The Venice Film Festival has announced its lineup for the 71st annual festival. This year the lineup features a number of luminary directors and some award-friendly films.

Over the past few years the festival has tried to change its image by incorporating a market and being less star-studded. However it has served as a platform for films to start their awards trail. Last year "Gravity," "Philomena" and "The Wind Rises" all premiered at Venice and rounded up a total of 15 nominations at the Oscars.

The festival will open August 27 with Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's latest film "Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance." The Fox Searchlight title which is slated to close the New York Film Festival stars Naomi Watts, Michael Keaton, Ed Norton and Emma Stone. The feature is one of a few titles in this year's slate which has a distributor and represents the only award-friendly film.

David Gordon Green's "Manglehorn" will also premiere in competition a year after his critically acclaimed "Joe." "Manglehorn" stars Al Pacino and it is also slated to appear in Toronto in search of a distributor.

Ramin Bahrani will also return to the competition two years after his Zac Efron starrer "At Any Price." His latest film "99 Homes" stars Andrew Garfield, Laura Dern and Michael Shannon.

Abel Ferrara will also present his biopic "Pasolini" starring Willem Dafoe. The feature explores the life of the controversial film director Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Meanwhile Andrew Niccol will present his latest feature "Good Kill" starring Ethan Hawke, January Jones and Zoe Kravitz. Niccol last directed "The Host" and he is also known for his work on "Gattaca."

Other directors that will be represented in the competition include Benoit Jaquot, Mario Martone, Joshua Oppenheimer, and Francesco Munzi.

In the Out of Competition slate, Lisa Cholodenko will bring her latest project "Olive Kitteridge." Meanwhile Lars Von Triers will screen the Director's Cut to "Nymphomaniac Volume 2." The feature was released back in April and it was extremely controversial due to its explicit sex scenes. There is no word about the new version but it will be interesting to see the response of the audience at Venice.

Meanwhile James Franco will return to Venice with his latest feature "The Sound and The Fury." The movie stars Scott Haze, Dave Franco, Joey King, Ahna O'Reilly and director Franco.

The iconic Italian director Gabirele Salvatore will also bring his latest "Italy in a Day" while Edoardo de Angelis will showcase "Perez."

The Toronto Selection "The Humbling" by Barry Levinson will also play in the Out of competition sidebar. The film stars Al Pacino, Greta Gerwig, Kyra Sedgwick, and Dianne Wiest. The film does not have a distributor at the moment but it is likely to create a lot of buzz on the festival circuit.

A number of expected features were absent from the list. One of the biggest omissions to date has been "A Most Violent Year." The film was expected to be ready for the festival circuit especially since it was generating a lot to buzz. Additionally J.C Chandor has been a festival favorite for the past few years with his two films "All is Lost" and "Margin Call." The feature is slated to open in November and stars Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain.

The Weinstein Company also failed to be present in Venice. The company has always been present in every major festival and this year pundits expected "Macbeth" would be present. It was also predicted that Tim Burton's "Big Eyes" would be present but neither one of the films was showcased.

The festival has yet to finish announcing the slate, and there may still be room for a surprise.