Venice 2025: Screen’s guide to the Out Of Competition titles

After The Hunt (US)

Dir. Luca GuadagninoA non-competitive slot for Guadagnino follows Competition titles A Bigger Splash, Suspiria, Bones And All (directing Silver Lion winner) and Queer, plus earlier Venice entries The Protagonists and I Am Love. Scripted by actress Nora Garrett, the drama stars Julia Roberts as a college professor caught in the crossfire when a favoured pupil (Ayo Edebiri) makes an accusation against a fellow faculty member (Andrew Garfield).

Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloe Sevigny also star, and Brian Grazer lead produces. Amazon MGM Studios releases in North America on October 10, and Sony handles international.Contact: Amazon MGM Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment

Andrea's Island (It)

Dir. Antonio CapuanoThe last time veteran Neapolitan director Capuano was in Venice's official selection was in 2001 when his intense Camorra drama Red Moon played in Competition -- apart from an appearance as a cinematic mentor character in Paolo Sorrentino's The Hand Of God.

Produced by Mosaicon Film, Eskimo and Indigo Film with Europictures (which will release the film in Italy) and Rai Cinema, L'Isola Di Andrea is a post-divorce child custody drama starring Teresa Saponangelo -- who played the mother in Sorrentino's 2021 coming-of-age film.Contact: Francesca Tiberi[1], True Colours

Angela's Diaries -- Two Filmmakers Part Three (It)

Dirs. Yervant Gianikian, Angela Ricci LucchiPartners in work and in life, Ricci Lucchi and Gianikian were among the pioneers of moving-image art in Italy, more at home at the Art Biennale than its cinema cousin. After Ricci Lucchi's death in 2018, Italo--Armenian Gianikian dipped into his companion's film archives and diaries (read here by Italian poet and novelist Lucrezia Lerro) to create a video tribute.

Chapters one and two were presented at Venice in 2018 and 2019.Contact: Rai Cinema[2]

Back Home (Tai)

Dir. Tsai Ming-liangFilmed over two weeks in rural areas of Laos, Malaysia-born Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai's latest non-fiction film follows Anong Houngheuangsy as he returns home to a no-man's-land of abandoned houses and wandering animals. Tsai says he made the film in an organic way, as he did with Days (2020) and Your Face (2018).

It was shot using a small Canon camcorder and Leica camera by Tsai, Anong and an unnamed friend. A restored version of Tsai's Vive l'Amour will also play in Venice Classics, having won the Golden Lion (ex aequo) in 1994.Contact: Homegreen Films[3]

Broken English (UK)

Dirs. Jane Pollard, Iain ForsythDirecting duo Pollard and Forsyth, whose credits include Sundance 2014 award winner 20,000 Days On Earth and BFI London Film Festival 2024 premiere The Extraordinary Miss Flower, are behind this hybrid documentary portrait of Marianne Faithfull, made with the singer/songwriter's co-operation ahead of her death in January this year.

Broken English (named for Faithfull's 1979 album) unfolds within an imagined institution, with a cast led by Tilda Swinton and George MacKay, and performances from Nick Cave and Courtney Love. Pollard and Forsyth's production company Phanto-scopic produces alongside Beth Earl's Rustic Canyon Pictures.Contact: Rustic Canyon Pictures[4]

Cover-Up (US)

Dirs. Laura Poitras, Mark ObenhausPoitras's last feature All the Beauty And The Bloodshed launched in Venice Competition in 2022, winning the Golden Lion -- one of two documentaries to win the main prize in the festival's history -- and went on to earn Bafta and Oscar nominations.

She returns to Venice with this collaboration with Obenhaus (senior producer of ABC miniseries The Century), probing the career of US investigative reporter Seymour Hersh. Poitras and producing partner Yoni Golijov produce for their Praxis Films.Contact: Submarine Entertainment[5] (North America); mk2 Films[6] (international)

Dead Man's Wire (US)

Dir. Gus Van SantThis original screenplay by Austin Kolodney marks the return to filmmaking for Van Sant seven years after his Sundance-launched Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far On Foot.

