by Helen Barlow
In its 82nd year, Venice is sitting pretty in the pantheon of film festivals, not only because of its prime location in one of the world’s most beautiful cities, but because Oscar contenders and prominent films get to announce themselves for the first time.
Cate Blanchett and Adam Driver should be there together with director Jim Jarmusch for his latest feature Father Mother Sister Brother [above], a triptych following estranged siblings who are forced to re-evaluate their strained relationships with their emotionally distant parents; while Jacob Elordi will reveal all regarding his portrayal as The Monster in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein.
In his announcements, Festival director Alberto Barbera noted that for over a decade del Toro had been trying to make a film from Mary Shelley’s novel as it had always been a source of inspiration. “Expect something very spectacular since Netflix has not skimped on providing the means for Guillermo to realise his vision.”
Jane Campion will present a special programme of short films made by students at her film school, which she co-founded in 2022 in Wellington, NZ. In a statement she said, “I am incredibly grateful that Netflix has chosen to fully support this Pop Up Film Intensive which I characterise as A Wave in the Ocean.”
Campion of course had been the Venice jury head in 2023 after world premiering The Power of the Dog in 2022. She’s a festival regular like many others that were announced, especially the Italians Luca Guadagnino (who will premiere the MeToo-inspired thriller After the Hunt starring Julia Roberts after his previous feature Queer with Daniel Craig screened at last year’s festival) and Paolo Sorrentino, whose opening film La Grazia (Grace) [below] stars his regular actor, Toni Servillo.
Initially in his announcements, Barbera declared that it would be the first time Jarmusch would be at the festival after he had premiered many of his films in Cannes, but then he corrected himself, noting that Coffee and Cigarettes, which also featured Blanchett, had been there in 2003. However, he was right in saying that this would be Julia Roberts’ first time in gracing the Venice red carpet. Former wrestler Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) will also grace the Lido for Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine, where he stars as two‑time UFC heavyweight champion Mark Kerr, while Emily Blunt plays his wife.
One of my greatest Venice memories was interviewing an unknown and amiable Jeremy Renner for Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker in 2008, with the film going on to win six Oscars, including Best Picture, while Bigelow became the first woman to win for directing. This year, she returns with A House of Dynamite, her first film since 2017’s Detroit. The Netflix original, a ticking bomb geopolitical thriller, focuses on White House staffers grappling with an impending missile strike on America and stars Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson. Aussie Jason Clarke has a supporting role.
The third Netflix film selected is Noah Baumbach’s comedy‑drama Jay Kelly, co-written by Emily Mortimer, and starring George Clooney, one of the festival’s favourite sons in the title role. “He’s in great shape” Barbera declares. The film has the tagline “Everyone knows Jay Kelly, but he doesn’t know himself.” Adam Sandler and Isla Fisher also star.
After Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist premiered in Venice last year, his partner (The Brutalist’s co-writer and producer) Mona Fastvold will compete with The Testament of Ann Lee [below], a historical drama musical that she co-wrote with Corbet. New Zealand’s Thomasin McKenzie stars alongside Amanda Seyfried and Lewis Pullman.
Another competition film that sounds intriguing is Olivier Assayas’s The Wizard of the Kremlin which follows Vladimir Putin’s rise to power and stars, as Barbera puts it, “an exceptional Jude Law” as Putin.
Barbera notes how Gus Van Sant has been working in television of late and after a six-year absence makes a welcome return to cinema with Dead Man’s Wire [below], a thriller based on a true crime story from the 1970s. The film stars Bill Skarsgard and what the festival director calls “an important interpretation from Al Pacino.”
Pacino also stars in Julian Schnabel’s In the Hand of Dante, which according to Barbera had long been blocked in dispute with the filmmakers and financiers and now sees the light of day, without any cuts. Oscar Isaac (Victor Frankenstein in Del Toro’s film) also stars with Gal Gadot, Martin Scorsese, Jason Momoa and Gerard Butler. The film was shot in Italy.
Yorgos Lanthimos returns with the sci-fi story Bugonia [below] – a remake of the 2003 Korean sci-fi film Save the Green Planet! by Jang Joon-hwan – which marks his third film with Emma Stone.
Italian star Pierfrancesco Favino plays an incapable tennis teacher/loser in Andrea Di Stefano’s Il Maestro.
The ever-productive Francois Ozon has re-teamed with young rising French star Benjamin Voisin (from Summer of 85, currently starring in the Apple TV+ series Careme) for The Stranger, Ozon’s adaptation of Albert Camus’s novel which screens in competition.
Another French film, Chien 51, directed by action specialist Cedric Jimenez closes the festival and Barbera calls it “high tension and spectacular”. It stars Adele Exarchopoulos, Gilles Lellouche, Louis Garrel and Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, who also stars in Pietro Marcello’s Duse, about the legendary Italian stage diva Eleonora Duse.
