Strong Venice Film Festival line-up heavy on migration

(ANSA) - Rome, July 28 - The 2017 Venice Film Festival line-up will serve up world premiere movies by directors including Alexander Payne, Guillermo del Toro, George Clooney, Darren Aronofsky, Paul Schrader and Martin McDonagh, as announced by fest chief Alberto Barbera and Biennale chairman Paolo Baratta, This 74th edition of the festival will run August 30 to September 9 and the strong line-up has commentators talking about whether the world's oldest film festival will turn out better than Cannes this year. Some of the most eagerly awaited films include George Clooney's 'Suburbicon', 'Mother!' by Darren Aronofsky, 'Mektoub, My Love' by Abdellatif Kechiche, 'The Shape of Water' by Guillermo Del Toro, Stephen Frears' 'Victoria & Abdul' and the documentary 'Human Flow' by Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei.
    Barbera on Thursday called 'The Shape of Water' Toro's best film in a decade.
    The festival will focus on such themes as migration and the crisis of the institution of 'the family' and will open with Alexander Payne's 'Downsizing', starring Matt Damon.
    Italy will have four films in competition among the 29 selected and included in various sections: 'The Leisure Seeker' by Paolo Virzì with Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland, 'Ammore e Malavita' by Manetti Bros and two second works: 'Hannah' by Andrea Pallaoro with Charlotte Rampling and 'Una Famiglia' (A Family) by Sebastiano Riso with Micaela Ramazzotti.
    "I complained in previous years about a lack of Italian films in the festival," Barbera said. "This is not the case this year. There are many Italian films and they are of a very high quality, diverse and many were made by young directors. "This is a small Nouvelle Vague. In this way, we placed our bets on them, and I hope it proves successful." Virzi's 'The Leisure Seeker', which will be shown in Italy under the title 'Ella & John', was shot in the US and stars Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland. The elderly, ill couple - he is forgetful and she is extremely fragile - refuses to abandon a plan to take a road trip in a camper, leading to the rekindling of old passions and obsessions.
    Sebastiano Riso's 'Una Famiglia' instead focuses on a couple in which the man forces his wife to 'rent out' her uterus to help other couples who cannot have children and to make money.
    The woman is unsure of the decision until she realizes that this pregnancy may be her last chance, and vows to have her own family. The outlandish style of the Manetti Bros is seen in the musical-noir 'Ammore e Malavita' , set in a 'dirty and ugly' Naples. The 'pulp fiction' type of film stars Giampaolo Morelli, Serena Rossi, Carlo Buccirosso and Claudia Gerini as the wife of a Camorra boss. Andrea Pallaoro's 'Hannah is instead a psychological drama starring Charlotte Rampling, an elderly woman whose certainties all gradually slip away since she has been "trapped by her choices".