Venice Film Festival Announced 2009 Line-Up

Which films are included in the 66th Venice International Film Festival's line-up have been unveiled. On Thursday, July 30, Paolo Baratta, the President of the Venice Biennale, and Marco Muller, the Director of the Cinema section, announced the festival's selection, which included 71 world premieres, at a press conference in Rome's Excelsior Hotel on the Via Veneto.

Listed among the movies vying for a Golden Lion are six U.S. feature films. They are Michael Moore's global meltdown documentary "Capitalism: A Love Story", John Hillcoat's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel "The Road", Werner Herzog's "Bad Lieutenant" remake "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans", George Romero's horror flick "Survival of the Dead", and Tom Ford's directorial debut "A Single Man".

For the out of competition section, four U.S. movies added the line-up. Steven Soderbergh's thriller comedy "The Informant!", Grant Heslov's military mind-control satire "The Men Who Stare at Goats", Joe Dante's 3-D horror film "The Hole", and Oliver Stone's documentary about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, "South of the Border", are the four films in the list.

Commenting on the large number of U.S. films making the line-up list, Muller said during the press conference, "Everybody thought that the writers' strike and the economic crisis had created a stall in American cinema; instead this year, like never before, we found such ample offerings coming from the U.S.; both from established directors like Steven Soderbergh and first-timers like Tom Ford."

To run at Venice Lido from September 2 to 12, the 66th Venice International Film Festival will be kicked off with world premiere screening of Giuseppe Tornatore's big-budget Sicilian epic "Baaria", which is also in competition line-up. Fruit Chan and Cui Jian's "Chengdu, I Love You" has been selected to be the closing film. Partial list of the line-up can be read below, whereas the complete line-up can be obtained at Venice Film Festival site.

66th Annual Venice Film Festival Line-Up Competition:

• "36 vues du Pic Saint Loup", Jacques Rivette (France)
• "Accident", Cheang Pou-Soi (China-Hong Kong)
• "Baaria", Giuseppe Tornatore (Italy)
• "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans", Werner Herzog (U.S.)
• "Between Two Worlds", Vimukthi Jayasundara (Sri Lanka)
• "Capitalism: A Love Story", Michael Moore (U.S.)
• "La Doppia Ora", Giuseppe Capotondi (Italy)
• "Il Grande Sogno", Michele Placido (Italy)
• "Lebanon", Samuel Maoz (Israel)
• "Life During Wartime", Todd Solondz (U.S.)
• "Lo Spazio Bianco", Francesca Comencini (Italy)
• "Lourdes", Jessica Hausner (Austria)
• "Mr. Nobody", Jaco van Dormael (France)
• "Persecution", Patrice Chereau (France)
• "Prince of Tears", Yonfan (Hong Kong)
• "The Road", John Hillcoat (U.S.)
• "A Single Man", Tom Ford (U.S.)
• "Soul Kitchen", Fatih Akin (Germany)
• "Survival of the Dead", George Romero (U.S.)
• "Tetsuo The Bullet Man", Shinya Tsukamoto (Japan)
• "The Traveller", Ahmed Maher (Egypt)
• "White Material", Claire Denis (France)
• "Women Without Men", Shirin Neshat (Germany)

• "Anni Luce", Francesco Maselli (Italy)
• "Chengdu, I Love You", Fruit Chan, Cui Jian (China)
• "The Hole", Joe Dante (U.S.)
• "The Informant!", Steven Soderbergh (U.S.)
• "The Men Who Stare at Goats", Grant Heslov (U.S.)
• "Napoli Napoli Napoli", Abel Ferrara (Italy)
• "L'oro di Cuba", Giuliano Montaldo (Italy)
• "Prove per una tragedia Siciliana", John Turturro, Roman Paska (Italy)
• "REC 2", Jaume Balaguero, Paco Plaza (Spain)
• "Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story", Yousry Nasrallah (Egypt)
• "South of the Border", Oliver Stone (U.S.)
• "Yona Yona Penguin", Rintaro (Japan)

• "Gulaal", Anurag Kashyap (India)
• "Dev D", Anurag Kashyap (India)
• "Brooklyn's Finest", Antoine Fuqua (U.S.)
• "Delhi-6", Rakeysh Omprakash (India)
• "Valhalla Rising", Nicolas Winding Refn (Denmark)

• "Toy Story 3-D" (New Version), John Lasseter (U.S.)
• "Toy Story 2-D" (New Version), John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich, Ash Brannon (U.S.)