Twenty-three films will be in the running for the Golden Lion for Best Picture at the Venice Festival, whose 79th edition will be held from 31 August to 10 September.
The list, unveiled on Tuesday, includes the six films from the United States, four from France, two each from Italy and Iran, one each from Argentina, Mexico and the United Kingdom, and six joint productions, including an Italian/Belgian creation, titled Chiara.
The 23 films are:
United States: The opener, 'WHITE NOISE' by Noah Baumbach (136 minutes), with Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle, Raffey Cassidy.
'THE WHALE' by Darren Aronofsky (117 minutes) with Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Samantha Morton, Ty Simpkins.
'BONES AND ALL' by Luca Guadagnino, with Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet, Mark Rylance, André Holland, Chloë Sevigny.
'BLONDE' by Andrew Dominik (165 minutes) with Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Xavier Samuel, Julianne Nicholson, Lily Fisher.
'TAR' by Todd Field (158 minutes) with Cate Blanchett, Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner, Mark Strong, and 'ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED' by Laura Poitras (113 minutes).
Italy: 'L'IMMENSITÀ' (The immensity) by Emanuele Crialese (97 minutes) with Penelope Cruz, Luana Giuliani, Vincenzo Amato, and 'IL SIGNORE DELLE FORMICHE' by Gianni Amelio (134 minutes) with Luigi Lo Cascio, Elio Germano, Leonardo Maltese, Sara Serraiocco.
France: 'ATHENA' by Romain Gavras (97 minutes) with Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, Alexis Manenti.
'THE CHILDREN OF OTHERS' by Rebecca Zlotowski (104 minutes) with Virginie Efira, Roschdy Zem, Chiara Mastroianni, Callie Ferreira. 'SAINT OMER' by Alice Diop (122 minutes) with Kayije Kagame, Guslagie Malanda, Valérie Dréville, Aurélia Petit, and 'LES MIENS' by Roschdy Zem (85 minutes) with Sami Bouajila, Roschdy Zem, Meriem Serbah, Maïwenn, Rachid Bouchareb, Abel Jafrei, Nina Zem.
The remaining films include:
Argentina: 'ARGENTINA, 1985' by Santiago Miter (140 minutes) with Ricardo Darín, Peter Lanzani, Alejandra Flechner, Norman Briski.
Mexico: 'BARDO, FALSE CHRONICLE OF SOME TRUTHS' by Alejandro Iñárritu, with Daniel Giménez Cacho, Griselda Siciliani, Ximena Lamadrid.
Iran: 'SHAB, DAKHELI, DIVAR' (Beyond the Wall) by Vahid Jalilvand (126 minutes) with Navid Mohammadzadeh, Diana Habibi, Amir Aghaee, and 'KHERS NIST' (Bears don't exist) by Jafar Panahi (106 minutes) with Jafar Panahi, Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri.
The United Kingdom: 'THE SON' by Florian Zeller (123 minutes) with Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath, Anthony Hopkins, Hugh Quarshie.
There are also six joint productions:
'LOVE LIFE' by Koji Fu kada (Japan/France, 123 minutes) with Fumino Kimura, Kento Nagayama, Atom Sunada.
'THE ETERNAL DAUGHTER' by Joanna Hogg (USA/GB, 96 minutes) with Tilda Swinton , Joseph Mydell, Carly-Sophia Davies.
'THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN' by Martin McDonagh (Ireland/GB/USA, 109 minutes) with Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan.
'CHIARA' by Susanna Nicchiarelli (Italy/Belgium, 106 minutes) with Margherita Mazzucco, Andrea Carpenzano, Carlotta Natoli.
'MONICA' by Andrea Pallaoro (United States/Italy, 106 minutes) with Trace Lysette, Patricia Clarkson, Adriana Barraza, Emily Browning, Joshua Close; and 'UN COUPLE' by Frederick Wiseman (France/United States, 63 minutes) with Nathalie Boutefeu.
