Joker: Folie à Deux, Todd Phillips’ musical follow-up to his 2019 Golden Lion-winning film Joker, is vying for the top honour at this year’s Venice International Film Festival, the organisers announced on Tuesday.

Luca Guadagnino’s adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ Queer, starring Daniel Craig as the author’s alter ego and featuring Drew Starkey and Omar Apollo, is also in the running.

Isabelle Huppert will preside over the main jury for the 81st Venice International Film Festival, running from August 28 to September 7.

Apart from Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix, the lineup of stars heading films selected in the competition category include Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, Angelina Jolie, Daniel Craig, Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Cate Blanchett, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Monica Bellucci, Michael Keaton and Jenna Ortega.

Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language film The Room Next Door, starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, is part of the competition. This film follows Almodóvar’s 2021 Parallel Mothers, which also debuted at Venice and earned Penelope Cruz the fest’s best actress Volpi Cup.

Pablo Larraín’s biopic Maria, starring Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas, is another highlight in this category.

Alfonso Cuarón is back with the Apple TV+ series Disclaimer starring Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline. Joe Wright’s Sky Studios TV drama M. Son of the Century, chronicling Benito Mussolini’s rise to power, also premieres at the fest.

The Jon Watts-directed action comedy Wolfs, featuring George Clooney and Brad Pitt as fixers covering up a high-profile crime, will premiere out of the competition, as will Harmony Korine’s Baby Invasion.

Here is the full lineup of the 81st Venice International Film Festival.

Competition

• The Room Next Door, Pedro Almodóvar (Spain)
• Campo di Battaglia, Gianni Amelio (Italy)
• Leurs Enfants Après Eux, Ludovic Bouckherma, Zoran Boukherma (France)
• The Brutalist, Brady Corbet (UK)
• The Quiet Son, Delphine Coulin, Muriel Coulin (France)
• Vermiglio, Maura Delpero (Italy, France, Belgium)
• Sicilian Letters, Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza (Italy, France)
• Queer, Luca Guadagnino (Italy, US)
• Love, Dag Johan Haugerud (Norway)
• April, Dea Kulumbegashvili (Georgia, France, Italy)
• The Order, Justin Kurzel (Canada)
• Maria, Pablo Larrain (Italy, Germany)
• Trois Amies, Emmanuel Mouret (France)
• Kill the Jockey, Luis Ortega (Argentina, Spain)
• Joker: Folie à Deux, Todd Phillips (US)
• Babygirl, Halina Reijn (US)
• I’m Still Here, Walter Salles (Brazil, France)
• Diva Futura, Giulia Louise Steigerwalt (Italy)
• Harvest, Athina Rachel Tsangari (UK, Germany, Greece, France, US)
• Youth – Homecoming, Wang Bing (France, Luxembourg, Netherlands)
• Stranger Eyes, Yeo Siew Hua (Singapore, Taipei, France, US)

Out of Competition (Fiction)

• Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Tim Burton (US, UK) – Opening Film
• L’Orto Americano, Pupi Avati (Italy) — Closing Film
• Il Tempo Che Ci Vuole, Francesca Comencini (Italy, France)
• Phantosmia, Lav Diaz (Philippines)
• Maldoror, Fabrice Du Welz (Belgium, France)
• Broken Rage, Takeshi Kitano (Japan)
• Baby Invasion, Harmony Korine (US)
• Cloud, Kurosawa Kiyoshi (Japan)
• Finalement, Claude Lelouch (France)
• Wolfs, Jon Watts (US)
• Se Posso Permettermi Capitolo II, Marco Bellocchio (Italy)
• Allégorie Citadine, Alice Rohrwacher, JR (France)

Out of Competition (Series)

• Disclaimer, Alfonso Cuaron (UK, US)
• The New Years, Rodrigo Sorogoyen Del Amo, Sandra Romero, David Martín De Los Santos (Spain)
• Families Like Ours, Thomas Vinterberg (Denmark, France, Sweden, Czech Republic, Norway, Germany)
• M: Son of the Century, Joe Wright (Italy, France)

Out of Competition (Non-Fiction)

• Apocalypse in the Tropics, Petra Costa (Brazil)
• Bestiari, Erbari, Lapidari, Massimo D’Anolfi, Martina Parenti (Italy, Switzerland)
• Why War, Amos Gitai (Israel, France)
• 2073, Asif Kapadia (UK)
• One to One: John & Yoko, Kevin Macdonald, Sam Rice Edwards (UK)
• Separated, Errol Morris (US, Mexico)
• Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989, Göran Hugo Olsson (Sweden, Finland, Denmark)
• Russians at War, Anastasia Trofimova (France, Canada)
• Twst/Things We Said Today, Andrei Ujica (France, Romania)
• Songs of Slow Burning Earth, Olha Zhurba (Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden)
• Riefenstahl, Andres Veiel (Germany)

Special Screenings

• Leopardi. Il Poeta Dell’Infinito (Parts 1 and 2), Sergio Rubini (Italy)
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), Peter Weir (US)
• Beauty Is Not a Sin, Nicolas Winding Refn (Italy, Denmark)

Horizons

• Nonostante, Valerio Mastandrea (Italy) – Opening Film
• Quiet Life, Alexandros Avranas (France, Germany, Sweden, Greece, Estonia, Finland
• Mon Inséparable, Anne-Sophie Bailly (France)
• Aïcha, Mehdi Barsaoui (Tunisia, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Qatar)
• Happy Holidays, Scandar Copti (Germany, Italy, Qatar)
• Familia, Francesco Costabile (Italy)
• One of Those Days When Hemme Dies, Murat Firatoglu (Turkey)
• Familiar Touch, Sarah Friedland (US)
• Marco, Jon Garraño, Aitor Arregi (Spain)
• Carissa, Jason Jacobs, Devon Delmar (South Africa)
• Wishing on a Star, Péter Kerekes – Documentary – (Italy, Croatia, Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic)
• Mistress Dispeller, – Documentary – Elizabeth Lo (China)
• The New Year That Never Came, Bogdan Muresanu (Romania, Serbia)
• Pooja, Sir, Deepak Rauniyar (Nepal, U.S., Norway)
• Of Dogs and Men, Dani Rosenberg (Israel, Italy)
• Pavements, Alex Ross Perry (US)
• Happyend, Neo Sora (Japan, US)
• L’Attachement, Carine Tardieu (France, Belgium)
• Diciannove, Giovanni Tortorici (Italy, UK)

Horizons Extra

• September 5, Tim Fehlbaum (Germany)
• Vittoria, Alessandro Cassignoli, Casey Kauffman (Italy)
• Le Mohican, Frédéric Farrucci (France)
• Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo, Khaled Mansour (Egypt, Saudi Arabia)
• La Storia Del Frank e Della Nina, Paola Randi (Italy, Switzerland)
• The Witness, Nader Saeivar (Germany, Austria)
• After Party, Vojtech Strakaty (Czech Republic)
• Edge of Night, Türker Süer (Germany, Turkey)
• King Ivory, John Swab (US)