#Venezia82 Rumors

Two weeks before the press conference where Alberto Barbera and Pietranelo Buttafuoco announce the 2025 Biennale Cinema lineup, rumors are abound all over the cinema universe. Here are some of those rumors.

It's remarkable how this festival nowadays is perceived to be more an "American" or "In English-Language" film festival. Say perceived as in reality festival has films from allover the world and in many languages; but as organizers tried to lift/change festival perceptions, consequences are that nowadays most films with high visibility and top press coverage tend to be American or in the English-language. Sigh. Perhaps that's the reason why many official selection and independent sections predictions have many (too-many) American and/or In English films.

First will do a rapid reminder about the festival sections according to festival's brochure.

Venezia 82 - up to 21 feature films presented as World Premieres
Out of Competition - a maximum of 20 titles plus films produced as part of the Biennale College Cinema program as world premieres
Orizzonti- up to 19 feature films and a selection of short films
Venezia Spotlight - maximum of 10 world premiere films
Venezia Classici - up to 18 restorations of classic films and a selection of documentaries about cinema in world premiere Venice Immersive - up to 30 immersive projects
Settimana Internazinale della Critica - Up to 9 debut films
Giornate degli Autori - Up to 12 films

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98th Academy Awards International Feature Film Submissions - In Progress

As of today, June 2, 2025 decided to publish the post even when there are only a few countries that have announced their call for submissions to #Oscars2026 International Feature Film category. Post will be updated constantly until October 1st, AMPAS submission deadline for this category.

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64th Semaine de la Critique Award Winners

Cannes parallel section just came to an end with the awards announced at the closing ceremony yesterday, May 21st, 2025 by jury president Rodrigo Sorogoyen and jury members Jihane Bougrine, Josée Deshaies, Yulina Evina Bhara and Daniel Kaluuya.

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78th Festival de Cannes Award Winners

It's Over! Dislike the Hollywood-American feeling that the festival had this year BUT extremely like that no major award went to those distracting participants. Sorry but I do not enjoy much Pahani movies and well, it's a fact that now he becomes one of only four directors that have won the Golden Bear, the Golden Lion and the Golden Palm; the others are Michelangelo Antonioni, Henri-Georges Clouzot and Robert Altman.

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May 21,2025
Post begins today as there are a few winners already announced.

The closing ceremony is next Saturday, May 24 and post will be In Progess until after that date.

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10th L’Œil d’or Selection and Winners

L’Œil d’or (Golden Eye) is the documentary award created in 2015 by the Société civile des auteurs multimédia (LaScam), in collaboration with the Cannes Film Festival with the support of the Institut national de l'audiovisuel (INA), celebrates its 10th anniversary.

This year there are fourteen (14) documentaries in competition for the award and for the first time the documentaries in the ACID selection are included along the ones in the Official Selection, Semaine de la Critique and Quinzaine des Cinéastes.

The award will be presented on Friday, May 23 at the Salon des ambassadeurs du Palais des festival.

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15th Queer Palm Selection and Winners

May 15 Update: post becomes final with the Short Films selection with four short films only.

---///--- May 9 Update: Film list was publish today and now list below has become official for feature films. As usual imagine list could include more (or Less) films as films become available.  Also believe there could be a list of short films and perhaps also documentaries that probably will be released soon.

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May 4,2025
Not many news about the Queer Palm selection and only when more film info is revealed by the Cannes film festival official organizers is when the group will publish the selection. Meanwhile here are some news.

The 2025 edition of the Cannes LGBT+ award is the 15th and will not deny that still remember when the award was announced for the first time 15 years ago. It wasn't easy for award organizers to get to where they are now, but perseverance and tolerance has made this award to not only survive but thrive.

The Poster

2025 poster is crafted by acclaimed French artist and photographer Marie Rouge known for her evocative imagery that blends cinematic aesthetics with emotional depth. The photo story is as follows.

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17th La Fabrique Cinéma

La Fabrique Cinéma is a program created by the Institut français in partnership with France Médias Monde and the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), to promote the emergence of young filmmakers from developing and emerging countries on the international market.

