Venice Film Festival: From 'Joker 2' to 'Queer,' Here are 10 Movies to Get Excited About

"Babygirl" (Aug. 30)

Dutch filmmaker Halina Reijn made the wildly fun "Bodies Bodies Bodies," so we're especially curious what "Babygirl" holds. The erotic thriller stars Nicole Kidman (who 25 years ago came to Venice with "Eyes Wide Shut") as a powerful CEO who begins an affair with a younger intern played by Harris Dickinson ("Triangle of Sadness," "The Iron Claw"). Antonio Banderas also co-stars. A24 plans a December theatrical release.

"Youth (Homecoming)" (Sept. 6)

There are quite a few innovative offerings in the nonfiction space: Errol Morris' "Separated," about the Trump administration's border policy; Asif Kapadia's future-looking "2073"; "Pavements," Alex Ross Perry's hybrid doc about the Stephen Malkmus band; and Andres Veiel's "Riefenstahl." But only one made it to the main competition: Wang Bing's "Youth (Homecoming)," the conclusion to his verité documentary trilogy in which he followed migrant workers in Zhili, China's textile factories across five years. It's seeking distribution.

"Maria" (Aug. 29)

Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín is not to be ignored when he makes a film about a famous woman with a tragic narrative (see: "Spencer," "Jackie"). This time he's teamed with screenwriter Steven Knight ("Peaky Blinders") and Jolie to bring opera singer Maria Callas back to life in "Maria." The soprano was a tabloid fixture, perhaps most famous for her affair with Aristotle Onassis, who would end up leaving her for another of Larraín's tragic women: Jacqueline Kennedy. Callas died in 1977, at age 53, but remains one of classical music's bestselling artists. "Maria" is playing in competition and seeking distribution.

"The Order" (Aug. 31)

Jude Law produced and stars in this 1980s-set crime thriller about a white supremacist group who his FBI agent character suspects is tied to a series of crimes in the Pacific Northwest. Nicholas Hoult plays the group's charismatic leader in the Justin Kurzel-directed film, to be released in theaters in December.

"Harvest" (Sept. 3)

"Attenberg" and "Chevalier" filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari returns to the main competition with "Harvest," an adaptation of the Jim Crace novel set in a medieval English village where the locals use three newcomers as scapegoats for economic turmoil. It's apparently the reason star Caleb Landry Jones did his "Dogman" press with a Scottish accent last year. Mubi has distribution rights in several European territories, but no dates or U.S. plans have been announced.

BONUS: "Disclaimer" (Aug. 29)

This is not a film, but this series coming to AppleTV+ on Oct. 11 is from Alfonso Cuarón, who wrote and directed the seven-episode psychological thriller starring Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline. Blanchett plays a journalist who discovers she's a character in a novel that reveals her dark secret.