The Venice Film Festival has unveiled its first list of titles that will be screening as part of the prestigious annual fest, and it’s a mighty fine lineup. Venice is one of the all-important stops on the Fall Film Festival season, which includes the Telluride Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival and is kind of like a kick off party for Oscar season. It’s where critics and tastemakers get their first look at some of the fall’s most promising films, and where buzz can either explode or fizzle out.

In terms of “Oscar movies”, Venice will launch Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi Sicario follow-up Arrival before it heads to Toronto, and the same with Whiplash director Damien Chazelle’s musical La La Land, which opens the fest. Tom Ford’s new directorial effort Nocturnal Animals will also launch at Venice before heading to TIFF, but the festival also boasts the world premiere of A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night director Ana Lily Amirpour’s cannibal flick The Bad Batch and Pablo Larrain’s Natalie Portman-fronted biopic Jackie.


As if that wasn’t enough, the 90-minute version of Terrence Malick’s documentary Voyage of Time will screen in competition, while director Mel Gibson’s promising World War II drama Hacksaw Ridge will play out of competition alongside Antoine Fuqua’s The Magnificent Seven and The Assassination of Jesse James filmmaker Andrew Dominik’s Nick Cave documentary One More Time with Feeling.

Additionally, while the early September release date of The Place Beyond the Pines director Derek Cianfrance’s drama The Light Between Oceans—starring Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander—seemed strange, the picture will get a quick preview at Venice a couple of days before hitting theaters.

Check out the full list of titles below, with more films to be added shortly. The Venice Film Festival runs from August 31st through September 10th.

In Competition 

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Arrival - Denis Villenueve (US)

The Bad Batch - Ana Lily Amirpour (US)

The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez - Wim Wenders (France, Germany)

Brimstone - Martin Koolhoven (Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, U.K. Sweden)

El ciudadano ilustre - Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat (Argentina, Spain)

El Cristo ciego - Christopher Murray (Chile, France)

Frantz - Francois Ozon (France)

Jackie - Pablo Larrain (US, Chile)

La La Land - Damien Chazelle (US)

The Light Between Oceans - Derek Cianfrance (US, Australia, New Zealand)

La region salvaje - Amat Escalante (Mexico)

Nocturnal Animals - Tom Ford (US)

On the Milky Road - Emir Kusturica (Serbia, U.K., U.S.)

Paradise - Andrei Konchalovsky (Russia, Germany)

Piuma - Roan Johnson (Italy)

Questi Giorni - Giuseppe Piccioni (Italy)

Spira Mirabilis - Massimo D’Anolfi and Martina Parenti (Italy, Switzerland)

Une Vie - Stephan Brizé (France, Belgium)

Voyage of Time - Terrence Malik (US, Germany)

The Woman Who Left - Lav Diaz (Philippines)


Out of Competition – Fiction 

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The Age of Shadows - Kim Jee woon (South Korea)

The Bleeder - Philippe Falardeau (US, Canada)

Dark Night - Tim Sutton (US)

Gantz:O - Yasushi Kawamura (Japan)

Hacksaw Ridge - Mel Gibson (US)

A jamais - Benoit Jacquot (France, Portugal)

The Journey - Nick Hamm (UK)

The Magnificent Seven - Antoine Fuqua (US)

Monte - Amir Naderi (Italy, U.S., France)

Planetarium- Rebecca Zlotowski (France, Belgium)

Tommaso - Kim Rossi Stewart (Italy)

Out of Competition – Documentary

American Anarchist - Charlie Siskel (U.S.)

Assalto al cielo - Francesco Munzi (Italy)

Austerlitz - Sergei Loznitsa (Germany)

I Called Him Morgan - Kasper Collin (Sweden, US)

Our War - Bruno Chiaravallotti, Claudio Jampaglia, Benedetta Argentieri (Italy, US)

One More Time with Feeling - Andrew Dominik (UK)

Safari - Ulrich Seidl (Austria, Denmark)

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Image via Summit

Horizons

Big Big World - Reha Erdem (Turkey)

Bitter Money - Wang Bing (China)

Boys in the Trees - Nicholas Verso (Australia)

Dawson City: Frozen Time - Bill Morrison (US, France)

Die Einsiedler - Fien Troch (Germany, Austria)

Gukuroku - Ishikawa Kei (Japan)

Home - Fien Troch (Belgium)

Kekszakallu - Gaston Solnicky (Argentina)

King of the Belgians - Peter Brosens, Jessica Woolworth (Belgium, Netherlands, Bulgaria)

Liberami - Federica Di Giacomo (Italy, France)

Malaria - Parviz Shahbazi (Iran)

Maudit Poutine - Karl Lemieux, (Canada)

Il più grande sogno - (Italy)

Reparer les vivants - Katell Quillevere (France, Belgium)


Sao Jorge - Marco Martins (Portugal, France)

Tarde para la ira - Raul Arevalo (Spain)

Through the Wall - Rama Burshtein (Israel)

White Sun - Deepak Rauniyar (Nepal, U.S., Qatar, Netherlands)

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Image via Focus Features