Aguilar
After a 4-year hiatus, cult director Luc Besson returns to the screens with his new creation, a dog-and-human movie starring Caleb Landry Jones.
As a child, Douglas was abused by his abusive father and was once thrown to the dogs by him. But the animals protected the child instead of attacking him. Growing up, Douglas struggles to deal with the childhood traumas that broke his destiny and trusts only dogs.
In addition to directing, Luc Besson was also involved in producing the movie with the help of his film company.
Io capitano
- Genre: Drama
- Production: Italy, Belgium / 2023
- Director: Matteo Garrone
- Starring: Bamar Kane, Henri Didier Njikam, Seydou Sarr, Mustapha Fall
The drama by Italian director Matteo Garrone is the story of two young guys who dream of changing their lives. They decide to travel to Europe from Dakar, face the chaos of immigrant camps in Libya, almost lose each other on this journey.
But the most important test for the friends will be the need to somehow cross the Mediterranean Sea. And so they decide to embark on an incredible adventure.
Matteo Garrone is an honored director who has won many international prizes. In his films, he prefers to work with the same team, both crew and cast.
Aku wa sonzai shinai
- Genre: Drama
- Production: Japan / 2023
- Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
- Starring: Ryuji Kosaka, Rei Nishikawa, Hitoshi Omika, Ayaka Shibutani
Japanese flavor and the quiet unspoiled beauty of the forest and lake where deer roam in this social drama directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi. It is the story of a single father, Takumi, who lives in a remote forest village with his daughter Hana and works part-time chopping firewood and fetching well water for the locals.
Then one day, representatives of Playmode, a large company that is going to build a tourist complex for the townspeople, show up in the area. Takumi soon discovers that this plan could have the most dire consequences for the marvelous natural beauty of the area.
After Venice, the film will be screened at the New York Film Festival, which will take place in the first two weeks of September, and only then will it be launched.
Finalmente l’alba
- Genre: Italy / 2023
- Production: Italy / 2023
- Director: Saverio Costanzo
- Starring: Lily James, Willem Defoe, Rachel Sennott, Joe Keery, Alba Rohrwacher, Anna Manuelli, Paul Bohe, Benjamin Stender, Alexia Murray, Eric Alexander
Neapolitan drama directed by Saverio Costanzo with Willem Defoe in one of the leading roles, which unfolds in the atmosphere of 1950s cinema.
In the southeastern suburbs of Rome at the Cinecittà studio, an American movie with a young actress is being filmed. The girl can not reveal herself at the audition, she is too depressed by her betrothal to an elderly unloved man, whom her controlling parents match her. But the world of movies opens up new pleasures for her.
This is Rebecca Antonacci’s debut, and her character was inspired, according to the director, by the personality of ’50s Italian photomodel Vilma Montesi, whose brutal murder was never solved.
The Killer
- Genre: Action, Thriller, Drama, Crime, Detective, Adventure
- Production: USA / 2023
- Director: David Fincher
- Starring: Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell, Monique Ganderton, Arliss Howard, Carrie O’Malley, Sala Baker, Monica Gossmann, Lacey Dover
David Fincher’s new thriller “The Killer” with Michael Fassbender and Tilda Swinton will begin wide distribution in November. The desire to screen the eponymous graphic noir novel Alexis Knowlenta, which became the basis of the story, overpowered Fincher 20 years, and finally the director realized his dream. The story was written by “Seven” screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker.
In the center of the plot – a hired killer, who begins to reflect because of the murders he committed, feels the torment of conscience and remembers his life.
The film will be available on Netflix on November 10, 2023.
Memory
- Genre: Drama
- Production: USA, Mexico, Chile / 2023
- Director: Michel Franco
- Starring: Elsie Fisher, Jessica Chastain, Peter Sarsgaard, Merritt Weaver, Josh Charles, Jessica Harper, Blake Baumgartner, Rand Faris, David Duffield, Brooke Timber.
Traumatic drama by Mexican director Michel Franco starring Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard.
Two people, a man and a woman, meet at a bus stop in New York City. They both have difficult ordeals under their belt, leaving many traumas in their souls and bodies that make communication difficult. They cautiously build a relationship, opening up to each other more and more.
The movie wrapped filming in New York City in May 2022.
