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Renato De Maria transports viewers to the sunny Italian countryside in Vanished Into the Night, a psychological thriller starring Riccardo Scamarcio as Pietro. It’s a tense remake of the 2013 Spanish film Septimo, telling the story of a father struggling through a difficult divorce.

Pietro’s world is turned upside down when his children mysteriously vanish one night from their rural home. With Elena, played by Annabelle Wallis, tensions are high as their marriage dissolves. But in the face of unimaginable danger, will old wounds heal as they search for answers?

This mystery unfolding in De Maria’s skilled hands is sure to keep audiences guessing. Tiny clues dot the picturesque landscape, each perhaps pointing to bigger revelations. Scamarcio brings Pietro’s desperation to life with depth and nuance. Wallis stands strong beside him despite their relationship’s strains.

Together they embark on a heart-pounding journey to discover what happened and save their family.

Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore in ‘The Room Next Door’ (Photo Credit: Sony Classics)

The 2024 Venice Film Festival winners were announced on September 7th, with Oscar-winner Pedro Almodóvar (Talk to Her) earning the Golden Lion for Best Film for The Room Next Door. Almodóvar took home the coveted prize for this first English-language film, and he dedicated the win to his family. “It is my first movie in English but the spirit is Spanish,” said the acclaimed filmmaker.

Academy Award-winner Nicole Kidman was named Best Actress for her starring role in director Halina Reijn’s Babygirl. Kidman wasn’t able to attend the ceremony, and Reijn read a statement accepting the award. “Today, I arrived in Venice to find out shortly after that my brave and beautiful mother Janelle Ann Kidman has just passed. I’m in shock and I have to go to my family. But this award is for her.

Quick Links What Is Vanished into the Night About? What Happens at the End of Vanished into the Night? Who Do the Children End Up With?

Netflix's Italian thriller Vanished into the Night has become the streamer's top international movie in America for the week of July 14, 2024. The film's position in the top five movies proves Netflix has been successful at convincing people they should check out foreign films. Vanished into the Night, a remake of the Argentine-Spanish movie 7th Floor (Septimo), is directed by Renato De Maria and revolves around Pietro (Riccardo Scamarcio), a father to two children who's on the verge of divorcing when someone takes his children.

The movie may be a hit on Netflix, but it hasn't done so well with reviewers, with a 40% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes and only 13% with audiences as of this writing. Pramit Chatterjee from Digital Madia Talkies said it...

"Vanished into the Night" on Netflix is a thriller similar to "Prisoners" starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Both films center on the theme of missing children, but "Prisoners" has a better Rotten Tomatoes score. "Prisoners" directed by Denis Villeneuve stars Gyllenhaal as Detective Loki and is available for purchase on various platforms.

Netflix's Vanished into the Night is rising to the top of the streaming service's charts shortly following its premiere, and the film's spike in popularity raises memories of a Jake Gyllenhaal movie from 13 years ago that contains similar themes. The 2024 Italian thriller film, directed by Renato De Maria and written by Francesca Marciano and Luca Infascelli, chronicles the disappearance of a soon-to-be-divorced couple's two young children while they were staying with their father. Shortly after they go missing, the couple receives a menacing phone call from a man demanding 150,000 euros in exchange for the kids.

The cast of Vanished into the Night...

“Vanished Into the Night,” a thriller starring Annabelle Wallis and Riccardo Scamarcio as a divorced couple in southern Italy whose children get kidnapped for ransom, has rapidly risen to the top of the global Netflix chart in a rare milestone for an Italian film.

In “Vanished,” Wallis – who played the character Grace Helen in the series “Peaky Blinders” – stars as a U.S. psychiatrist who lives in Italy’s scenic Puglia region after her breakeup with Pietro, a man with a dark past played by Italian A-list actor Scamarcio. When the young children of this estranged couple go missing on the outskirts of the port city of Bari, Pietro connects with a criminal from his past on a dangerous mission to get his kids back home.

The elevated genre film, directed by the prolific Renato De Maria shot to No. 1 just days after dropping globally on July 11 on Netflix, where...

Vanished into the Night has an effective thriller plot, even if it's something we've seen before. The film showcases competent direction and noteworthy cinematography, with clever use of lighting and long shots. Despite poor reviews, Vanished into the Night could be worth a watch on Netflix if you're looking for a short thriller.

