Venice line-up unveiled with 50 world premieres including new Malick, Bier, Gitai, Oliveira films

The selections also include Susanne Bier’s Italy-set comedy Love Is All You Need starring Pierce Brosnan, Robert Redford’s The Company You Keep, Brian De Palma’s Passion, Spike Lee’s Michael Jackson documentary Bad 25, and French-language period drama O Gebo e a Sombra, the latest film from 103-year-old Portuguese auteur Manoel de Oliveira.

Amos Gitai will debut his new film, Lullaby To My Father, and the festival will also screen his 2009 autobiographical diptych Carmel. American Henry-Alex Rubin (Murderball) will present his anticipated debut fictional film, Disconnect, starring Alexander Skarsgard, Jason Bateman and Andrea Riseborough. Ulrich Seidl will present the second part of his new trilogy, Paradise: Faith.

This marks the first year back in charge for artistic director Alberto Barbera after Marco Mueller’s departure. Barbera was festival head between 1998 and 2001. There is still one more film to be announced to bring the competition total to 18.

In the Official Selection, there are 15 American films (including documentaries and one short); 20 Italian projects, including Marco Bellocchio’s euthanasia story Dormant Beauty; and 25 French films.

As previously reported, the festival opens on Aug 29 with Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (out of competition), and the second film of the opening night will be jazz fusion documentary Enzo Avitabile Music Life by Jonathan Demme (also out of competition).

The closing film on Sept 8, also out of competition, will be Jean-Pierre Ameris’ L’homme qui rit starring Gerard Depardieu.

In addition to launching a market (Aug 30-Sept 3) at this year’s festival, another Venice 2012 innovation is a new virtual screening room online run by Festival Scope, for Orrizonti titles. These films will be sold to limited online viewers for €4 viewings per live stream.

COMPETITION

Something In The Air (Apres Mai), dir Olivier Assayas (France)
At Any Price, dir Ramin Bahrani (US-UK)
Dormant Beauty (Bella Addormentata), dir Marco Bellocchio (Italy-France)
La Cinquieme Saison, dirs Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth (Belgium-Netherlands-France)
Fill The Void (Lemale Et Ha’Chalal), dir Rama Burshtein (Israel)
E Stato il Figlio, dir Daniele Cipri (Italy-France)
Un Giorno Speciale, dir Francesca Comencini (Italy)
Passion, dir Brian De Palma (France-Germany)
Superstar, dir Xavier Giannoli (France-Belgium)
Pieta, dir Kim Ki-duk (South Korea)
Outrage Beyond, dir Takeshi Kitano (Japan)
Spring Breakers, dir Harmony Korine (US)
To The Wonder, dir Terrence Malick (US)
Thy Womb (Sinapupunan), dir Brillante Mendoza (Philippines)
Linhas de Wellington, dir Valeria Sarmiento (Portugal-France)
Paradise: Faith (Paradies: Glaube), dir Ulrich Seidl (Austria-France-Germany)
Betrayal (Izmena), dir Kirill Serebrennikov (Russia)

OUT OF COMPETITION

L’homme qui rit, dir Jean-Pierre Ameris (France-Czech Republic)
Love Is All You Need (Den skaldede frisor), dir Susanne Bier (Denmark-Sweden)
Cherchez Hortense, dir Pascal Bonitzer (France)
Sur un fil…, dir Simon Brook (France-Italy)
Enzo Avitabile Music Life, dir Jonathan Demme (Italy-US)
Tai Chi 0, dir Stephen Fung (China)
Lullaby To My Father, dir Amos Gitai (Israel-France-Switzerland)
Penance (Shokuzai), dir Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Japan)
Bad 25, dir Spike Lee (US)
The Reluctant Fundamentalist, dir Mira Nair (India-Pakistan-US)
O Gebo e a Sombra, dir Manoel de Oliveira (Portugal-France)
The Company You Keep, dir Robert Redford (US)
Shark (Bait 3D), dir Kimble Rendall (Australia-Singapore-China)
Disconnect, dir Henry-Alex Rubin (US)
The Iceman, dir Ariel Vromen (US)

OUT OF COMPETITION-SPECIAL EVENTS
Anton’s Right Here (Anton tut ryadom), dir Lyubov Arkus (Russia)
It Was Better Tomorrow (Ya Man Aach), dir Hinde Boujemaa (Tunisia)
Clarisse, dir Liliana Cavani (Italy)
Sfiorando il muro, dirs Silvia Giralucci and Luca Ricciardi (Italy)
Carmel, dir Amos Gitai (Israel-France-Italy)
El impenetrable, dirs Daniele Incalcaterra and Fausta Quattrini (Argentina-France)
Witness: Libya, dirs Abdallah Omeish and David Frankham (US)
Medici con l’Africa, dir Carlo Mazzacurati (Italy)
La nave dolce, dir Daniele Vicari (Italy-Albania)

ORRIZONTI (HORIZONS) FEATURES

Wadjda, dir Haifaa Al Mansour (Saudi Arabia-Germany)
The Paternal House (Khaneh Pedari), dir Kianoosh Ayari (Iran)
I Also Want It (Ja Tozhe Hochu), dir Alexey Balabanov (Russia)
Gli Equilibristi, dir Ivano De Matteo (Italy-France)
L’intervallo, dir Leonardo Di Costanzo (Italy-Switzerland-Germany)
Winter of Discontent (El Sheita Elli Fat), dir Ibrahim El Batout (Egypt)
Tango Libre, dir Frederic Fonteyne (Belgium-France-Luxembourg)
The Cutoff Man (Menatek Ha-Maim), dir Idan Hubel (Israel)
Fly With The Crane (Gaosu tame, wo cheng baihe qu le), dir Li Ruijun (China)
A Hijacking (Kapringen), dir Tobias Lindholm (Denmark)
Leones, dir Jazmin Lopez (Argentina-France-Netherlands)
Bellas Mariposas, dir Salvatore Mereu (Italy)
Low Tide, dir Roberto Minervini (US-Italy-Belgium)
Boxing Day, dir Bernard Rose (UK-US)
Yema, dir Djamila Sahraoui (Algeria-France)
Araf - Somewhere In Between, dir Yesim Ustaoglu (Turkey-France-Germany)
The Millennial Rapture (Sennen no Yuraku), dir Koji Wakamatsu (Japan)
Three Sisters (San Zi Mei), dir Wang Bing (France-Hong Kong-China)