Since the actors strike rocked Hollywood a little more than a week ago, the Venice Film Festival’s lineup has seemed increasingly imperiled, especially after the event’s already announced opening film—Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers, starring Zendaya—backed out of the festival last week.

“This past week has been a bit turbulent due to the actors strike, which, combined with the screenwriters strike, took us a bit by surprise,” Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera admitted during the fest’s press conference on Tuesday.

A guide to Hollywood’s biggest races

But the good news is that there are still some very promising world premieres on the schedule for the 80th edition of the festival, including new films from Sofia Coppola, David Fincher, Ava DuVernay, Bradley Cooper, and Michael Mann.

In competition, Mann will debut his film Ferrari, about Enzo Ferrari, the founder of the iconic car manufacturer, which stars Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz, and Shailene Woodley. Cooper’s film is also based on a larger-than-life real figure: the world-famous composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein. Cooper also stars, alongside Carey Mulligan and a strong supporting cast. Coppola’s film centers on the life of Priscilla Presley, with Cailee Spaeny starring and Euphoria’s Jacob Elordi playing her husband, Elvis. And with Origin, DuVernay will be the first Black woman with a film in competition; her entry follows the life of Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson, with a cast that includes Aunjanue Ellis, Niecy Nash-Betts, and Jon Bernthal.

Fincher is in competition with The Killer, starring Michael Fassbender as a cold-blooded assassin who begins to have a psychological crisis. The Favourite director Yorgos Lanthimos returns to the Lido with Poor Things, a new film starring Emma Stone as a woman whose brain is replaced with a baby’s. And Chilean director Pablo Larraín, who helmed Spencer and Jackie, will bring his new film, El Conde.

Outside of competition, there are plenty of notable films as well, including a new short from Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater’s latest film, Hit Man, and a new film from Harmony Korine.

Perhaps bringing the festival attention in a different way, the lineup also includes films from several directors who have courted controversy in the past few years, including Roman Polanski (The Palace), Woody Allen (Coup de Chance), and Luc Besson (DogMan).

The big question now is what talent will actually show up for the festival—which runs from August 30 to September 9—if the SAG-AFTRA strike is still in action at the time. The Venice Film Festival is known in part for providing glamorous, picture-perfect moments, with celebrities posing on boats as the wind cascades through their hair (we all remember Lady Gaga’s splashy debut for A Star Is Born, yes?). But the SAG-AFTRA strike rules specifically prohibit actors from promoting their work at festivals, panels, and press conferences while on strike. We can expect many directors to still take part, but there’s a big question around whether a director who is also the star of a film, like Maestro’s Bradley Cooper, will be able, or willing, to attend. Barbera did say at the press conference that he believes some films could get special dispensation from SAG-AFTRA to allow actors to do promotional work.

After Challengers bowed out of this year’s festival (and pushed its release date), the Italian movie Comandante, by Edoardo De Angelis, was announced as the opening night film. And the festival previously announced that J.A. Bayona’s upcoming survival thriller, Society of the Snow, will close the event. The lineup does feature a notable number of European films, which should have actors in attendance (unless those not in SAG-AFTRA choose to not attend in solidarity), so Venice won’t be completely star-free. But at this point the festival and awards-season launching pad will look very different from how it has in years past.

Competition

Comandante, dir: Edoardo De Angelis (opening night film)
Adagio, dir: Stefano Sollima
La Bête, dir: Bertrand Bonello
DogMan, dir: Luc Besson
El Conde, dir: Pablo Larraín
Enea, dir: Pietro Castellitto
Evil Does Not Exist, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
Ferrari, dir: Michael Mann
Finalmente L’alba, dir: Saverio Costanzo
The Green Border, dir: Agnieszka Holland
Holly, dir: Fien Troch
Hors-Saison, dir: Stéphane Brizé
Io Capitano, dir: Matteo Garrone
The Killer, dir: David Fincher
Lubo, dir: Giorgio Diritti
Maestro, dir: Bradley Cooper
Memory, dir: Michel Franco
Origin, dir: Ava DuVernay
Poor Things, dir: Yorgos Lanthimos
Priscilla, dir: Sofia Coppola
The Promised Land, dir: Nikolaj Arcel
Die Theorie von Allem, dir: Timm Kröger
Woman Of, dirs: Malgorzata Szumowska, Michal Englert

