Lav Diaz's 'Phantosmia' part of 2024 Venice Film Festival lineup

Lav Diaz’s drama film Phantosmia was among the films included in the lineup of the 81st Venice Film Festival. 

On Tuesday, July 23, the La Biennale di Venezia, organizer of the event, unveiled the full lineup for the annual event, which will be held from Aug. 28 to Sept. 7 at Lido di Venezia’s Palazzo del Cinema. Phantosmia is part of the Out of Competition – Fiction category.

The black and white film follows the story of former military official Hilarion Zabala, played by Ronnie Lazaro, who suffers from a mysterious olfactory problem that has recurred.  

“A counselor/psychiatrist suspects it to be a lingering case of phantosmia, a phantom smell, and possibly caused by trauma, a deep psychological fracture. One recommended radical process to cure the ailment was that Hilarion must go back and deal with the darkest currents of his past life in the military service. Reassigned in the very remote Pulo Penal Colony, he must also confront the horrific realities of his present situation,” the synopsis reads. 

Joining Lazaro in the cast are Janine Gutierrez, Hazel Orencio, Dong Abay, Paul Jake Paule, Arjay Babon, Allen Alzola, Heart Puyong, Mitzi Comia, Vince Macapobre, Toni Go, Lhorvie Nuevo, and Edrick Alcontado. It was produced by TEN17P and sine olivia pilipinas. 

Diaz served as the director, writer, cinematographer, editor, and producer of the film. It is among the entries under the Out of Competition – Fiction category, which will have Beetlejuice Beetlejuice as the opening film and L’Orto Americano as the closing film. 

Phantosmia marks the eighth time that Diaz’s film was included in the prestigious event. His previous entries were Kagadanan Sa Banwaan Ning Mga Engkanto (2007); Melancholia (2008); Siglo ng Pagluluwal (2011); Ang Alitaptap (2013); Lahi, Hayop (2020); Kapag Wala Nang Mga Alon (2022); and Ang Babaeng Humayo (2016) which won the grand prize, the Golden Lion award. 

The film joins the stellar lineup, including films that starred Lady Gaga (Joker 2: Folie à Deux), Daniel Craig (Queer), Michael Keaton (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice), and George Clooney and Brad Pitt (Wolfs). 

See the full lineup below:

Competition

• The Room Next Door, Pedro Almodóvar (Spain) 
• Campo di Battaglia, Gianni Amelio (Italy)
• Leurs Enfants Après Eux, Ludovic Bouckherma, Zoran Boukherma (France)  
• The Brutalist, Brady Corbet (U.K.)
• The Quiet Son, Delphine Coulin, Muriel Coulin (France)
• Vermiglio, Maura Delpero (Italy, France, Belgium)
• Sicilian Letters, Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza (Italy, France)
• Queer, Luca Guadagnino (Italy, U.S.)
• Love, Dag Johan Haugerud (Norway)
• April, Dea Kulumbegashvili (Georgia, France, Italy)
• The Order, Justin Kurzel (Canada)
• Maria, Pablo Larrain (Italy, Germany)
• Trois Amies, Emmanuel Mouret (France)
• Kill the Jockey, Luis Ortega (Argentina, Spain) 
• Joker: Folie à Deux, Todd Phillips (U.S.)
• Babygirl, Halina Reijn (U.S.)
• I’m Still Here, Walter Salles (Brazil, France)
• Diva Futura, Giulia Louise Steigerwalt (Italy)
• Harvest, Athina Rachel Tsangari (U.K., Germany, Greece, France, U.S.)
• Youth – Homecoming, Wang Bing (France, Luxembourg, Netherlands)
• Stranger Eyes, Yeo Siew Hua (Singapore, Taipei, France, U.S.)

