Venice (Reuters) - While the 58th annual Venice International Film Festival will feature an eclectic mix of international titles, new work from established arthouse auteurs and esoteric fare from little-known filmmakers, the big American studios are also well represented at the posh event running August 29-September 8.
But most of the U.S. studios will not be competing. Among the U.S. films are the Warner Bros./Steven Spielberg piece A.I. Artificial Intelligence, David Mamet's Heist and Antoine Fuqua's Training Day. Fox will show Albert and Allen Hughes' From Hell; Columbia features John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars; and Woody Allen returns with The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, which DreamWorks will distribute in the U.S.
But the U.S. also has a few independent films in the running. Those selected for competition include Larry Clark's Bully, Richard Linklater's Waking Life and Jill Sprecher's 13 Conversations About One Thing. Also competing is Cruise/Wagner's Spanish/U.S. production The Others, directed by Alejandro Amenabar and starring Nicole Kidman, which Miramax will distribute in the U.S.
Stars expected to attend the festival include Jude Law and Haley Joel Osment for A.I., Helen Hunt and Charlize Theron for Jade Scorpion, Denzel Washington for Training Day, Johnny Depp for From Hell, Gene Hackman and Danny DeVito for Heist, Joseph Fiennes for Dust, Mira Sorvino and Ben Kingsley for The Triumph of Love, Tim Roth for Invincible and Samantha Morton for Eden.
58th VENICE FILM FESTIVAL COMPETITION:
The Others, Alejandro Amenabar (Spain/U.S.)
Quem es tu?, Joao Botelho (Portugal)
Red Moon, Antonio Capuano (Italy)
Hollywood Hong Kong, Fruit Chan (Hong Kong)
Bully, Larry Clark (U.S.)
And Your Mother Too, Alfonso Cuaron (Mexico)
Wild Innocence, Philippe Garrel (France/Netherlands)
Eden, Amos Gitai (France/Italy/Israel)
Address Unknown, Kim Ki-duk (South Korea)
Waking Life, Richard Linklater (U.S.)
The Navigators, Ken Loach (U.K./Germany/Spain)
Monsoon Wedding, Mira Nair (India)
How Harry Became a Tree, Goran Paskaljevic (Ireland/Italy/U.K./France)
Void Votes, Babak Payami (Iran/Italy)
The Triumph of Love, Clare Peploe (Italy/U.K.)
Light of My Eyes, Giuseppe Piccioni (Italy)
L'Apres-midi d'un tortionnaire, Lucian Pintilie (Romania/France)
Behind the Sun, Walter Salles (Brazil/Switzerland/France)
Hundstage, Ulrich Seidl (Austria)
Far Away, Andre Techine (France/Spain)
CINEMA OF THE PRESENT COMPETITION:
Love Probably, Giuseppe Bertolucci (Italy/Switzerland)
Sons, Marco Bechis (Italy)
Sisters, Sergei Bodrov (Russia)
Time Out, Laurent Cantet (France)
Me Without You, Sandra Goldbacher (U.K.)
Invincible, Werner Herzog (Germany/U.K.)
Larger Than Life, Jeffrey Jeturian (Philippines)
Tirana Year Zero, Fatmir Koci (Albania/France/Belgium)
Imperfect Love, Giovanni Davide Maderna (Italy)
The Souffle, Damien Odoul (France)
Fifi Martingale, Jacques Rozier (France)
Harmful Insect, Akihiko Shiota (Japan)
Flower Island, Song Il-gon (South Korea/France)
L'Uomo in piu, Paolo Sorrentino (Italy)
13 Conversations About One Thing, Jill Sprecher (U.S.)
Reines d'un jour, Marion Vernoux (France)
Water and Salt, Teresa Villaverde (Portugal/Italy)
Saturday, Juan Villegas (Argentina)
La Fiebre del loco, Andres Wood (Chile/Spain/Mexico)
Quitting, Zhang Yang (China)
OUT OF COMPETITION:
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, Woody Allen (U.S.)
Birthday Girl, Jez Butterworth (U.K.)
John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars, John Carpenter (U.S.)
Lucky Break, Peter Cattaneo (U.K.)
Training Day, Antoine Fuqua (U.S.)
From Hell, Albert & Allen Hughes (U.S.)
Tosca, Benoit Jacquot (France/Italy/Germany/U.K.)
Heist, David Mamet (U.S.)
Fausto 5.0, Isidro Ortiz & La Fura dels Baus (Spain)
A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Steven Spielberg (U.S.)
OPENING FILM:
Dust, Milcho Manchevski (U.K./Italy/Germany/Macedonia)
CLOSING DAY:
Cet Amour la, Josee Dayan (France)
Asoka, Santosh Sivan (India)
GOLDEN LION FOR CAREER ACHIEVEMENT:
The Lady and the Duke, Eric Rohmer (France)
HOMAGE TO THREE MAESTRI:
Silence... On tourne!, Youssef Chahine (Egypt)
Porto da minha infancia, Manoel de Oliveira (Portugal)
Pistol Opera, Seijun Suzuki (Japan)
INTERNATIONAL CRITICS WEEK:
Rasganco, Raquel Branco & Rodrigues Freire (Portugal)
Smoking Carriage, Veronica Chen (Argentina)
Rain, Katherine Lindberg (Spain/Germany/U.S.)
Brother, Yan Yan Mak (Hong Kong)
Going Home, Vincenzo Marra (Italy)
An Adolescent, Eiji Okuda (Japan)
A Moment of Happiness, Antoine Santana (France)
58th VENICE INTL. FILM FESTIVAL JURY:
Nanni Moretti, director (Italy) - President
Amitav Ghosh, writer (India)
Jerzy Skolimowski, director (Poland)
Jeanne Balibar, actress (France)
Vibeke Windelov, producer (Denmark)
CINEMA OF THE PRESENT CRITICS JURY:
Shiguehiko Hasumi, Cahiers du Cinema (Japan) - President
Piera Detassis, Ciak (Italy)
Emanuel Levy, Screen Intl. (U.S.)
Gavin Smith, Film Comment (U.S.)
Michel Ciment, Positif (France).