Conceived in close collaboration with the Cannes Film Festival and its Marché du Film, La Fabrique Cinéma de l'Institut français selects each year ten 1st or 2nd feature film projects to present and introduce them in a privileged way to the industry and its decision-makers during the Cannes Film Festival.

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2025 L'ACID Selection

Yesterday, April 15, organizers announced the selection for ACID, Cannes parallel section run by France's Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema (l'ACID); ACID is an association of film directors which, since 1992, has been promoting the cinema distribution of independent films and encouraging debates between authors and audiences. The strength of the solidarity chain it has built lies on its founding principle: the support given by filmmakers to other filmmakers, French or international.

The selection committee with 14 members screened hundreds of films and programmed 9 of them. Amongst them, 5 first and second feature films, 6 fictions and 3 documentaries, and as every year, a particular attention given to films without distributors.

Excerpt from their presentation: "From the French Alps to the Finnish coast, in the depths of New York or the Portuguese nights, encounters, and the sharing of desires and stories allow forlorn souls to find meaning and light fires again. Lazing under the sun of Italy or uncertainly wandering the streets of Paris, kids from here and elsewhere ceaselessly make tales, fabricate the past in order to reinvent the present. A woman's face asserts itself on a telephone screen, through dialogue created by another woman on the other side of the world, opening a precarious window on the war's atrocities in Gaza. From the Colombian desert to the Boulogne cemetery, sons looking for traces are learning to live with the mothers' absences and the fathers' fragile presences. This is what the films of this programme offer us, thanks to the intensity of its daily life heroes. They remind us that, in the face of real life's brutality, we can still enact sparks."

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57th Quinzaine des Cinéastes Selection

April 25 Update: One more film for the Selection, Yes by Nadav Lapid.

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Today, Tuesday April 15, 2025 Julien Relj, Artistic Director, announced the selection for the 2025 edition of the Director's Fortnight and I expected more #Cannes2025 Official Selection omissions but only two are in this parallel section.

Before going into the list and as has been long since my last Quinzaine list will start reminding us what this Cannes festival parallel section is all about.

La Quinzaine

Created in 1969 by the Société des Réalisatrices et Réalisateurs de Films (SRF), the Directors’ Fortnight is an independent sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival, which is dedicated to showcasing the most singular forms of contemporary cinema. The name of the section was changed in 2023 from Quinzaine des Réalisateurs to Quinzaine des Cinéastes, the international version in English did not change.

As opposed to the official selection, the Fortnight is non-competitive; it brings together short, medium- and feature-length films, fiction and non-fiction, live action and animation. Only one principle guides our selection: a filmmaker’s attendance to mise en scene, and their unique mode of artistic expression.

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64th Semaine de la Critique Selection

Update: Short Films Selection has been included in list.

A few minutes ago organizers announced via video the feature film selection for the current edition of #Cannes2025 Critics' Week, the short film selection will be announced on April 17.

The Poster

The poster of the 64th Semaine de la Critique shows one of the heroines of Queens of Drama raising their hand to the heavens, challenging us and beckoning us to ecstasy. A vibrant tribute to all kinds of performance, Alexis Langlois’ film is a love letter to film, music, and celebration.

It reminds us that this young generation of filmmakers breathes new life into the artform, absorbing the codes and casting their very own glow; asserting the freedom to take possession and enhance all images to reinvent them.

The Jury

La Semaine de la Critique, the parallel selection of the Festival de Cannes dedicated to first and second films, is proud to announce that the President of the 64th edition is Rodrigo Sorogoyen and will be supported by Jihana Bougrine, Jesee Deshales, Yulia Evina Bhara and Daniel Kaluuya.

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78th Cannes Film Festival Lineup

May 8 Update: The last update with four films to make the Official Selection complete, so they say again (!).

After unbelievable amount of buzz during the last 10 days, Bi Gan's Resurrection is in competion and now there are 22 films competing for the Palme d'Or. The other three movies are by Martin Bourboulon, Eugene Jarecki and the last one by Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret. All four movies have been marked with (*) for easy identification.

