Valérie Donzelli, Benny Safdie, Kathryn Bigelow… What to expect at the 2025 Venice Film Festival
It's dizzying, this huge selection at the Mostra, where some of the greatest international directors seem to have gathered this year to reveal their new feature films on the island of Lido. After an honorary Golden Lion awarded for his entire body of work to the honorable Werner Herzog (present in the selection with a documentary shot in Angola, Ghost Elephants ), it was the eternal ambassador of transalpine cinema Paolo Sorrentino who opened the ball Wednesday evening with La Grazia, about a fictional president of the Italian Republic played by Tony Servillo, prey to Cornelian dilemmas. "Libé", which has not yet landed in the area, will have to reserve its opinion for the release.
But there will be plenty to keep you busy upon arrival, given the attractive program for this 82nd edition. There will be three French films in competition: Olivier Assayas' adaptation of The Mage of the Kremlin , with Vladimir Putin in the form of Jude Law (it's worse), Valérie Donzelli's new film A pied d'œuvre, with the unstoppable Bastien Bouillon in the role of a photographer in crisis, and yet another literary adaptation: Camus's The Stranger, revisited by François Ozon, in which we will find the actor Benjamin Voisin .
Unlike the Cannes Film Festival, the Mostra is known for its openness to films from platforms like Netflix, a guarantee for artistic director Alberto Barbera to attract big names on the red carpet, and in competition. This year again, the cream of the American crop will not be left out. Take a look: Noah Baumbach with Jay Kelly (with George Clooney, Laura Dern), Kathryn Bigelow with A House of Dynamite , a geopolitical thriller set in the White House, Father Mother Sister Brother directed by Jim Jarmusch, shot in Paris, with Adam Driver and Cate Blanchett, The Smashing Machine by Benny Safdie where we find Dwayne Johnson as the MMA legend…
The jury chaired by filmmaker Alexander Payne will have its work cut out for it. The list of expected films is still long, between the revisitation of Frankenstein by Guillermo del Toro, a new Park Chan-wook for the road, No Other Choice, the second feature film by Tunisian revelation Kaouther Ben Hania The Voice of Hind Rajab (enough to confirm the attempt after the noted Les Filles d'Olfa ?) , the regulars Yorgos Lanthimos and Luca Guadagnino out of competition... "Libé" will try not to overlook the new film by Pietro Marcello, Duse, and will obviously have an eye for Nuestra Tierra de Argentina's Lucrecia Martel, as well as documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras, already winner of a Golden Lion, returns with Cover-Up .
On Wednesday, a handful of protesters from the Venice4Palestine collective denounced Israel's war in Gaza with banners reading "Free Palestine" and "Stop the Genocide" outside the Palais du Cinéma, calling for a strong stance for the festival. International unrest could thus continue to permeate the event, which will run until September 6.
Libération