Netflix is currently streaming an exciting new foreign-language thriller. Directed by Renato de Maria and starring Riccardo Scamarcio as well as multilingual English actress Annabelle Wallis, Vanished into the Night (original title: Svaniti Nella Notte) follows a couple whose children are kidnapped just as they are going through a divorce. They must join forces to figure out what is going on and get their children back, tangled in ransom demands, drug deals, and a strange mystery shrouding the town itself.

This movie has quickly climbed into the Netflix Top 10 despite a 15% audience score and 40% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

Vanished Into the Night has mixed reviews, with a 40% critics' score and a 15% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite criticisms of its shallow plot, the movie is praised for its entertainment value and thrilling storyline. While not a standout film, Vanished Into the Night offers escapism for fans of popcorn crime thrillers with its formulaic approach.

The Italian crime thriller Vanished Into the Night is doing well on Netflix but is it worth watching or can its not-so-great Rotten Tomatoes score be trusted? Vanished Into the Night revolves around a father whos stuck in the middle of a trying divorce. When his young children go missing from their isolated country home, he embarks on a dangerous quest to find them on the outskirts of Bari, Italy. He has to get in touch with a criminal from his dark past to ensure that his children get home safe.

The movie was directed by Renato De Maria,...

Vanished Into the Night is an Italian-American crime thriller film directed by Renato De Maria from a screenplay co-written by Luca Infascelli and Francesca Marciano. The Netflix film follows the story of a couple on the brink of breaking up when both of their children mysteriously vanish into the night under their father’s watch, leading them down a dangerous path to save their children. Vanished into the Night stars Riccardo Scamarcio and Annabelle Wallis in the lead roles with Massimiliano Gallo, Gaia Coletti, Lorenzo Ferrante, and Elena Riccardi starring in supporting roles. So, if you love the thrill and mystery of Vanished Into the Night, here are some similar movies you could watch next.

Without a Trace (Rent on Prime Video) Credit – 20th Century Fox

Without a Trace is a crime drama film directed by Stanley R. Jaffe from a screenplay by Beth Gutcheon. Based on the novel titled...

While Netflix has a lot to answer for after forging a world in which Kevin Hart's Lift becomes the number one most-watched film in the world, it's also got a lot to be proud of. Arguably the best thing to happen as a result of Netflix's domination of the streaming game has been the way in which global audiences have been exposed to films outside of their native countries. It happened when Spanish historical drama "Society of the Snow" -- which did what no other portrayal of the Andes disaster could -- was released on the streamer. Prior to that, "Dark," the German version of "Stranger Things" also became a global hit.

Therefore, it's fair to say that Netflix is about more than pumping out an overwhelming deluge of middling "content." This week, the streamer proved its power to elevate smaller international films to major heights, by taking what...

Netflix's "Vanished into the Night" has a small cast with familiar faces & compelling plot. The film has a 25% audience score but features great performances & an interesting premise. Riccardo Scamarcio plays Pietro, a protective father with a dark past, while Annabelle Wallis portrays Elena, a complex character.

Netflixs new thriller Vanished into the Night features a relatively small cast that includes both familiar faces and young actors. Directed by Renato De Maria, Vanished into the Night is a remake of an Argentinian movie called Septimo. The movie follows a married couple, Elena and Pietro, whose kids get kidnapped. The Netflix thriller has an intriguing plot that will keep audiences at the edge of their seats until the very end of the movie.

Vanished into the Night currently has a 25% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, with some pointing out that the film has an interesting premise but is also not too different from other thrillers.

Renato De Maria’s Vanished Into the Night is an Italian thriller that revolves around a couple Elena and Pietro, whose marriage has broken apart and they are on the verge of a divorce. However, in the midst of such troubles, a tragedy takes place. Their children, Giovanni and Bianca, are kidnapped in the middle of the night when they were having a sleepover at their father’s country house. So, the question here is: who could have done this? There are many possible suspects. One is Nico, a drug dealer Pietro used to work for before he got married and became a father. Perhaps Nico kidnapped the children to get revenge on Pietro for leaving his criminal past behind. Another suspect is Santo, who desperately wants to buy Pietro’s farmhouse. Maybe Santo kidnapped the kids to pressure Pietro into selling the property. Or could it be someone else entirely?...

When the young children of an estranged couple go missing on the outskirts of Bari, Italy, their father connects with a criminal from his past on a dangerous mission to get his kids home safe. The Italian thriller Vanished into the Night, from director Renato De Maria, stars Riccardo Scamarcio and Annabelle Wallis and was written by Francesca Marciano (The Miracle) and Luca Infascelli (The Catholic School).

