#Venezia82 Rumors

Update July 17 - Toronto Film Festival announced 11 films in the official selection and because some of them are World Premiere it's sure thing that they will not be in #Venezia82. These are the films: The Chorla by Nicholas Hytner, Roofman by Derek Cianfrance, Franz by Agniezka Holland, The Lost Bus by Paul Greengrass, Rental Family by Hikari, Steal Away by Clement Virgo, and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery by Rian Johnson.

The rest of the 11 films are North American premiere because they were in Cannes and/other film festivals. But there is one film, Canadian Premiere, that probably will be in Venice and/or Telluride: Hamnet by Chloé Zhao.

--- /// ---

June 2, 2025

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

By the way, the press conference is on Tuesday, July 22, 2025. This post could be updated as soon as news, about films in list or new films, become available.

Possible Films

Italian
Festival Opening Film: La Grazia (Grace) by Paolo Sorrentino with Toni Servillo, Italy (MUBI)

Duse by Pietro Marcello about Eleonora Duse with Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Noémie Merlant Italy and France
Sotto le nuvole (Below the Clouds) by Gianfranco Rosi, Italy, a documentary about life on the slopes of the Vesuvius
Un anno di scuola (A Year of School) by Laura Samani, Italy and France

TV Series
Portobello by Marco Bellocchio, Italy 6 episodes
Gomorra - Le origini by Marco D'Amore and Francesco Ghiaccio, Italy prequel to original TV series saga, 6 episodes
Il Mostro by Stefano Sollima, Italy 4 episodes

European
Árva (Orphan) by László Nemes, Hungary, France, Germany and UK
Chien 51 (Dog 51) by Cédric Jimenez with Louis Garrel, France
Whitetail by Nanouk Leopold, Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland
Yellow Letters by Ilker Çatak, Germany, France and Turkey

North American
Ann Lee by Mona Fastvold, written by Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold, USA
Bucking Fastard by Werner Herzog with Rooney Mara and Kate Mara, USA
Caught Stealing by Darren Aronofsky with Austin Butler, USA
Frankenstein by Guillermo del Toro with Oscar Isaac, Mexico and USA (Netflix)
Jay Kelly by Noah Baumbach with George Clooney, USA (Netflix)
One Battle After Another by Paul Thomas Anderson with Leonardo DiCaprio, USa
The Smashing Machine by enny Sadfie with Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, USA

Asia
Mother Bhumi by Chong Keat Aun with Bingbing Fan, Malaysia, Italy and Hong Kong 

Latin America
Chocobar by Lucrecia Martel, USA, Mexico and Argentina - documentary 

Multi-Country (and mainly in English-language)
After The Hunt by Luca Guadagnino with Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield and Chloë Sevigny, Italy and USA
Anemone by Ronan Day-Lewis, return of Daniel Day-Lewis, UK and USA
Ballad of a Small Player, Edward Berger with Tilda Swinton, Colin Farrell, Germany and UK (Netflix)
Bugonia by Yorgos Lanthimos, a remake of Korean film 2003 Save the Green Planet! with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, USA, Canada, South Korea and Ireland
Father, Mother, Brother, Sister by Jim Jarmusch with Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver, Vicky Krieps, USA, Italy, France and Ireland (MUBI)
Marty Supreme by Josh Safdie with Timothée Chalamet and Gwyneth Paltrow, USA and Finland
Rosebush Pruning by Karim Aïnouz, written by Marco Bellocchio and Efthimis Filippou, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK and USA - remake of 1965 I pugni in tasca (Fists in the Pocket) by Marco Bellocchio (MUBI)
The Hand of Dante by Julian Schnabel with Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi and Christoph Waltz, UK, Italy, Chile and USA
The Wizard of the Kremlin by Olivier Assayas with Jude Law as Putin and Alicia Vikander, USA, UK and France

Maybe as are still in post-production
& Sons by Pablo Trapero with Bill Nighy, USA, Canada, UK and Argentina 
A House of Dynamite by Kathryn Bigelow with Idris Elba, Rebeca Ferguson, USA (Netflix)
At the Sea by Kornél Mundruczó, USA
Brunello il visionari garbato by Giuseppe Tornatore, Italy, a documentary
Call Me Queen by Emily Atef, UK and Germany 
Cinque secondi by Paolo Virzi with Valerio Mastandrea, Italy
Couture by Alice Winocour with Angelina Jolie, Louis Garrel, France and USA (Toronto World Premiere)
Franz by Agnieszka Holland, Czech Republic - the life of Franz Kafta (Toronto World Premiere)
Hamnet by Chloé Zhao with Paul Mescal, UK - the story of Agnes, the wife of William Shakespeare
Il Maestro by Andrea Di Stefano with Pierfrancesco Favino, Italy
Illusione by Francesca Archibugi with Jasmine Trinca, Italy and Belgium
Mother by Teona Strugar Mitevska with Noomi Rapace (is about Mother Teresa so maybe not in Italy?), North Macedonia, Sweden, Belgium and Denmark
Mother Mary by David Lowery with Anne Hathaway, USA
No Other Choice by Park Chan Wook remake of Costa Gravas' 2005 The Ace, South Korea
Sacrifice by Romain Gavras, with Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Evans, John Malkovich, Vincent Cassel, UK, Greece and USA
The Fence (aka The Cry of the Clouds) by Claire Denis, France (in English-language)