Holly
- Genre: Drama
- Production: Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands / 2023
- Director: Fin Troch
- Starring: Robbie Kleiren, Grit Verstrate, Serdi Faki Alisi, Felix Heremans , Catalina Heremans, Kathryn Girartes
A mystical movie by Belgian female director Fin Troch. The plot centers on a 15-year-old shy girl, Holly, who one day predicts a fire at school. Thanks to her warnings, which many people didn’t take seriously, several lives were saved.
After the fire, Holly is the center of attention. People are wary of her gift of foresight, but they can’t help but ask questions. And gradually people around her begin to demand more and more from the girl.
Incidentally, in 2017, Fin Troch was on the jury of the Horizons program at the Venice Festival.
Kobieta z…
- Genre: Drama
- Production: Poland, Sweden / 2023
- Director: Michal Englert, Małgorzata Szumowska
- Starring: Joanna Kulig, Mateusz Wiecławek, Małgorzata Chajewska, Jacek Braczak, Bogumila Bawarska
A Polish-Swedish movie about Adam, who lives with his family in a Polish provincial town and tries to be a good husband and father.
The events unfold throughout the 70s and 90s. Adam’s children grow up and his family thrives, but he himself begins to feel discomfort with his role in life, realizing that by delaying change, he may be missing out on his dream.
This is the second invitation to the Venice Film Festival for directors Szumowska and Englert. The first was in 2020.
The Theory of Everything
- Genre: Detective
- Production: Germany / 2023
- Director: Timm Kröger
- Starring: David Bennent, Olivia Ross, Hanns Zischler, Ladina von Frisching, Imogen Kogge, Gottfried Breitfuss, Jan Bülow, Philip Barber
Austro-German-Swiss quantum thriller in black and white tells the amazing story of a physics professor who arrives in 1962 for a scientific conference in the Swiss Alps.
Mysterious guests, secrets in the local mountains, quantum physics and amazing discoveries all await the young scientist on this strange and intense trip.
Wide audiences will be able to experience the film on October 26, 2023.
Ferrari
- Genre: Drama, Biography, History
- Production: USA, UK, Italy, China / 2023
- Budget: $80,000,000
- Director: Michael Mann
- Starring: Shailene Woodley, Sarah Gadon, Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz, Jack O’Connell, Patrick Dempsey, Massey Furlan, Valentina Belle, Gabriel Leone, Tommaso Basili.
After 8 years of silence, director Michael Mann presents in Venice a biopic about the life of Enzo Ferrari, based on the biography of the racer and designer written by journalist Brock Yates in 1991.
The events of the movie begin in 1957. The company, which Enzo and his wife Laura built from scratch 10 years ago, is threatened with bankruptcy, and the marriage is cracking at the seams, not withstanding the grief of spouses for their only son. Ferrari decides to take part in the loudest race “Mille Miglia”, which will either get him out of trouble, or forever bury all Enzo’s dreams.
The film is scheduled to be released in the United States on December 25, 2023.
Lubo
- Genre: Drama
- Production: Italy, Switzerland / 2023
- Director: Giorgio Diritti
- Starring: Franz Rogowski, Valentina Belle, Joel Basman, Noemi Besedes, Cecilia Steiner, Philip Giulini, Philippe Graber, Christoph Serme, Christian Bianco, Alessandro Zappella
This Italian-Swiss war drama directed by Giorgio Diritti tells the story of Lubo Moser, a street artist from the nomadic Yenish. In 1939, he is conscripted into the Swiss army to guard the border with Austria.
He soon learns from his cousin that his wife has been murdered and his children taken away by the police as part of the government’s “Kinder der Landstrasse” program, in which nomads’ offspring were forcibly taken from them and placed in boarding schools for re-education. Lubo escapes from the army and goes in search of his children.
The movie is based on Mario Cavatore’s book Il seminatore.
Enea
- Genre: Drama
- Production: Italy / 2023
- Director: Pietro Castellitto
- Starring: Benedetta Porcaroli, Pietro Castellitto, Sergio Castellitto, Adamo Dionisi, Matthew Branciamore, Chiara Noschese, Giorgio Montanini, Giorgio Quartz Guarascio, Cesare Castellitto
A crime-family thriller drama by young Italian director Pietro Castellitto, his second feature film starring him.
The plot centers on an almost ordinary family living in the suburbs of Rome with ties to the Mafia. Enea is a young man who enjoys life, ignoring the cruelty and indifference surrounding him.
The film will be released in the fall, right after the festival screening.
