TWO Chinese films will screen at this year’s Venice Film Festival, organizers said as they unveiled the lineup in a press conference in the Italian capital recently. Chinese writer-director Pema Tseden’s “Jinpa,” starring Jinpa, Genden Phuntsok and Sonam Wangmo, will screen in competition in the Orizzonti (Horizons) section, which represents the latest esthetic and expressive trends in international cinema. Award-winning Chinese director Zhang Yimou’s “Ying’s Shadow,” starring Deng Chao, Sun Li, Zheng Kai, Wang Qianyuan, Wang Jingchun, Hu Jun, Guan Xiaotong and Wu Leo, will screen in the Out of Competition section, which presents works of established authors “in which the spectacular dimension is accompanied by forms of expressive originality,” organizers said. Another eight features will screen in this section, including films by award-winning Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai and Italian actress-director Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, as well as “A Star is Born,” the much-anticipated directorial debut of actor Bradley Cooper starring Oscar-nominated global pop star, Lady Gaga. The Venezia 75 Competition line-up includes “Doubles Vies” (“Double Lives”) by Olivier Assayas, starring Juliette Binoche and Guillaume Canet, Damien Chazelle’s “First Man,” starring Ryan Gosling, “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” by the Cohen Brothers, “Roma” by Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuaròn, and “At Eternity’s Gate,” by painter and director Julian Schnabel, starring Willem Dafoe and Emmanuelle Seigner. Italy will vie for the Golden Lion with films by Luca Guadagnino, Mario Martone, and Roberto Minervini. On Tuesday, a week ahead of the opening, the festival added Brady Corbet’s drama “Vox Lux,” starring Natalie Portman and Jude Law, and Neil Jordan’s “Greta,” with Chloe Grace Moretz and Isabelle Huppert, to the Special Presentations program. “Vox Lux,” which will premiere at the Venice Film Festival, is a musical drama about a woman who achieves success after a tragic childhood. The film also stars Jennifer Ehle, Stacy Martin and Raffey Cassidy. “Greta” stars Moretz as a young woman in New York who befriends a widow, played by Huppert, who has sinister intentions. The festival also announced a total of 46 titles in its Discovery program, which is devoted to up-and-coming filmmakers. The Discovery program includes Belgian director Lukas Dhont’s ‘Girl,” the story of a transgender teen; Adina Pintilie’s “Touch Me Not,” which won the Golden Bear and the best first feature award at this year’s Berlin Film Festival; and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s “Farming,” starring Kate Beckinsale. Visitors to the 75th edition of the festival running Aug. 29-Sept. 8 can also watch art-house and genre films in the Sconfini (Tresspasses) section, indulge in restored prints of much-loved oldies in the Venice Classics section, and discover what’s new in virtual reality filmmaking in the Venice Virtual Reality section. The festival will screen 255 features and 88 shorts with 138 being world premieres. (SD-Agencies) | 