Today marks the opening day of the 2025 Venice Film Festival, which is the 82nd edition of the fest. Once again, led by Alberto Barbera. A new president, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, was appointed by the government two years ago. It will be the third time the festival will enjoy a disapproving presence. This year, the programmers seemed especially eager to make sure that I would have to stay for the entire festival. There are two Hungarian films in the main competition. László Nemes’ Orphan (Arvá) is the first film in the section, while Ildikó Enyedi’s Silent Friend is the very last.
2025 Venice Film Festival Selections
What is there to do in between, you might ask. The Venezia 82 Competition presents 21 world premieres. Many of them are from the usual suspects whose films I suspect will not be overly enthralling. Guillermo del Toro, Pietro Marcello, Francois Ozon, and Paolo Sorrentino are hardly bound to provide cinematic fireworks. It remains to be seen what Olivier Assayas, Kathryn Bigelow, Mona Fastwold and Benny Safdie have to offer. That Yorgos Lanthimos is being invited to compete with what is supposedly a remake of the brilliant Save the Green Planet (2003) sounds borderline offensive.
Orizzonti is the main side section, supposedly aimed at presenting bold new voices who challenge the form. This year, the strand features what promises to be the most exciting film of all those being screened at Lido: the new film by Mark Jenkin, Rose of Nevada. Following Bait (2019) and Enys Men (2022), the director is one of the most interesting formalists working today.
The Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement honour actress Kim Novak and director Werner Herzog. There is also a documentary about the former, titled Kim Novak’s Vertigo, directed by Alexandre O. Philippe, and presented Out of Competition. Herzog’s Ghost Elephants will be screened in the same section. Meanwhile, masterclasses and conversations with notable figures, including Sofia Coppola and Jane Campion, are featured in the program. Those events tend to be little more than fillers.
The entire list of this year’s main competition.
La Grazia – Paolo Sorrentino (Opening Night)
À pied d’œuvre – Valérie Donzelli
Bugonia – Yorgos Lanthimos
Duse – Pietro Marcello
Elisa – Leonardo Di Costanzo
Father Mother Sister Brother – dir. Jim Jarmusch
Frankenstein – Guillermo del Toro
A House of Dynamite – Kathryn Bigelow
Jay Kelly – Noah Baumbach
L’Étranger – François Ozon
No Other Choice – Park Chan-wook
Nühai (Girl) – Shu Qi
Orphan – László Nemes
Silent Friend – Ildikó Enyedi
The Smashing Machine – Benny Safdie
Sotto le Nuvole – Gianfranco Rosi
The Sun Rises on Us All – Cai Shangjun
The Testament of Ann Lee – Mona Fastvold
Un Film Fatto Per Bene – Franco Maresco
The Voice of Hind Rajab – Kaouther Ben Hania
The Wizard of the Kremlin – Olivier Assayas
The Orizzonti selection
Mother, Teona Strugar Mitevska
Komedie Elahi (“Divine Comedy”), Ali Asgari
Hiedra, Ana Cristina Barragan
Il Rapimento di Arabella, Carolina Cavalli
Estrany Riu (Strange River), Jaume Claret Muxart
Hara Watan (Lost Land”, Akio Fujimoto
Grand Ciel, Akihiro Hata
Rose of Nevada, Mark Jenkin
Late Fame, Kent Jones
Milk Teeth, Mihai Mincan
Pin de Fartie, Alejo Moguillansky
Otec (Father), Tereza Nvotova
En El Camino, David Pablos
Songs of Forgotten Trees, Anuparna Roy
Un Anno di Scuola, Laura Samani
The Souffleur, Gastón Solnicki
Barrio Triste, Stillz
Human Resource, Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit
Funeral Casino Blues, Roderick Warich
The 82nd Venice International Film Festival will be held from August 27 to September 6, 2025, on the Venice Lido. Alexander Payne is the president of the competition jury, joined by Stéphane Brizé, Maura Delpero, Cristian Mungiu, Mohammad Rasoulof, Fernanda Torres, and Zhao Tao. The name La Biennale remains, even though the festival is held annually. Stay tuned for reviews and several interviews from this year´s Venice Festival.