Stream it now.

Check it out at the top of this page.

Pietro (Scamarcio) and Elena (Wallis) are in the middle of a divorce when their two children, Bianca (Coletti) and Giovanni (Ferrante), disappear. The kids were asleep in bed at Pietro’s home, then gone without a trace by the time their father checked on them. Elena, away in Milan, rushes back to Bari just as Pietro gets a call: It’s a man demanding 150,000 euros in cash for...

Plot twists are great. Who doesn’t love a good plot twist? We all love to get the rug pulled from under our feet while we’re watching a film, and then we rewatch the whole thing so we can see if we can catch the telltale signs of the act that has already subverted our expectations. And a good plot twist gets embedded so deeply into your psyche that the mere mention of something like Fight Club makes you remember the moment where it’s revealed that Tyler Durden and the Narrator are one and the same. If I say Oldboy, I’m sure you start thinking about the terrifying scene where Oh Dae-su learns the truth about his daughter. And even before I can finish saying the words Kahaani, I’m certain that you’re already picturing the scene where Vidya Balan pulls out the fake baby bump.

“Vanished into the Night” is a Netflix movie starring Riccardo Scamarcio and Annabelle Wallis. It is directed by Renato De Maria

Netflix returns with a plot formula that, although not entirely new, continues to deliver: child abduction and the enduring struggle of parents trying to recover their children. This time, there is no Mel Gibson or Liam Neeson, but the duo of Annabelle Wallis and Riccardo Scamarcio lead this intriguing family thriller revolving around kidnappings.

Vanished into the Night The Plot

The story revolves around a debt-ridden father going through a divorce who has to deal with a kidnapping. The abductors demand 150,000 euros, which the father doesn’t possess, leading him to borrow from an acquaintance. In return, he is forced into a dangerous game of drug trafficking.

About the Film

“Vanished into the Night” is a well-crafted telefilm in the form of a family thriller that depicts parents facing...

Annabelle Wallis is set to join Amazon MGM Studios’ upcoming sci-fi thriller “Mercy,” starring opposite Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson.

The movie, directed by Timur Bekmambetov (“Wanted”) from a script penned by penned by Marco van Belle (“Arthur & Merlin”) is set in the near future “when capital crime has increased.” It “follows a detective (Pratt) who is accused of a violent crime and forced to prove his innocence.” Details of Wallis’ role are being kept under wraps.

Wallis is well known for her role on the critically acclaimed BBC/Netflix series “Peaky Blinders.” She most recently starred in James Wan’s “Malignant” for New Line/Warner Bros, in addition to “Silent Night” opposite Keira Knightley. Her credits also include Universal’s “The Mummy” opposite Tom Cruise, “Annabelle,” “King Arthur,” “Come and Find Me,” “Tag” and “The Brothers Grimsby”; plus she starred in Showtime’s “The Loudest Voice” and the independent film “The Silencing.

Last Feb. 14, actress Valentina Bellè walked the red carpet at the Critics Choice Awards for The Good Mothers, the Disney+ series directed by Julian Jarrold and Elisa Amoruso that was nominated for best foreign series after bowing last year in Berlin, where it won the fest’s first Berlinale Series Award. And it is to Berlin that the 31-year-old Bellè will return this year, chosen as the Italian face of European Shooting Stars, an annual award given to up-and-coming talent.

“I am extremely honored,” Bellè says. “I can’t wait to meet my wonderful colleagues from all over Europe, all these incredible talents. And I can’t wait to be in Berlin to exchange ideas and experiences. And to find out where it all started for them.”

Her beginning took place on the stage of her elementary school’s theater. “A confined space in which to abandon the idea of yourself for a while,...

Click here to read the full article.

Matilda De Angelis is having a bit of a moment.

The Italian actress, who roared onto the European film scene as a race car driver in Matteo Rovere’s Italian Race (2016) and has been a regular feature since, named one of the European Shooting Stars in Berlin in 2018 and winning the David di Donatello honour for best actress in Venice for her performance in Rose Island in 2020. US audiences may recognise her from her supporting role in David E. Kelley’s HBO series The Undoing alongside Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant, or as Caterina da Cremona, a fictional noblewoman and muse to the legendary renaissance artist, played by Aidan Turner, in Rai’s Leonardo, which aired on The CW stateside.

