I have mixed feelings about the fall festival season.  On the one hand, I love going to the Toronto International Film Festival (very well-run and great venues), and getting a jump on the awards season movies because a fair share of them are going to be damn good.  On the other hand, there's less room for the joyful discovery I'll find at Sundance, SXSW, and Fantastic Fest.  Nevertheless, studios like to begin their awards season maneuvering in the fall, and that usually starts at the Venice Film Festival, and then those films then move on to Telluride and TIFF.  Variety has begun their predictions for what they believe will debut at this year's Venice Film Festival.  Among the predictions are Alfonso Cuaron's sci-fi drama Gravity, Paul Greengrass' Captain Phillips starring Tom Hanks, and Steve McQueen's star-studded Twelve Years a Slave.  The only confirmed title thus far is Paul Schrader's The Canyons, which isn't particularly noteworthy since it will debut on VOD in the U.S. weeks before.

Hit the jump for more films that might show up at Venice this year.  The 2013 Venice Film Festival runs from August 28 – September 7th.

According to Variety, other films that may pop up at Venice are Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin starring Scarlett Johansson as "an extraterrestrial on Earth disguised as a gorgeous woman who uses her voracious sexuality to entrap human prey" (not exactly sure how it's different from Species); Terry Gilliam's The Zero Theorem, which stars Christoph Waltz as "a computer hacker who searches for the meaning of life while being distracted by Management, a shadowy figure from an Orwellian corporation" (sounds a little like Brazil; I approve); Atom Egoyan's Devil's Knot, which is about the West Memphis Three and stars Colin Firth and Reese Witherspoon; "Kelly Reichardt’s indie eco-thriller Night Moves; and Catherine Breillat’s autobiographical drama Abuse of Weakness.  There's also the possibility of Golden Lion winner Kim Ki-duk (Pieta) returning with his new film, Mobius, but it was banned in South Korean due to "graphic sexual/violent content, reportedly including scenes of self-castration and incest."

The list of movies that will skip Venice is almost as impressive as the movies likely to play at the fest.  Variety predicts "Bennett Miller's ensemble drama Foxcatcher, starring Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, and Channing Tatum; Spike Jonze’s love story Her, with Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams; Olivier Dahan’s royal biopic Diana, toplining Naomi Watts; and Bong Joon-ho’s English-language debut, Snowpiercer," will all debut elsewhere (Snowpiercer will premiere in South Korea this summer).  Fingers crossed, I'll get to see them at TIFF.