Out of Competition — Fiction 

• Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Tim Burton (U.S., U.K.) – Opening Film 
• L’Orto Americano, Pupi Avati (Italy) — Closing Film  
• Il Tempo Che Ci Vuole, Francesca Comencini (Italy, France)
• Phantosmia, Lav Diaz (Philippines)
• Maldoror, Fabrice Du Welz (Belgium, France)
• Broken Rage, Takeshi Kitano (Japan)
• Baby Invasion, Harmony Korine (U.S.)
• Cloud, Kurosawa Kiyoshi (Japan)
• Finalement, Claude Lelouch (France) 
• Wolfs, Jon Watts (U.S.)  
• Se Posso Permettermi Capitolo II, Marco Bellocchio (Italy)
• Allégorie Citadine, Alice Rohrwacher, JR (France)

Out of Competition – Series 

• Disclaimer, Alfonso Cuaron (U.K., U.S.)
• The New Years, Rodrigo Sorogoyen Del Amo, Sandra Romero, David Martín De Los Santos (Spain)
• Families Like Ours, Thomas Vinterberg (Denmark, France, Sweden, Czech Republic, Norway, Germany) 
• M: Son of the Century, Joe Wright (Italy, France)  

Out of Competition – Non-fiction 

• Apocalypse in the Tropics, Petra Costa (Brazil)
• Bestiari, Erbari, Lapidari, Massimo D’Anolfi, Martina Parenti (Italy, Switzerland)
• Why War, Amos Gitai (Israel, France)
• 2073, Asif Kapadia (U.K.)
• One to One: John & Yoko, Kevin Macdonald, Sam Rice Edwards (U.K.)
• Separated, Errol Morris (U.S., Mexico)
• Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989, Göran Hugo Olsson (Sweden, Finland, Denmark)
• Russians at War, Anastasia Trofimova (France, Canada)
• Twst/Things We Said Today, Andrei Ujica (France, Romania)
• Songs of Slow Burning Earth, Olha Zhurba (Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden)
• Riefenstahl, Andres Veiel (Germany)

Out of Competition — Special Screenings 

• Leopardi. Il Poeta Dell’Infinito (Parts 1 and 2), Sergio Rubini (Italy)
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), Peter Weir (U.S.)
• Beauty Is Not a Sin, Nicolas Winding Refn (Italy, Denmark)

Horizons

• Nonostante, Valerio Mastandrea (Italy) – Opening Film 
• Quiet Life, Alexandros Avranas (France, Germany, Sweden, Greece, Estonia, Finland  
• Mon Inséparable, Anne-Sophie Bailly (France)
• Aïcha, Mehdi Barsaoui (Tunisia, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Qatar)
• Happy Holidays, Scandar Copti (Germany, Italy, Qatar)
• Familia, Francesco Costabile (Italy)
• One of Those Days When Hemme Dies, Murat Firatoglu (Turkey) 
• Familiar Touch, Sarah Friedland (U.S.)
• Marco, Jon Garraño, Aitor Arregi (Spain)
• Carissa, Jason Jacobs, Devon Delmar (South Africa)
• Wishing on a Star, Péter Kerekes – Documentary – (Italy, Croatia, Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic)
• Mistress Dispeller, – Documentary – Elizabeth Lo (China)
• The New Year That Never Came, Bogdan Muresanu (Romania, Serbia)
• Pooja, Sir, Deepak Rauniyar (Nepal, U.S., Norway) 
• Of Dogs and Men, Dani Rosenberg (Israel, Italy)
• Pavements, Alex Ross Perry (U.S.)  
• Happyend, Neo Sora (Japan, U.S.)
• L’Attachement, Carine Tardieu (France, Belgium) 
• Diciannove, Giovanni Tortorici (Italy, U.K.)  
• Horizons Extra
• September 5, Tim Fehlbaum (Germany)
• Vittoria, Alessandro Cassignoli, Casey Kauffman (Italy)
• Le Mohican, Frédéric Farrucci (France)
• Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo, Khaled Mansour (Egypt, Saudi Arabia)
• La Storia Del Frank e Della Nina, Paola Randi (Italy, Switzerland)
• The Witness, Nader Saeivar (Germany, Austria)
• After Party, Vojtech Strakaty (Czech Republic)
• Edge of Night, Türker Süer (Germany, Turkey)
• King Ivory, John Swab (U.S.)