International audiences are about to see a lot more of De Angelis. Her new feature, Robbing Mussolini, hits Netflix October 26 and she is...

Winter is coming, but not at Netflix, as the streamer will be launching its reality show “Summer Job” – produced by Banijay Italia – before the end of the year.

“I am proud, because it’s an original show made for Italy,” said Tinny Andreatta, VP of content for Italy, at Mia Market on Wednesday.

Netflix has been eager to expand its unscripted content.

“We know our members love it. It’s a really exciting and growing area for us,” added Larry Tanz, VP of content for Emea. Mentioning some recent successes from “Young, Famous & African” to “I Am Georgina,” both coming back for a second season, as well as new Spanish offering “Who Likes My Follower?”

Docu-series are also having a moment, it was stated, with the launch of Mark Lewis’ “Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi” already generating controversy.

“It’s a very sensitive show,” noted Andreatta.

“When we...

The 17th annual Rome Film Festival will fete James Ivory with a career honor, a mini retrospective and the Italian launch of the Oscar-winning filmmaker’s personal new documentary “A Cooler Climate.”

Ivory is expected in Rome to receive the award and present the doc about his life as a traveler that takes its cue from boxes of film the director shot during a life-changing trip to Afghanistan in 1960. The film premieres beforehand at the New York Film Festival.

Rome’s Ivory mini-retrospective will comprise his films “Maurice”; “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge,” starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward; “The Remains of the Day”; and “A Room With a View.”

The Rome fest – which has undergone a management change and is now headed by former Rai Cinema executive Paola Malanga as artistic director and Gian Luca Farinelli as president – on Thursday unveiled a mixed bag lineup comprising a competitive section largely made up of first works,...

Adriana Chiesa Enterprises has taken world sales on high-profile doc “Caterina Caselli: One Life, 100 Voices,” about the former Italian pop singer, base player and actress who is now president of Andrea Bocelli’s record label, Sugar Music.

The veteran Italian sales agent is lauching sales on the doc at the online EFM.

Directed by Renato De Maria, who is known for films such as “Love Me” and “The First Line,” which went to Toronto – and more recently Netflix Italy original “The Ruthless” – the doc delves into Caselli’s career which kicked off with the 1966 Sanremo song fest where she performed proto feminist song “Nessuno mi può giudicare,” (which translates as “Nobody Can Judge Me”). It went gold, selling over one million copies.

Caselli also subsequently scored several hits, one of which with an Italian cover of the David McWilliams song “Days of Pearly Spencer” titled”Il volto della vita” in Italian.

With most top Italian production companies — Cattleya, Wildside and Palomar — now owned by non-Italian players, and Italian pubcaster Rai also increasingly thinking internationally, cinema Italiano is striving to break out of national confines more than ever.

This means bigger budgets and auteurs turning toward genre — in particular, crime movies and biopics.

Marco Bellocchio’s Cannes competition entry “The Traitor,” which follows Tommaso Buscetta, the first high-ranking member of Cosa Nostra to break the Sicilian Mafia’s oath of silence, is case in point, with an auteur taking on a genre pic.

Buscetta is played by local A-lister Pierfrancesco Favino, who will next be seen as disgraced late Italian socialist prime Bettino Craxi in upcoming biopic “Hammamet,” directed by veteran auteur Gianni Amelio. The title refers to the Tunisian seaside city where Craxi fled from Italian justice in the 1990s after being indicted for massive corruption.

Italian cinema no longer stems “from self-contemplation,...

"I can honestly say I've never killed someone who didn't deserve it." Netflix has debuted an official trailer for an Italian crime drama titled The Ruthless, also known as Lo Spietato in Italian (which just translates to The Ruthless). Set in Milan in the 1980s, the film tells the story of a rebellious teen named Santo Russo who grows up to become one of the city's most ambitious criminals. Riccardo Scamarcio stars as Santo Russo, with a cast including Sara Serraiocco, Valentine Payen, Alessio Praticò, Marie-Ange Casta, Fulvio Milani, and Alessandro Tedeschi. This looks as intense and as brutal as you'd expect for another Italian mafia film, with some of the usual gritty touches. Those greedy mobsters always try to take too much. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Renato De Maria's The Ruthless, direct from Netflix's YouTube: 1980s Milan is an economic boom-town, and youngster 'Santo Russo'...

Netflix has announced three new Italian originals, indicating that the streaming giant is ramping up operations in the country as it gets more traction with local subscribers.

