On the morning of July 23rd local time, the new president of the Venice Film Festival, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, and artistic director Alberto Barbera held a press conference to announce the list of shortlisted films for each unit of the 81st Venice Film Festival, including the main competition unit.

Highly anticipated new works such as "Joker 2: Double Fantasy", Almodovar's "The Next Room", "Queer" co-starring Luca Guadagnino and Daniel Craig, and the biopic "Maria" starring Angelina Jolie are also on the list.

Queer

Among the shortlisted Chinese-language works, "Apocalypse" directed by Yang Xiuhua tells a suspense story centered around surveillance equipment and stars Lee Kang-sheng.

Overall, this year's list of films in the main competition unit is still full of topics. It can be predicted that the red carpet of Lido Island will be shining in more than a month. Among them, "Joker 2" directed by Todd Phillips and starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga is obviously the most unsuspenseful nominated work. After all, just five years ago, the first "Joker" won the highest honor, the Golden Lion Award, at the Venice Film Festival. "Queer", an English-language work directed by Italian director Luca Guadagnino, is adapted from William Burroughs' semi-autobiographical work. It is quite curious how the tough guy Daniel Craig interprets the bohemian Beat writer. "The Room Next Door" is the first English-language work of the famous Spanish director Almodovar. Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, two actors known for their acting skills, will inevitably compete in the same scene. "Maria", directed by the famous Chilean director Pablo Larraín, focuses on the stage career and life story of the legendary soprano Maria Callas. It is worth pondering how Angelina Jolie made a gorgeous transformation.

Joker 2

In addition to the above, the films shortlisted for the main competition unit also include "Little Darlings" directed by Halina Regine and starring Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson; "The Order", a new crime film directed by Justin Kurzel and starring Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult; "I'm Still Here", a directorial work by the famous Brazilian director Walter Salles ten years after "The Boy from Fenyang" and a total of 21 films.

In the non-competitive unit, there are also "Clouds" directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa and starring Masaki Suda, the action film "Wolves and Men" starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, and new works by famous directors such as Takeshi Kitano, Claude Lelouch and Lav Diaz.

The 81st Venice Film Festival will be held on the Lido Island from August 28 to September 7, with the opening film being Beetlejuice 2 directed by Tim Burton. This year's main competition unit jury is led by French actress Isabelle Huppert, who, together with nine other judges including Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi, will decide the winners of awards such as the Best Film.