As the Venice Film Festival slate starts to unspool, its 30th annual Critics’ Week lineup celebrating new directors has now been revealed. It’s a nostalgic program this year, with a screening of Scottish director Peter Mullan’s 1998 “Orphans” opening the sidebar, running September 2 through 12. The drama won a surfeit of prizes when it premiered on the Lido, and four years later Mullan won the Golden Lion for his chilling “The Magdalene Sisters” (2002).
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Critics’ Week will close with “Bagnoli Jungle” by Antonio Capuano, who won a Venice prize in 1991 for “Vito and the Others.” The selection of mostly European titles screening in and out of competition is below. Eight of these are world premieres, and they’re eligible for Venice’s Golden Lion of the Future first feature prize.
IN COMPETITION
Ana yurdu (Motherland)
by Senem Tuzen – Turkey, Greece 2015 / 98’
Banat (Il viaggio)
by Adriano Valerio – Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia 2015 / 82’
Kalo Pothi (The Black Hen)
by Min Bahadur Bham – Nepal, France, Germany 2015 / 86’
Light Years
by Esther May Campbell – United Kingdom 2015 / 90′
Montanha
by João Salaviza – Portugal, France 2015 / 100′
The Return
by Green Zeng – Singapore 2015 / 80′
Tanna
by Martin Butler, Bentley Dean – Australia, Vanuatu 2015 / 104′
OUT OF COMPETITION
Jia (The Family)
by Liu Shumin – China, Australia 2015 / 280′
Pre-opening film
Orphans
by Peter Mullan – United Kingdom 1998 / 95′
Opening film
Bagnoli Jungle
by Antonio Capuano – Italy 2015 / 100′
Closing film
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