The new Italian Netflix originals in the pipeline are: “Curon,” a genre show with supernatural elements, which is set in a Northern Italian village; a series adaptation of hit teen romance movie “Three Steps Over Heaven”; and an adaptation of a bestselling Italian novel titled “Fedeltà,” which translates as “Faithfulness,” and is about a Milanese couple in their 30s.

“Curon,” in which “a mother and her teen kids return to her mysterious hometown village in Northern Italy only to discover what lies below the surface of her past,” according to promotional materials, sees Ezio Abbate serving as head writer. Abbate was a writer on “Suburra,” which was Netflix’s first Italian original. “Curon” will be produced by Indiana Productions and marks the first...

Full line-up of the Stockholm film festival includes feature and documentary competition line-ups.Scroll down for full line-up

The Stockholm International Film Festival (Nov 11-22) has unveiled the line-up for its 26th edition, comprising more than 190 films from over 70 countries.

The Stockholm Xxvi Competition includes Marielle Heller’s Us title The Diary of a Teenage Girl and László Nemes’ Holocaust drama Son Of Saul.

It marks the first time Stockholm has a greater number of women than men competing for the Bronze Horse – the festival’s top prize.

The documentary competition includes Amy Berg’s An Open Secret, an investigation into accusations of teenagers being sexually abused within the film industry; and Cosima Spender’s Palio, centred on the annual horse race in Siena, Italy.

Announcing the programme, festival director Git Scheynius also revealed that Chinese artist Ai Weiwei will visit Stockholm for the first time as chairman of the jury for the first Stockholm Impact Award, which...

Smack dab in the middle of the fall film fest season, the Venice Film Festival via Sala Web screening room (September 3rd to 16th) will be serving up fifteen offerings (12 feature films in the Orizzonti Competition and 3 feature films from the Biennale College) for the streaming VOD platform set up by the Festival Scope folks. Among the titles that lovers of world cinema will have the unique opportunity to see the likes of Italian Gangsters from helmer Renato De Maria (Tiff preemed La prima linea) and Jake Mahaffy’s long-awaited sophomore film, Free in Deed (see pic above). The films will be made available for five days after the films have premiere screenings at the festival. You can view all the films listed below and grab your tickets at the official Festival Scope channel.

Orizzonti Films

Neon Bull (Boi Neon), by Gabriel Mascaro – From September 3rd

Brazil, Uruguay, Netherlands; 101’ Portuguese

Iremar works at the Vaquejadas,...

Venice’s “virtual festival” will feature 15 world premieres this year.Scroll Down For Full List

The fourth edition of Sala Web, the “virtual festival” at the Venice Film Festival (September 2-12), has revealed it’s line-up for 2015.

This year’s selection of films includes 15 world premieres: 12 from the Orizzonti Competition and three features from the Biennale College, Venice’s laboratory that supports micro-budget films.

Directors having their films featured include Merzak Allouache (The Rooftops), Jake Mahaffy (Wellness) and Gabriel Mascaro (August Winds), as well as numerous first-time filmmakers.

The selected films will again be streaming on VOD platform Festival Scope and will be available for five days after the films have premiere screenings at the festival.

Full list:

Synopses provided by Venice Film Festival

Orizzonti Films

Neon Bull (Boi Neon) dir. Gabriel Mascaro

Brazil, Uruguay, Netherlands; 101’ Portuguese

(Available from September 3)

Iremar works at the Vaquejadas, a rodeo in the Northeast of Brazil, where two men...

The full lineup for the Venice Film Festival has been revealed, and includes new films by Martin Scorsese, Jerzy Skolimowsky, Frederick Wiseman, Marco Bellocchio, Tsai Ming-liang, Aleksandro Sokurov and more.CompetitionFrenzy (Emin Alper, Turkey/France/Qatar)Heart of a Dog (Laurie Anderson, Us)Blood of My Blood (Marco Bellocchio, Italy)Looking for Grace (Sue Brooks, Australia)Equals (Drake Doremus, Us)Remember (Atom Egoyan, Canada/Germany)Beasts of No Nation (Cary Fukunaga, Us)Per amor vostro (Giuseppe M. Gaudino, Italy/France)Marguerite (Xavier Giannoli, France/Czech Republic/Belgium)Rabin, the Last Day (Amos Gitai, Israel/France)A Bigger Splash (Luca Guadagnino, Italy/France)The Endless River (Oliver Hermanus, South Africa/France)The Danish Girl (Tom Hooper, UK/Us)Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman/Duke Johnson, Us)L'attesa (Piero Mesina, Italy)11 Minutes (Jerzy Skolimowski, Poland)Francofonia (Aleksandr Sokurov, France/Germany/Netherlands)The Clan (Pablo Trapero, Argentina/Spain)Desde alla (Lorenza Vigas, Venezuela/Mexico)L'hermine (Christian Vincent,...