The true-crime tale stars Bill Skarsgard as Tony Kiritsis, who in February 1977 took hostage the mortgage broker who had refused him extra time to repay a loan. Support cast includes Dacre Montgomery, Colman Domingo, Cary Elwes and Al Pacino. Previously in development with Werner Herzog to direct and Nicolas Cage attached, the drama boasts an extensive producer roster, and segues to Toronto after Venice.Contact: WME Independent[7]

Director's Diary (Rus-It)

Dir.

Aleksandr SokurovSokurov returns to Venice with a five-hour historical journey, comprised of his personal diary recorded from 1961 to 1995 intertwined with footage of contemporary iconic films. His previous visits to Venice saw him win the Golden Lion in 2011 for feature Faust, and he also competed in 2015 with Francofonia -- both scripted dramas. Paolo Maria Spina and Giuseppe Lepore produce Director's Diary for Italy's Revolver and Bielle Re respectively, alongside Sokurov and Russian collaborator Alyona Shumakova.Contact: Films Boutique[8]

Dog 51 (Fr)

Dir.

Cedric JimenezThis action thriller is set in near--future Paris where social classes are separated into zones and predictive AI helps the police enforce order. Adele Exarchopoulos and Gilles Lellouche star as a top agent and jaded cop who join forces to expose the dark secrets of their dystopian world. Louis Garrel, Romain Duris, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Artus round out the starry cast of Jimenez's follow-up to November and The Stronghold.

The director reteams with producer Hugo Selignac at Chi-Fou-Mi Productions, a Mediawan company.Contact: Margaux Audouin[9], Studiocanal

Ferdinando Scianna -- The Photographer Of Shadows (It)

Dir. Roberto AndoThe first Italian photographer to join the prestigious Magnum picture agency, becoming a full member in 1989, 82-year-old Ferdinando Scianna is best known for capturing his native Sicily in stark black and white -- initially as a photo reporter, later revolutionising fashion photography by taking it out onto the streets. In this documentary portrait, Sicilian director Ando takes Scianna on a valedictory tour, taking in some of the places and people that meant most to him, including his primary school in Bagheria, the home of writer and politician Leonardo Sciascia, the director Giuseppe Tornatore, whose credits include Cinema Paradiso, and the artist Mimmo Paladino.Contact: Angelo Barbagallo[10], Bibi Film

Ghost Elephants (US)

Dir. Werner HerzogHerzog's latest documentary is about a mysterious herd of elephants in Angola. The filmmaker has said it is not a conventional wildlife doc, rather "a fantasy of elephants... maybe a search, like for the white whale, for Moby Dick".

US outfit Sobey Road Entertainment is producer. Herzog receives the honorary Golden Lion this year and has screened several films at the festival including 2009's Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans and 2005's The Wild Blue Yonder.Contact: Ariel Leon Isacovitch[11]

The Holy Boy (It-Slovenia)

Dir. Paolo StrippoliStrippoli will hope to build on buzz from his 2021 Netflix original A Classic Horror Story, which he co--directed, and 2022's Flowing.

The Holy Boy (La Valle Dei Sorrisi) sees Michele Riondino play a teacher who discovers a dark secret in a supposedly idyllic Italian village. It is pegged for a September 17 release at home, by which time Strippoli should have finished shooting his next horror feature, The Spiral with Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Jasmine Trinca.Contact: Raffaella Di Giulio[12], Fandango Sales

In The Hand Of Dante (US-It)

Dir. Julian SchnabelThe latest from Schnabel is based on Nick Tosches' novel about an original manuscript of Dante's The Divine Comedy.

