The Venice Film Festival is shaping up to be a pretty strong one...

...judging by the early word on what films will be playing. We'll know the official slate on Thursday, but for now this look from indieWIRE will do:

While the official announcement won’t occur until Thursday, Variety is reporting what appears to be the majority of the lineup for the 2011 Venice Film Festival, including new works from David Cronenberg, Steven Soderbergh, Roman Polanski, Todd Solondz, Jonathan Demme, Alexander Sokurov, Mary Harron, William Friedkin and Madonna. They come in addition to the already announced “The Ides of March,” George Clooney’s political drama that will open the festival.

The article also suggested that new films Walter Salles, Wong Kar Wai, Luc Besson, Brillante Mendoza and Fatih Akin will not be ready for the festival.

Below is the full list of films the article notes (not listed is Soderbergh’s film, which isn’t explicitly noted in the Variety story though one can probably assume it’s “Contagion” and not “Haywire”).

In Competition:
“Alps,” directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
“A Burning Hot Summer,” directed by Philippe Garrel
“Carnage,” directed by Roman Polanski
“A Dangerous Method,” directed by David Cronenberg
“Dark Horse,” directed by Todd Solondz
“The Exchange,” directed by Eran Kolirin
“Faust,” directed by Alexander Sokurov
“Himizu,” directed by Sion Sono
“Killer Joe,” directed by William Friedkin
“The Ides of March,” directed by George Clooney (Opening Night)
“Last Day on Earth,” directed by Abel Ferrara
“The Moth Diaries,” directed by Mary Harron
“Poulet aux prunes,” directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
“Quando la notte,” directed by Cristina Comencini
“Seediq Bale,” directed by Wei Te-sheng
“Shame,” directed by Steve McQueen
“Terraferma,” directed by Emanuele Crialese
“Texas Killing Fields” directed by Ami Canaan Mann
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” directed by Tomas Alfredson
“L’ultimo terrestre,” directed by Gipi
“W.E.,” directed by Madonna
“Wuthering Heights,” directed by Andrea Arnold

Out of Competition:
“La folie Almayer,” directed by Chantal Akerman

Horizons section:
“I’m Carolyn Parker: The Good, the Mad and the Beautiful,” directed by Jonathan Demme
“Sal,” directed by James Franco

-Joey's Two Cents: It's looking pretty good from my end...thoughts?