Two Chinese films to screen at 75th Venice Film Festival

Two Chinese films will screen at this year's Venice Film Festival, organizers said as they unveiled the line-up in a press conference in the Italian capital on Wednesday.

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.

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.