The ensemble drama features Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Gerard Butler, Gal Gadot, Martin Scorsese (also exec producing) and Al Pacino. Filming took place under a SAG-AFTRA agreement during the 2023 strikes. Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera said the project was delayed in post after financiers initially objected to Schnabel's cut, but the festival version is his original vision.

Producers include Jon Kilik and Francesco Melzi d'Eril for Italy's MeMo Films.Contact: CAA Media Finance[13] (US); WME Independent[14] (international)

Kabul, Between Prayers (Neth-Belg)

Dir. Aboozar AminiAmini brings his second feature--length documentary after debut Kabul, City In The Wind opened Amsterdam's IDFA in 2018, winning a special jury prize. Kabul, Between Prayers focuses on a young Taliban soldier, struggling between the alluring promises of martyrdom and the mundanity of his daily existence as a husband and farmer, and his younger brother who idolises his older sibling.

The film is produced by Jia Zhao of the Netherlands' Silk Road Film Salon with Belgium's Clin d'Oeil Films.Contact: Arianna Castoldi[15], Mediawan Rights

Kim Novak's Vertigo (US)

Dir. Alexandre PhilippeDocumentarian Philippe's features include the 2022 Tribeca-launched Lynch/Oz and last year's Venice Classics entry Chain Reactions, examining the impact of 1974's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on five artists. Phillippe's latest spotlights Kim Novak's role in Vertigo while exploring her journey from stardom to a reclusive life as an artist in Oregon, combining archive footage with the 92-year-old's own reflections.

This is not the first film from Philippe relating to Alfred Hitchcock: 2017 Sundance entry 78/52 examined the 78 camera setups and 52 cuts in the shower scene of Psycho.Contact: Dogwoof[16]

Landmarks (Arg-US-Mex-Fr-Neth-Den)

Dir. Lucrecia MartelEight years after Zama premiered out of competition in Venice, Argentinian filmmaker Martel returns to the Lido with her long-gestating documentary debut. Landmarks (Nuestra Tierra) explores colonialism and land dispossession through the story of Javier Chocobar, the Indigenous community leader from northern Argentina whose murder in 2009 was caught on video, leading to protests and a trial in 2018.

Argentina's Rei Pictures, Louverture Films and Lemming Film are among the producers.Contact: Jason Ishikawa[17], Cinetic Media (US); The Match Factory[18] (international)

The Last Viking (Den)

Dir. Anders Thomas JensenDanish duo Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas have starred in all five of Jensen's previous feature films, from 2000's Flickering Lights to 2020's Riders Of Justice. The trio reunite for a dark comedy about a recently released prisoner searching for the loot from his heist, with his brother who has a mental disorder and has forgotten where the money is hidden.

This is Jensen's first Venice premiere as director, although his writing credits include co-writing Nikolaj Arcel's 2023 Competition title The Promised Land. He also co-wrote 2011 best foreign-language film Oscar winner In A Better World.Contact: Nicolai Korsgaard[19], TrustNordisk

Marc By Sofia (US)

Dir. Sofia CoppolaCoppola returns to the Lido with her first documentary -- a portrait of lifelong friend and fashion designer Marc Jacobs.

Her films at Venice include best original screenplay Oscar winner Lost In Translation (2003) and the Chateau Marmont--set Somewhere, which scooped the Golden Lion in 2010. Producers this time around include filmmaking couple Jane Cha Cutler (Project Runway) and RJ Cutler (The September Issue) alongside Coppola in this A24 production. The family collaboration extends to Roman Coppola as DoP.Contact: A24[20]

My Father And Qaddafi (US-Libya)

Dir.

Jihan KJihan K is selected for Venice with her debut feature -- one that investigates the disappearance of her own father, former foreign minister of Libya and peaceful opposition leader during the regime of Muammar Qaddafi. The documentary won the top £15,000 post-production prize at El Gouna Film Festival's CineGouna industry platform last October. Sweden's Laika Film & Television AB co-produces, and the executive producer roster includes Sol Guy (Oscar-nominated documentary Bobi Wine: The People's President).Contact: MAD World[21]

My Tennis Maestro (It)

Dir.