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April 24 Update: The Selection is complete with the addition of 2 films in Competition, 4 films in Un Certain Regard (YES! Kristen Stewart film is in), 3 films in Cannes Premiere (3 films I was hoping will make it), 2 films in Midnight Screenings, and 4 Special Screenings. Also, a film by Pierre Richard as part of his Tribute. New films are marked with (*) until before the post becomes final or new additions are made.

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#Cannes2025 Wishlist: The Europeans

As in many film lists there are always too-many European films and Cannes perhaps is one of the festivals where European films predominate above films from any other regions. As a France based festival during many years has been a showcase for French films and when it hasn't have enough French films there was pressure from festival sponsors (the government and private companies related or not to cinema) that you can see and feel depicted in French media. It was this kind of pressure that "forced" organizers to exclude Netflix first and now any other streaming film producing companies from participating in the festival competition and the reason why nowadays good quality films produced by streamers go to Venice.

Nevertheless, there are rumors about established directors with their latest films and some newcomers, after Berlinale market, already have high fuzz and buzz consequently generating big expectations. Without further ado, let's start with the chosen selection (my wishlist) to go in-depth.

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#Cannes2025 Wishlist: The Nordics

By now, the end of March, there are too many rumors about films that could be in this year edition of the most famous film festival in the world with quite a few adventuring to predict film by sections. My summary for all the buzz and fuzz is that not-so-soon-enough there will be a full cournocopia of great films for enjoyment of those that truly like good cinema as seems there are films by outstanding established directors as well from those who debut with a lot of noise and expectations.

As promised will do a more in-depth list with directors and their films I find interesting and hope will fulfill its promise when finally I'm able to watch them. This time will go into regions and will start with a region that is producing the most fascinating, engaging and visually astounding long-form films, otherwise called TV series (lol), the Nordics.

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#Cannes2025 Buzz

April 1st Update: Yesterday my favorite Cannes Insider started to publish annual 100 films for Cannes and this list will be updated with those films that call my attention. If you wish to read the annual Wask 100 film list go to the official site here and Enjoy the magnificent work.

It's interesting to find in below list 3 well-know actors with their directing debut feature film and more interesting when industry pundits include them in their own list of Cannes 2025 films. There is high buzz for Kristen Stewart debut as well as Scarlet Johansson debut and now Harris Dickinson has also his debut and with enough buzz to be considered for Cannes, if his film is ready.

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March 11th Update: There are many new films and we haven't reach the middle of March, so expect more during March's second quarter. Yes, I will be constantly updating below list, so check often to find new films.

Among the new ones, there is one that called my attention Mother by Teona Strugar Mitevska with none other than Noomi Rapace playing Mother Teresa! I have to see it. Perhaps you will rebember the director's 2019 God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya and then there is no surprise she dares to tell Mother's Teresa story.

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50th César Award Winners

Last night the Academy had their awards ceremony and Emilia Pérez was the big winner by winning 7 awards out of 12 nominations; following far away are Souleymane's Story with 4 wins and The Count of Monte Cristo with 2 awards.

Of course I'm extremely pleased with top winner as is a film by one of my most respected filmmakers, Jacques Audiard, who has done films like the world cinema outstanding The Prophet and yes, I believe Emilia Pérez is as good as The Prophet and do recognize that Emilia Pérez could change the way films are made as film outdoor scenes are successfully done in Paris, France -not in Mexico- and you can successfully mix different genres -including musical- when director is a true master filmmaker.

I'm very disappointed with American (the continent that includes USA) reactions to film and the posterior social media scandal that became one actress carnage that spilled furiously into the movie and end up punishing the film. When first saw the movie noticed spoken language in film was not Mexican (please notice I do not call the language the generic Spanish name) at all and I thought that was done on purpose to show the people-that-speak-Spanish melting pot as there is a Spaniard, a Dominican, and a Venezuelan speaking mainly with their own accents and an American speaking like most "gringos" speak Spanish. So when scandal exploded, and started with language, could not understand all the fuzz.

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