Venice Days, the independent sidebar of the Venice International Film Festival, has unveiled the lineup for its 23rd edition, the first since the death in March of section founder and longtime head Giorgio Gosetti. This year’s Venice Days, running Sept. 2-12 alongside the 83rd Venice Festival, is dedicated to his memory.
The sidebar, and its accompanying Italian cinema section Venice Nights, includes 25 world premieres, more than half of which (14) are directed by women.
My Notes on Mars from Hungarian director Lili Horvát (Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time) will open Venice Days, screening in competition. Horvát’s English-language debut stars Mackenzie Davis and Rupert Friend in the story of a young scientist who mysteriously disappears only to show up weeks later at her own memorial service with no memory of what happened.
Kuba Dorabialski’s Agata the Writer, starring Mia Wasikowska as an Australian author in Sarajevo, will also premiere in competition, alongside Pauline Julier and Nicolas Chapoulier’s period drama The Indies; Boris Hadžija and Hoda Taheri’s hybrid fiction-documentary I Plant My Hand in the Garden; and Nicola Sorcinelli’s debut Balcanica, the only Italian title in competition, about an Afghan father and son who, after music is banned in their country, try to flee to Europe.