Back to back mid-summer Xmas mornings with the rollout of major premiere titles at Tiff and now the full line-up for Venice means we’re now carefully dissecting the numerous films announced with our first focus going down the list at the treasure trove of items in the Horizons Section, otherwise known as Orizzonti. Names that pop out of the group of eighteen include Danish helmer Tobias Lindholm‘s heavily anticipated third feature film, A War. Re-teaming with actor Pilou Asbæk in just as many outings, R (2010) and A Hijacking (2012) are part of his already stacked early filmography, this is about a solider stationed in Afghanistan and finds himself caught in a catch-22 type of situation.

Another highly anticipated film (our Nicholas Bell slotted it at #33) which posits a person in a life or death type of situation is Nicolas Saada‘s sophomore film. Based on true horrific events, set...

On the heels of yesterday's Toronto Film Festival announcement, this morning we get the lineup for the 2015 Venice Film Festival and, as always, there's a little crossover with some films set to premiere on the Lido ahead of their Toronto (and/or Telluride premieres). Some of the titles not screening at Toronto (at least not yet) that will premiere at Venice include Baltasar Kormakur's Everest, which is serving as the opening night film, Drake Doremus' Equals starring Kristen Stewart, A Bigger Splash from Luca Guadagnino, Go With Me directed by Daniel Alfredson, Dito Montiel's Man Down, Amy Berg's Janis as well as a new, 16-minute short film from Martin Scorsese titled The Audition and a Brian De Palma documentary directed by Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow. There's also buzz building for The Childhood of a Leader directed by Brady Corbet and starring Robert Pattinson and Berenice Bejo.

The Venice Film Festival has become one of the longest-running events on the festival circuit, its veteran status giving it a level of prestige that has only been heightened by the films that have screened at the event. Having first started in 1932, a number of movies that have gone on to be classics have won prizes at the festival, including Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon, Satyajit Ray’s Aparajito, and Alain Resnais’ Last Year at Marienbad. Interest in the festival’s lineup announcement has thus grown over the years, with many film fans curious to see what the organisers select to play at the event, due to its stature. The full lineup for the 2015 incarnation of the festival, the 72nd one in the festival’s history, has now been announced. The festival itself will run from September 2nd to the 12th, with a jury that includes Alfonso Cuarón, Nuri Bilge Ceylan,...

The Danish Girl, starring Eddie Redmayne, and Atom Egoyan’s Remember among the 21 competition titles.Scroll down for full line-up

The 72nd Venice Film Festival (Sept 2-12) has unveiled the 55 features – mixing star vehicles and international auteurs – that will make up this year’s official selection.

Venice director Alberto Barbera and Biennale president Paolo Baratta announced the line-up this morning.

As previously announced, Baltasar Kormakur’s mountaineering thriller Everest, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, will open the festival on Sept 2. The Universal release will play out of competition.

Birdman, last year’s opening night film, went on to be named best picture at this year’s Academy Awards, while multiple Oscar-winner Gravity bowed at the 2013 edition.

Venice also revealed that Guan Hu’s Mr Six will close the festival on Sept 12. Feng Xiaogang plays the title character, a former gangster living alone with various illnesses, who is tempted back into the business by his son.

Competition titles...

While a Venetian touch (gondolas, art, architecture, margherita pizzas) certainly adds to the charm of the Venice Film Festival experience, for a third year straight, cinephiles can skip the packing their suitcases portion of a trip and bring the Lido into their own screening rooms. Venice Biennale’s Sala Web has reteamed with Festival Scope folks to offer an appetite whetting total of eleven features (8 Orizzonti section & 3 Biennale College – Cinema). Announced yesterday, digital tickets for the Sala Web screenings (4€ each) can be grabbed at www.boxoffice.festivalscope.com – but don’t throw your popcorn into the microwave just yet. The 2014 sampling of world cinema/72nd Venice Film Fest is only available during a period of 5 days beginning at 9 pm (Italian time) on the day of each film’s official presentation.

