Organizers for the Venice Film Festival revealed Wednesday the Festival’s Classics lineup, with highlights including restored versions of Martin Scorsese’s 1990 gangster Goodfellas and Sidney Lumet’s 1973 crime thriller Serpico.
Newly-restored versions of classic titles such as the 1950 Italian romantic drama Story of a Love Affair (Michelangelo Antonioni), the 1970 thriller Le Cercle Rouge (Jean-Pierre Melville) and Souleyman Cissé’s 1975 Mali drama The Young Girl, are also in the Venice Classics lineup for the 77th Venice International Film Festival.
The first screening of the lineup of films will take place at the Italian Festival Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, which runs Aug. 25-Aug. 31. This is part of a collaboration between both festivals meant as a sign of solidarity during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. In the following months, films in the lineup will screen at the 2020 Venice Film Festival, which will run from Sept. 2-Sept. 12.
Curated by Alberto Barbera, Venice Festival Director, in collaboration with Federico Gironi, the 2020 selection ranges across five continents and almost a century of cinema. Selected titles also include the newly-restored 1937 film noir You Only Live Once (Fritz Lang), 1976 Cuban drama The Last Supper (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea), Hiroshi Inagaki’s 1943 Japanese feature The Rickshaw Man, and John Barry’s 1974 Harlem rom-com Claudine.
Since the first wave of the novel coronavirus swept through Europe, Venice will be the first major film festival to be held and is being regarded as a major testing ground for the film and entertainment industry amid the continuing pandemic.
The Festival is expected to announce its official competition lineup next week.