Andrea Di StefanoThis 1980s-set comedy starring Pierfrancesco Favino as a washed-up tennis coach seems well-timed in an Italy firmly in the grip of Jannik Sinner--mania. Announcing the line-up, festival director Alberto Barbera hailed it as "a return to the commedia all'Italiana genre" and tipped teen co-star Tiziano Menichelli as a talent to watch. Di Stefano's previous feature, Favino starrer Last Night Of Amore, premiered as a Special Gala screening at the 2023 Berlinale.

Universal has taken French rights to the new film, with co--producers Vision distributing in Italy.Contact: Playtime[22]

Notes Of A True Criminal (Ukr-US)

Dirs. Alexander Rodnyansky, Andriy AlferovKiev-born producer Rodnyansky, who fled his home in Russia three years ago after criticising the war in Ukraine, co-directs this documentary, mixing footage of the conflict with material taken from his Soviet--era films and from those made by his grandfather (also a docs filmmaker) during the Second World War. Ukrainian film critic Alferov co--directs, with Rodnyansky's AR Content producing.

Rodnyansky, whose credits include Andrey Zvyagintsev's Leviathan and Loveless, is also in Venice as a producer on Laszlo Nemes' Competition title Orphan.Contact: Cinephil[23]

Orfeo (It)

Dir. Virgilio VilloresiUntil now, Milan-based Villoresi has been known mostly as a creator of short works -- from music videos to ads for Bulgari, 7Up and others -- that fuse live-action with vintage, non-digital animation techniques. Produced by Fantasmagoria, which he co-founded in 2021, Villoresi's first full-length feature, shot over two-and-a-half years, is based on a pioneering 1969 graphic novel by Italian writer Dino Buzzati that reworks the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice in a contemporary nightclub setting.

The film was shot on 16mm with its animated effects being created 'live' in the director's Milanese studio.Contact: Francesca Tiberi[24], True Colours

Remake (US)

Dir. Ross McElweeBorn in 1947, McElwee scored a breakthrough in 1987 when his Sherman's March was awarded the documentary grand jury prize at Sundance. Debuting at Venice in 2008 with In Paraguay, he returned three years later with Photographic Memory.

In Remake, McElwee reflects on his filmmaking in light of the death of his son, through poignant use of his own home-video archives. Mark Meatto -- who edited 2003's Bright Leaves with McElwee and most recently served as executive producer on Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story -- produces for US-based Impact Partners.Contact: Jason Ishikawa,[25] Cinetic Media

Scarlet (Japan)

Dir. Mamoru HosodaHosoda, whose Mirai was nominated for an Oscar, returns with his first film since 2021 box-office hit Belle.

The self-penned CG anime film, titled Hateshinaki Scarlet in its native Japan, follows a princess who seeks vengeance after the death of her father. Mana Ashida (Cells At Work!) leads the voice cast alongside Masaki Okada of Oscar winner Drive My Car. It is produced by Hosoda's Studio Chizu and co-produced and co--financed by Sony Pictures, which will distribute globally -- including North America and UK/Ireland on December 12.

Toho releases in Japan on November 21.Contact: Sony Pictures Releasing

Sermon To The Void (Azer-Mex-Tur)

Dir. Hilal BaydarovThis is the third title in the Azerbaijani director's Sermon trilogy, following 2022 Locarno premiere Sermon To The Fish and 2023's Tokyo-launched Sermon To The Birds. The self-penned film tells the story of Shah Ishmail (a poet inspired by the Iranian historical figure), played by Baydarov regular Huseyn Nasirov, who embarks on a quest for the water of life.

