66th Annual Venice Film Festival Line-Up Announced

Plenty of notable titles will be screened

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Thursday, July 30th 2009 at 11:58 AM

Variety has published the complete line-up of films set for the 66th Annual Venice Film Festival and there are a few films to take note of including Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant, Michael Moore's Capitalism and The Road. Fatih Akin also has a film in the competition titled Soul Kitchen and after last year's The Edge of Heaven I am down for checking out anything from Akin.

Out of competition we have Soderbergh's The Informant and Grant Heslov's The Men Who Stare at Goats. Along with that the horror follow-up REC 2 and Oliver Stone's Hugo Chavez documentary South of the Border.

Midnight movies includes Antoine Fuqua's Brooklyn's Finest, which was picked up already by Senator Releasing and is currently slated for a November 27 release and Valhalla Rising from Nicolas Winding Refn, the director of the Pusher series. Valhalla Rising is a Viking story set in 1,000 A.D. and centers on One-Eye (Mads Mikkelsen), a mute warrior of supernatural strength, who has been held prisoner by the Norse chieftain Barde. Aided by Are, a boy slave, One Eye slays his captor and together he and Are escape, beginning a journey into the heart of darkness.

Finally, the Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award will go to John Lasseter and the festival will screen the 3-D versions of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in conjunction with the celebration.

You can check out the complete list of film here.

66TH ANNUAL VENICE FILM FESTIVAL LINEUP COMPETITION

• Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Werner Herzog (U.S.)
• Capitalism: A Love Story, Michael Moore (U.S.)
• The Road, John Hillcoat (U.S.)
• Soul Kitchen, Fatih Akin (Germany)
• Survival of the Dead, George Romero (U.S.)

OUT OF COMPETITION

• The Informant!, Steven Soderbergh (U.S.)
• The Men Who Stare at Goats, Grant Heslov (U.S.)
• REC 2, Jaume Balaguero, Paco Plaza (Spain)
• South of the Border, Oliver Stone (U.S.)

MIDNIGHT MOVIES

• Brooklyn's Finest, Antoine Fuqua (U.S.)
• Valhalla Rising, Nicolas Winding Refn (Denmark)

GOLDEN LION FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT 2009
JOHN LASSETER AND THE DISNEY/PIXAR DIRECTORS

• Toy Story 3-D (New Version), John Lasseter (U.S.)
• Toy Story 2 3-D (New Version), John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich, Ash Brannon (U.S.)

Links from Other Sites You May Like