Out of Competition

Fiction

Society of the Snow, dir: J.A. Bayona (closing film)
Aggro Dr1ft, dir: Harmony Korine
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, dir: William Friedkin
Coup de Chance, dir: Woody Allen
Daaaaaali!, dir: Quentin Dupieux
Hit Man, dir: Richard Linklater
The Order of Time, dir: Liliana Cavani
The Palace, dir: Roman Polanski
The Penitent, dir: Luca Barbareschi
Snow Leopard, dir: Pema Tseden
Vivants, dir: Alix Delaporte
Making Of, dir: Cédric Kahn
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, dir: Wes Anderson (short)

Short
Welcome to Paradise, dir: Leonardo Di Costanzo

Nonfiction

Amor, dir: Virginia Eleuteri Serpieri
Enzo Jannacci Vengo Anch’io, dir: Giorgio Verdelli
Frente a Guernica (Versione Integrale), dirs: Yervant Gianikian, Angela Ricci Lucchi
Hollywoodgate, dir: Ibrahim Nash’at
Menus Plaisirs – Les Troisgros, dir: Frederick Wiseman
Ryuichi Sakamoto – Opus, dir: Neo Sora

Series

D’argent et de Sang (episodes 1–12), dirs: Xavier Giannoli, Frédéric Planchon
I Know Your Soul (episodes 1–2), dirs: Alen Drljević, Nermin Hamzagic

Special Screening

La Parte del Leone: Una Storia della Mostra, dirs: Baptiste Etchegaray, Giuseppe Bucchi

Horizons

En Attendant la Nuit, dir: Céline Rouzet
Behind the Mountains, dir: Mohamed Ben Attia
A Cielo Abierto, dirs: Mariana Arriaga, Santiago Arriaga
City of Wind, dir: Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir
Dormitory, dir: Nehir Tuna
El Paraíso, dir: Enrico Maria Artale
Explanation for Everything, dir: Gábor Reisz
The Featherweight, dir: Robert Kolodny
Gasoline Rainbow, dirs: Bill Ross, Turner Ross
Heartless, dirs: Nara Normande, Tião
Hesitation Wound, dir: Selman Nacar
Housekeeping for Beginners, dir: Goran Stolevski
Invelle, dir: Simone Massi
Paradise Is Burning, dir: Mika Gustafson
The Red Suitcase, dir: Fidel Devkota 
Shadow of Fire, dir: Shinya Tsukamoto
Una Sterminata Domenica, dir: Alain Parroni
Tatami, dirs: Guy Nattiv, Zar Amir Ebrahimi

Horizons Extra

Bota Jonë, dir: Luàna Bajrami
Day of the Fight, dir: Jack Huston
Felicità, dir: Micaela Ramazzotti
Forever Forever, dir: Anna Buryachkova
L’homme d’argile, dir: Anaïs Tellenne
In the Land of Saints and Sinners, dir: Robert Lorenz
Pet Shop Boys, dir: Olmo Schnabel
Stolen, dir: Karan Tejpal
The Rescue, dir: Daniela Goggi

Venice Classics

Nonfiction

Un’altra Italia Era Possibile, il Cinema di Guiseppe De Santis, dir: Steve Della Casa
Bill Douglas – My Best Friend, dir: Jack Archer
Dario Argento Panico, dir: Simone Scafidi
Frank Capra: Mr America, dir: Matthew Wells
Ken Jacobs – From Orchard Street to the Museum of Modern Art, dir: Fred Riedel
Le Film Pro-Nazi d’Hitchcock, dir: Daphné Baiwir
Landrián, dir: Ernesto Daranas Serrano
Michel Gondry: Do It Yourself, dir: François Nemeta
Thank You Very Much, dir: Alex Braverman