Baydarov's Ucqar Film, Carlos Reygadas' Splendor Omnia Studios and Burak Cevik's Fol Films produce. Baydarov was in Venice Competition with In Between Dying in 2020.Contact: Ucqar Film[26]

The Tale Of Silyan (N Mac-US-UK)

Dir. Tamara KotevskaKotevska earned three Sundance awards and two Oscar nominations for her 2019 documentary Honeyland, jointly directed with Ljubomir Stefanov.

Her latest, shot over a period of three years, documents the life of a farmer from North Macedonia and his unexpected relationship with a white stork that has a broken wing. The cinematographer is Jean Dakar, who worked with Koteveska on her 2023 Syrian refugee doc The Walk. Kotevska also produces The Tale Of Silyan -- a co-production with the US-based Concordia and UK-US outfit The Corner Shop.

Dakar and Jordanco Petkovski also produce.Contact: Dogwoof[27] (international); UTA Independent Film Group[28] (North America)

Out Of Competition: Film and music, series and shorts

This year's out of competition line-up includes subsidiary sections labelled Film & Music, Series (showcasing episodic TV) and Shorts. In the Italy-dominated new Film & Music selection, Nino.

18 Days documents the life of singer Nino D'Angelo, directed by his son Toni D'Angelo who returns to Venice after 2009's Poeti. Produced by Nexo Studios, the company is also behind Francesco Fei's story about Italian rock artist Piero Pelu and how a studio accident changed his life in Noise Inside. Don't Call Me A Rock Star.

And Italian singer Francesco De Gregori's story is told by director Stefano Pistolini in Francesco De Gregori Nevergreen. The only non-Italian music documentary is Emmy- and Grammy award-winning filmmaker Robert Gordon's Newport And The Great Folk Dream about the 1960s music festival that showcased Bob Dylan -- as spotlighted in James Mangold's A Complete Unknown.

Serial thrillers

Italian history features in two of the four titles in this year's Series section. Veteran Italian director Marco Bellocchio's new drama series Portobello is based on the real-life story of Enzo Tortora, the Italian TV celebrity journalist falsely accused of being a Mafia member and drug runner in the early 1980s.

Netflix will stream Adagio director Stefano Sollima's true-crime drama The Monster Of Florence about the serial killer who brutally murdered eight couples. A Prophet (Studiocanal) -- a series adaptation of Jacques Audiard's Oscar-nominated 2009 film -- follows a young African immigrant who must navigate the criminal world after being framed and sent to prison in Marseille. The show's director Enrico Maria Artale has played in Venice with features El Paraiso and The Third Half, and his television work includes series Romulus and Django.

Dark themes continue with Etty (Studio TF1) directed by Hagai Levi (showrunner of Scenes From A Marriage), which is adapted from the diaries of Dutch author Etty Hillesum during German occupation before she was murdered in Auschwitz.

Small world

Among the three short films selected in out of competition, renowned French photographer, director and environmentalist Yann-Arthus Bertrand explores the Venetian Lagoon with Origin. Also from France, Boomerang Atomic sees politically conscious filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb return to Venice after winning best first film in 1998 with Living In Paradise. Charlie Kaufman -- whose meta fictions have defined their own film genre -- returns to Venice, where his second feature as director Anomalisa played in Competition in 2015.

He brings his 27-minute short How To Shoot A Ghost starring Jessie Buckley.

Venice profiles by Ben Dalton, Tim Dams, Charles Gant, Nadiya Jackson, Jeremy Kay, Rebecca Leffler, Lee Marshall, Tara Nimmoneser, Orlando Parfitt, Jonathan Romney, Michael Rosser, Matt Schley, Mona Tabbara, Silvia Wong

References

1. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
2. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
3. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
4. ^ Rustic Canyon Pictures (rusticcanyonpictures.com)
5. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
6. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
7. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
8. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
9. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
10. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
11. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
12. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
13. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
14. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
15. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
16. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
17. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
18. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
19. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
20. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
21. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
22. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
23. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
24. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
25. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
26. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
27. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)
28. ^ [email protected] (www.screendaily.com)