Among the headliner items we find Kandahar helmer Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s The President tells a story set in a fictional...

The Venice International Film Festival is in the process announcing the lineup for its 71st edition. Here's what we know so far:

Competition

The Cut (Fatih Akin)

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (Roy Andersson)

99 Homes (Ramin Bahrani)

Tales (Rakhshan Bani E'temad)

La rancon de la gloire (Xavier Beauvois)

Hungry Hearts (Saverio Costanzo)

Le dernier coup de marteau (Alix Delaporte)

Pasolini (Abel Ferrara)

Manglehorn (David Gordon Green)

Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance (Alejandro González Iñárritu)

Three Hearts (Benoît Jacquot)

The Postman's White Nights (Andrei Konchalovsky)

Il Giovane Favoloso (Mario Martone)

Sivas (Kaan Mujdeci)

Anime Nere (Francesco Munzi)

Good Kill (Andrew Niccol)

Loin des hommes (David Oelhoffen)

The Look of Silence (Joshua Oppenheimer)

Nobi (Shinya Tsukamoto)

Red Amnesia (Wang Xiaoshuai)

Out Of Competition

Joe Date. Photo by Evan Dickson.

Words with Gods (Guillermo Arriaga, Emir Kusturica, Amos Gitai, Mira Nair, Warwick Thornton, Hector Babenco, Bahman Ghobadi,...

This morning in Rome, Biennale president Paolo Baratta and Venice Film Festival chief Alberto Barbera unveiled the lineup for the 71st Venice Film Festival, which features some extraordinarily exciting titles and intriguingly under-the-radar picks.

Twenty films will be competing in the main competition, 19 of which are world premieres with one international premiere out of the lot. Out of all the titles at Venice this year, Birdman, which stars Michael Keaton and features a star-studded cast including Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone and Naomi Watts, is undoubtedly the title with the most chance of gaining Oscar attention this year after making the rounds on the festival circuit (it’s heading to the Toronto International Film Festival next).

Also anticipated are Manglehorn, a collaboration between Prince Avalanche helmer David Gordon Green and Al Pacino, and Andrew Niccol’s Good Kill, with Ethan Hawke, Bruce Greenwood, January Jones and Zoe Kravitz.

The 71st Venice Film Festival announced its lineup this morning, highlighted by films from American directors, including David Gordon Green, Barry Levinson, Peter Bogdanovich, Lisa Cholodenko, Andrew Niccol, and James Franco. As had been previously announced, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman, starring Michael Keaton and many others, will be the opening film when the festival begins on Aug. 27.

Click below for the entire list of 55 films playing in Venice.

Competition

The Cut, directed by Fatih Akin

Starring Tahar Rahim, Akin Gazi, Simon Abkarian, George Georgiou

A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence, directed by Roy Andersson

Starring Holger Andersson,...

This morning came the announcement of the 2014 Venice Film Festival lineup and we already knew Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Birdman would serve as the opening night film and for the most part a lot of the more recognizable entries are those we already discussed as part of the Toronto Film Festival lineup. This includes Ramin Bahrani's 99 Homes, David Gordon Green's Manglehorn starring Al Pacino, Abel Ferrera's Pasolini, Barry Levinson's The Humbling and Andrew Niccol's The Good Kill. There are, however, some titles worthy of note such as the latest film from The Act of Killing director Joshua Oppenheimer, The Lord of Silence, Fatih Akin's The Cut, She's Funny that Way from Peter Bogdanovich, Lisa Cholodenko's Olive Kitteredge and a new film from James Franco in The Sound and the Fury based on Faulkner's novel. Joe Dante shows up with a new horror-comedy in Burying the Ex,...

The Venice Film Festival’s Horizons section (aka Orizzonti) is logically comparable to Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section. As well as including about a dozen shorts in the programme (Ramin Bahrani is among those listed with an eight minuter called Life You Up), this year’s pack of seventeen unquestionably highlighted by the presence of Moshen Makhmalbaf’s The President, also includes the much anticipated sophomore film by Duane Hopkins’ youth portrait Bypass (see pic above – youth portrait), the Safdie Bros.’ Heaven Knows What – a docu-fiction hybrid starring Caleb Landry Jone and newcomer Arielle Holmes, the latest from frenzied pace working Hong Sangsoo (Hill Of Freedom) and a new item from actress Katherine Heigl (who knows this might actually be good) starring in Ami Canaan Mann’s Your Right Mind, about a modern day train hopper fighting to be a successful musician and a single mom battling to maintain custody...

