ROME, Italy - The official line-up for the world's oldest film festival in Venice was announced on Tuesday, with a total of 23 movies set to compete for the prestigious Golden Lion prize.
The finalists include fiction, documentaries and television series, announced the director of the 80th edition of the Venice International Film Festival, Alberto Barbera.
The festival will run from Aug 30 to Sept 9 at the Venice Lido, opening with Italian director Edoardo De Angelis' film 'Comandante'.
Other competitors for the Golden Lion include 'The Killer', Netflix production directed by US filmmaker David Fincher, action film 'Dogman' from acclaimed French director Luc Besson, biopic of the US composer Leonard Bernstein 'Maestro' and 'Origin' by female African American director Ava Duvernay, said Xinhua.
Some 19 fiction films and documentaries, two television series, and a short film will play out of competition. These include adventure comedy 'The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar' starring Ralph Fiennes and Benedict Cumberbatch, thriller film 'Coup de Chance' directed by Woody Allen, and 'Xue Bao' (Snow Leopard) by the recently deceased Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden from China.
A further 30 works will compete in the Horizons category, Venice's international section devoted to new cinema trends.
This year's international jury for the Venice 80 competition will be chaired by Damien Chazelle, best known for directing 'Whiplash' and 'La La Land'. - BERNAMA-XINHUA