NEW DELHI: Asian films including one from India will dominate the 71st Venice International Film Festival next month.

The Festival is being held from 27 August to 6 September.

The competition section includes two Asian films: Tsukamoto Shinya’s Nobi and Wang Xiaoshua's thriller Red Amnesia.

The former is the story of a soldier struggling for survival in the Filipino jungle during the Pacific War. Ooka Shohei's novel was previously adapted by Ichikawa Kon as Fires on the Plain (1959). In addition to directing, writing, editing, producing and serving as cinematographer, Tsukamoto also stars opposite Lily Franky and Nakamura Tatsuya.

A thriller about a retired widow whose life is changed after receiving anonymous calls from a mysterious stranger, Red Amnesia is Wang's first film in three years since his autobiographical drama 11 Flowers (2011).

The Orizzonti competition section includes two Asian feature films: Hong Sang-soo's Hill of Freedom and Chaitanya Tamhane's Court. The former stars Kase Ryo as a Japanese man who falls for an older woman in Seoul. The latter chronicles a controversial court case about a folk singer accused of performing an inflammatory song that drove a man to commit suicide.

Ann Hui, director of the festival closing film The Golden Era, is serving as the director of the Orizzonti competition jury.

The section also includes 13-minute China short Great Heat and 17-minute Indonesia short Maryam.

The festival is also hosting the world premieres of Peter Chan's Dearest and IM Kwon-taek's Make Up as out of competition screening.

 
Organisers of the Venice Days sidebar said in addition to Kim Ki-duk's One on One as opening film, the programme includes Bengali-language recession-set drama Asha jaoar majhe (aka Labour of Love) by Aditya Vikram Sengupta.

Independently organised by the SNCCI (Sindacato Nazionale Critici Cinematografici Italiani), the International Critics' Week includes Vietnam's Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere, and China's The Coffin in the Mountain.