David Gordon Green’s Manglehorn, Andrew Niccol’s Good Kill and Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence among competition titles.Scroll down for full lists

The line-up for the 71st Venice Film Festival (Aug 27-Sept 6) has been revealed this morning by Biennale president Paolo Baratta and film festival director Alberto Barbera at Rome’s St. Regis Grand Hotel.

Early standouts include Abel Ferrara’s Pasolini, which centres on the final days of the Italian filmmaker and his death in 1975; David Gordon Green’s Manglehorn, starring Al Pacino as a locksmith in a small town who never got over the love of his life; and The Look Of Silence, Joshua Oppenheimer’s highly anticipated follow-up to his award-winning documentary, The Act of Killing.

As previously announced, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu’s Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance, starring Michael Keaton, will open the festival on August 27 and is among the 20-strong competition titles, of which all...

Hnr's Michael Stevens reporting from Toronto: Thanks go out to Martin & Ingrid's Tiff 09 Kick-Off Party, Wednesday, September 9th @ the Gat + M.Link Festival headquarters in downtown Toronto's Yorkville, providing select wines from Bryan J. Robertson's Kingsway Brokerage Ltd., on behalf of Wild Bunch, Elle Driver, Celluloid Dreams, Film&Doc, Capri Films, The Works International & UMedia, supporting the following films screening at this year's Toronto International Film Festival: Contemporary Cinema : Rabia directed by Sebastian Cordero, will screen a world premiere with Cordero in attendance. "...South American immigrants working in Spain, builder José María and housekeeper Rosa have been together for a few weeks and are very much in love. Rosa's bosses, Señor and Señora Torres, leave their home on a trip, and the volatile José María spends a few days at the run-down mansion, fantasizing about what life with Rosa could be. When a violent confrontation with his foreman results in the other man's death,...

• Following my top ten Tiff list of titles available piece that I published a couples of hours back, Tiff released the lengthy list of titles that are looking for deals. Among those that I didn't mention in my top ten but could have easily have been there is the omission of Micmacs à tire-larigot (I wasn't sure if Warner Bros. only had domestic rights for France and not world rights), and titles such as Neil Jordan's Ondine, Atom Egoyan's Chloe, Oliver Parker's Dorian Gray, Aaron Schneider's Get Low, Derrick Borte's The Joneses and Michael J. Bassett's Solomon Kane should be generating key interest from the buyers as well. Without further ado, here is the list. L’Affaire Farewell Christian Carion, France Ahead of Time Bob Richman, USA The Angel Margreth Olin, Norway/Sweden/Finland The Art of the Steal Don Argott, USA Baaria Giuseppe Tornatore,

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Curioser and Curioser.. First off, the world premier of road trip comedy Bunny & The Bull which we reported on a Long time ago. Next is Gaspar Noé's Cannes premierer Enter the Void which didn't fare too well.. I'm betting this is a new edit. The winner of the grand jury prize at Cannes, Un Prophete will have a special screening. Hugo Weaving's gritty Aussie thriller Last Ride (we'll have a review up soon, got a screener!) is also playing along with another flick from down under we've been clocking, Beautiful Kate. Let's not forget the world premier of Yoichi Sai's ninja flick Kamui.. plus so many more!

Full listing of films added by section after the break.

Vanguard

Accident Soi Cheang, Hong Kong, China

North American Premiere

Gripping and smartly constructed, this unconventional crime thriller/psychological drama, revolves around assassins who commit murder by making perfectly staged crimes look like unfortunate accidents.

• Sony Pictures Classics will showcasing Broken Embraces, An Education and one of the best pictures of the year in A Prophet to North American audiences, while Tiff's North American premiere of Todd Solondz's latest means that Life During Wartime will be in Venice as well. Among the eight titles added to the Special Presentations section, we find four world preems from: Renato De Maria (The Front Line), Stephen Poliakoff (Glorious 39), Yoichi Sai (Kamui) and Juan Jose Campanella's The Secret of Their Eyes. Here are the selections: Broken Embraces Pedro Almodovar, Spain North American Premiere Harry Caine, a blind writer, reaches a point when he has to heal his wounds from 14 years ago, when he was still known by his real name, Mateo Blanco, and directing his last movie. As the past is revisited, a story of “amour fou” unfolds, dominated by fatality, jealousy, the abuse of power,

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