Venice Film Festival Embraces Netflix
Director of the Venice Film Festival, Alberto Barbera, right, and Venice Biennale President Paolo Baratta meet the journalists on the occasion of the official presentation of the 76th edition of the festival in Rome, Thursday, July 25, 2019. The Venice Film Festival will run from Aug. 28 through Sept. 7, 2018, at the Venice Lido. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
  • ROME (AP)
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The 76th Venice Film Festival will feature three Netflix productions alongside Hollywood titles, embracing the streaming giant after the Cannes Film Festival excluded it for a second year in a row.

Among Venice's 21 competition titles, unveiled Thursday in Rome, is the Netflix-produced Panama Papers film "The Laundromat," directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Meryl Streep and Antonio Banderas.

Netflix will also present Noah Baumbach's "Marriage Story," starring Scarlett Johansson and Alan Alda, as well as David Michôd's "The King," with the latter debuting out of competition.

The world's oldest film festival also features Hollywood productions like Todd Phillips' "Joker" with Joaquin Phoenix in the comic book classic role, as well as Brad Pitt in the sci-fi space journey "Ad Astra," by James Gray.

The festival runs Aug. 28 to Sept. 7.

The competition also includes "J'accuse" by director Roman Polanski, a controversial figure in the #MeToo era. Polanski pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in 1977 and fled the United States the following year.

Venice Film Festival Director Alberto Barbera acknowledged a lack of female directors in competition. Only two out of 21 directors are women, while last year there was one.

"There are a number of movies addressing the issue of the female condition in different parts of the world. Not all of these movies are directed by women, as female directors unfortunately are still a minority," Barbera said.

Barbera asserted that the way male directors now portray women reveals "a new form of sensitivity of the female universe, something that rarely happened in the past."

Here’s the Venice lineup:

COMPETITION
The Truth, director Hirokazu Kore-eda (opening film of festival)

The Perfect Candidate, Haifaa Al-Mansour

About Endlessness, Roy Andersson

Ema, Pablo Larrain

Saturday Fiction, Lou Ye

Martin Eden, Pietro Marcello

La Mafia Non E Piu Quella Di Una Volta, Franco Maresco

The Painted Bird, Vaclav Marhoul

Il Sindaco del Rione Sanita, Mario Martone

Babyteeth, Shannon Murphy

Joker, Todd Phillips

J’accuse, Roman Polanski

The Laundromat, Steven Soderbergh

No. 7 Cherry Lane, Yonfan

Wasp Network, Olivier Assayas

Marriage Story, Noah Baumbach

Guest of Honour, Atom Egoyan

Ad Astra, James Gray

A Herdade, Tiago Guedes

Gloria Mundi, Robert Guediguian

Waiting for the Barbarians, Ciro Guerra

OUT OF COMPETITION
The Burnt Orange Heresy, Giuseppe Capotondi (closing film of festival)

Goodbye, Dragon Inn, Tsai Ming-Liang

No One Left Behind, Guillermo Arriaga

Electric Swan, Konstantina Kotzamani

Irreversible- Inversion Integrale, Gaspar Noe

The New Pope, Paolo Sorrentino

Never Just a Dream: Stanley Kubrick and Eyes Wide Shut, Matt Wells

Seberg, Benedict Andrews

ZeroZeroZero, Stefano Sollima

Vivere, Francesca Archibugi

Mosul, Matthew Michael Carnahan

Adults in the Room, Costa-Gavras

The King, David Michod

Tutto Il Mio Folle Amore, Gabriele Salvatores

OUT OF COMPETITION DOCUMENTARY
Woman, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Anastasia Mikova

Roger Waters Us + Them, Sean Evans, Roger Waters

Citizen K, Alex Gibney

I Diari di Angela – Noi Due Cineaste. Capitolo Secondo, Tervant Gianikian, Angela Ricci Lucchi

Citizen Rosi, Didi Gnocchi, Carolina Rosi

The Kingmaker, Lauren Greenfield

State Funeral, Sergei Loznitsa

Collective, Alexander Nanau

45 Seconds of Laughter, Tim Robbins

Il Pianeta In Mare, Andrea Segre

HORIZONS COMPETITION
Pelican Blood, Katrin Gebbe (Opening Film)

Blanco en Blanco, Theo Court

Mes Jours de Gloire, Antoine de Bary

Nevia, Nunzia de Stefano

Moffie, Oliver Hermanus

Hava, Maryam, Ayesha, Sahraa Karimi

Rialto, Peter Mackie Burns

The Criminal Man, Dmitry Mamuliya

Giants Being Lonely, Grear Patterson

Just 6.5, Saeed Roustaee

Zumiriki, Oskar Alegria

A Son, Mehdi M. Barsaoui

Revenir, Jessica Palud

Verdict, Raymund Ribay Gutierrez

Shadow of Water, Sasidharan Sanal Kumar

Sole, Carlo Sironi

Madre, Rodrigo Sorogoyen

Ballon, Pema Tseden

Atlantis, Valentyn Vasyanovych

SCONFINI
Chiara Ferragni – Unposted, Elisa Amoruso

Il Varco, Federico Ferrone, Michele Manzolini

The Scarecrows, Nouri Bouzid

Effetto Domino, Alessandro Rossetto

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