Line-up announced for Venice Film Festival 2010!

Venice is the oldest major film festival in the world and by Jove, if it isn't also one of the best. It is! The 67th edition is due to run from 1 to 11 September, with Quentin Tarantino presiding over the jury, and Darren Aronfosky's thriller Black Swan providing the opening night entertainment. The full festival line-up was announced today; read on to see which movies will be featuring.

While Cannes is an event in itself - a guaranteed draw, whatever films are duking it out for the Palme d'Or in any given year – Venice is more reliant on delivering a strong programme of big and medium-sized names in order to attract and hold the attention of we fickle film hacks. Ergo, included amongst the 22 movies in the main competition at Venice 2010 are new works from Sofia Coppola, Aronofsky, François Ozon and the predictably unpredictable Vincent Gallo.

The complete roster of flicks that will be competing for the Golden Lion at Venice 2010 is as follows...

Venezia 67

Black Swan (USA, 103 minutes), directed by Darren Aronofsky

La Pecora Nera (Italy, 93 minutes), directed by Ascanio Celestini

Happy Few (France, 103 minutes), directed by Antony Cordier

La Solitudine dei Numeri Primi (Italy, Germany, France, 118 minutes), directed by Saverio Costanzo

Silent Souls (Russia, 75 minutes), directed by Aleksei Fedorchenko

Promises Written in Water (USA, 75 minutes), directed by Vincent Gallo

Road to Nowhere (USA, 121 minutes), directed by Monte Hellman

Balada Triste de Trompeta (Spain, France, 107 minutes), directed by Álex de la Iglesia

Venus Noire (France, 166 minutes), directed by Abdellatif Kechiche

Post Mortem (Chile, Mexico, Germany, 98 minutes), directed by Pablo Larraín

Barney's Version (Canada, Italy, 132 minutes), directed by Richard J. Lewis

Noi Credevamo (Italy, France, 204 minutes), directed by Mario Martone

La Passione (Italy, 106 minutes), directed by Carlo Mazzacurati

Somewhere (USA, 98 minutes), directed by Sofia Coppola

13 Assassins (Japan, United Kingdom, 126 minutes), directed by Takashi Miike

Potiche (France, 103 minutes), directed by François Ozon

Meek's Cutoff (USA, 104 minutes), directed by Kelly Reichardt

Miral (USA, France, Italy, Israel, 112 minutes), directed by Julian Schnabel

Norwegian Wood (Japan, 133 minutes), directed by Tran Anh Hung

Attenberg (Greece, 95 minutes), directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (China, 122 minutes), directed by Tsui Hark

Drei (Germany, 120 minutes), directed by Tom Tykwer

We will bring you more information on the movies themselves over the next few days, but the quartet which initially caught my eye were...

Road to Nowhere - the new movie from Monte Hellman, director of 1971's Two-Lane Blacktop, a movie title it is illegal to place in a sentence without also including the term 'cult favourite'. Phew, just stayed on the right side of John Law there

Post Mortem – director Pablo Larraín delivered one of cinema's most unhinged sociopaths, Raúl Peralta, in his Tony Manero a couple of years back; an achievement in itself perhaps, but made truly remarkable by the placing of this character within a highly-politicised framework. Larraín's new movie again reteams him with Alfredo Castro, the man who played Peralta, and is another political affair, as it tackles the 1973 Chilean coup that brought dictator Augusto Pincohet to power.

Norwegian Wood – an adaptation of the novel by Haruki Murakami (one of his straighter offerings, it must be said), Norwegian Wood stars Rinko Kikuchi from Babel and The Brothers Bloom, and is directed by Tran Anh Hung, whose Cyclo is one of the most visually arresting movies I've ever had the pleasure to clap eyes upon.

Drei – after the disappointment of The International, director Tom Tykwer returns to Berlin, where he first made his reputation with 1998's Run Lola Run. Yes, the plot summary of Drei on Tykwer's website makes it sound as it inhabits some kind of Jennifer Aniston/Bradley Cooper rom-com territory: 'Anna and Simon, a couple in their early forties, live together in Berlin. Unknown to each other, they both become acquainted with Adam, a younger man – and fall in love with him. When Hanna becomes pregnant, their whistle gets blown – and the question pops up: Who is the father?'. Hmm, who indeed? Yet hopes remain high that Tykwer will deliver something special with this return to native shores.

There is a mammoth array of movies being shown at Venice, with the festival website providing a complete overview of what is being exhibited. However it would be remiss not to quickly draw your attention to some of the eye-catching titles screening out of competition.

Julie Taymor's The Tempest, starring Helen Mirren as a feminised Prospero, is the closing film, while Robert Rodriguez's Machete is one of the midnight screenings. And there is double Affleck action (oh, be still my beating heart) as Ben premieres crime drama The Town and li'l bro Casey showcases I'm Still Here, the long-heralded and already notorious Joaquin Phoenix rap 'documentary'. And with Dennis Hopper having passed away in May, there will be a screening of his 1971 Easy Rider follow-up, The Last Movie.

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