Venice Film Festival 2024 lineup: ‘Joker 2: Folie à Deux’ and Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Queer’ to headline the Lido

The 81st Venice Film Festival features high-profile films, star-studded casts, and diverse genres, promising a cinematic extravaganza.

The 81st Venice Film Festival is set to dazzle cinephiles with an impressive lineup of high-profile films and star-studded casts. Announced by artistic director Alberto Barbera and new president of the Venice Biennale, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, this year’s festival promises a rich mix of genres, established names, and potential discoveries.

Headlining the festival is Todd Phillips’ Joker 2: Folie à Deux, the musical sequel to the 2019 hit Joker. Starring Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix, the film is in the running for the top prize. Another major contender is Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, an adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ novel featuring Daniel Craig as a heroin-addicted American expat in Mexico. Drew Starkey co-stars as the object of his obsession.

The festival opens with Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, a sequel to his 1988 classic, featuring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Monica Bellucci. Out-of-competition highlights include Jon Watts’ action comedy Wolfs, starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, and Harmony Korine’s thriller Baby Invasion.

Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language film, The Room Next Door, stars Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton and is expected to make a significant impact. The film follows the success of Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers, which won the Best Actress award at Venice for Penélope Cruz.

Pablo Larraín returns with Maria, a biopic of opera singer Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie. Known for his compelling portrayals of historical figures, Larraín’s previous works Spencer and Jackie also premiered at Venice.

Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist chronicles the life of Holocaust survivor and architect László Tóth, played by Adrien Brody. The film’s ensemble cast includes Felicity Jones, Joe Alwyn, and Guy Pearce. Corbet’s previous films The Childhood of a Leader and Vox Lux were also showcased at Venice.

Justin Kurzel’s The Order features Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult in a tale about a white supremacist organization in the 1980s, while Halina Reijn’s Babygirl, an erotic thriller starring Nicole Kidman, Antonio Banderas, and Harris Dickinson, adds to the competition’s diversity.