The Venice Film Festival runs from August 26 until September 6, 2025
Competition
La Grazia (opening film)
Dir. Paolo Sorrentino
The Wizard Of The Kremlin
Dir. Olivier Assayas
Jay Kelly
Dir. Noah Baumbach
The Voice Of Hind Rajab
Dir. Kaouther Ben Hania
A House Of Dynamite
Dir. Kathryn Bigelow
The Sun Rises On Us All
Dir. Cai Shangjun
Frankenstein
Dir. Guillermo del Toro
Elisa
Dir. Leonardo Di Costanzo
A Pied D’Oeuvre
Dir. Valerie Donzelli
Silent Friend
Dir. Ildiko Enyedi
The Testament Of Ann Lee
Dir. Mona Fastvold
Father Mother Sister Brother
Dir. Jim Jarmusch
Bugonia
Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
Duse
Dir. Pietro Marcello
Un Film Fatto Per Bene
Dir. Franco Maresco
Orphan
Dir. Lazlo Nemes
L’Etranger
Dir. Francois Ozon
No Other Choice
Dir. Park Chan-wook
Sotto Le Nuvole
Dir. Gianfranco Rosi
The Smashing Machine
Dir. Benny Safdie
Girl
Dir. Shu Qi
Out Of Competition – fiction
Chien 51 (closing film)
Dir. Cedric Jimenez
Sermon To The Void
Dir. Hilal Baydarov
L’Isola Di Andrea
Dir. Antonio Capuano
Il Maestro
Dir. Andrea Di Stefano
After The Hunt
Dir. Luca Guadagnino
Hateshinaki Scarlet
Dir. Mamoru Hosoda
The Last Viking
Dir. Anders Thomas Jensen
In The Hand Of Dante
Dir. Julian Schnabel
La Valle Dei Sorrisi
Dir. Paolo Strippoli
Dead Man’s Wire
Dir. Gus Van Sant
Orfeo
Dir. Virgilio Villoresi
Out Of Competition – non-fiction
Kabul, Between Prayers
Dir. Aboozar Amini
Ferdinando Scianna – Il Fotografo Dell’Ombra
Dir. Roberto Ando
Marc By Sofia
Dir. Sofia Coppola
I Diari Di Angela – Noi Due Cineasti. Capitolo Terzo
Dir. Yervant Gianikian, Angela Ricci Lucchi
Ghost Elephants
Dir. Werner Herzog
My Father And Qaddafi
Dir. Jihan K
The Tale Of Sylian
Dir. Tamara Kotevska
Nuestra Tierra
Dir. Lucrecia Martel
Remake
Dir. Ross McElwee
Kim Novak’s Vertigo
Dir. Alexandre Philippe
Cover-Up
Dir. Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus
Broken English
Dir. Jane Pollard, Iain Forsyth
Notes Of A True Criminal
Dirs. Alexander Rodnyansky, Andriy Alferov
Director’s Diary
Dir. Aleksandr Sokurov
Back Home
Dir. Tsai Ming-liang
Out Of Competition – film and music
Nino. 18 Giorni
Dir. Toni D’Angelo
Piero Pelu. Rumore Dentro
Dir. Francesco Fei
Newport And The Great Folk Dream
Dir. Robert Gordon
Francesco de Gregori Nevergreen
Dir. Stefano Pistolini
Out Of Competition – series
Portobello
Dir. Marco Bellocchio
Un Prophete
Dir. Enrico Maria Artale
Etty
Dir. Hagai Levi
Il Mostro
Dir. Stefano Sollima
Horizons
Mother (opening film)
Dir. Teona Struger Mitevska
Divine Comedy
Dir. Ali Asgari
Hiedra
Dir. Ana Cristina Barragan
The Kidnapping Of Arabella
Dir. Carolina Cavalli
Strange River
Dir. Jaume Claret Muxart
Lost Land
Dir. Akio Fujimoto
Grand Ciel
Dir. Akihiro Hata
Rose Of Nevada
Dir. Mark Jenkin
Late Fame
Dir. Kent Jones
Milk Teeth
Dir. Mihai Mincan
Pin de Fartie
Dir. Alejo Moguillansky
Father
Dir. Tereza Nvotova
En el Camino
Dir. David Pablos
Songs Of Forgotten Teeth
Dir. Anuparna Roy
Un Anno Di Scuola
Dir. Laura Samani
The Souffleur
Dir. Gaston Solnicki
Barrio Triste
Dir. Stillz
Human Resource
Dir. Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit
Funeral Casino Blues
Dir. Roderick Warich
Venice Spotlight
Hijra
Dir. Shahad Ameen
Un Cabo Suelto
Dir. Daniel Hendler
Made In Eu
Dir. Stephan Komandarev
Motor City
Dir. Potsy Ponciroli
La Hija De Le Espanola
Dir. Mariana Rondon, Marite Ugas
A Bras-le-Corps
Dir. Marie-Elsa Sgualdo
Calle Malaga
Dir. Maryam Touzani
Ammazzare Stanca
Dir. Daniele Vicari
Venice Critics’ Week 2025
In Competition
Agon (It-US-Fr) dir. Giulio Bertelli
Cotton Queen (Ger-Fr-Pal-Egy-Qat-S Arabia) dir. Suzannah Mirghani
Gorgonà (Gr-Fr) dir. Evi Kalogiropoulou
Ish (UK) dir. Imran Perretta
Roqia (Alg-Fr-Qat-S Arabia) dir. Yanis Koussim
Straight Circle (UK) dir. Oscar Hudson
Waking Hours (It) dir. Federico Cammarata, Filippo Foscarini
Out of Competition
Stereo Girls (Fr-Can) dir. Caroline Deruas Peano – opening film
100 Nights Of Hero (UK) dir. Julia Jackman – closing film
