21st Giornate degli Autori Lineup

What could be consider as an early announcement -a week early before La Mostra press release- by the autonomous section of the Venice International Film Festival, Giornate degli Autori, presented the selection for its 21st edition with 10 films in competition, 1 closing film out of competition, 5 special events, and 3 short films.

To refresh our memory, the Giornate degli Autori was born in 2004, as an independent sidebar of the Venice Film Festival, modeled on the prestigious ‘Directors’ Fortnight’ of the Cannes Festival and promoted by the associations of Italian film directors and authors (ANAC and 100autori). The aim of the event is to draw attention to high quality cinema, without any kind of restriction, with special care for innovation, research, originality and independence. These are all features of the 10 films selected as well as being reflected in the special events held during the Days in the Casa degli Autori.

Also this year there are 9 film in Venetian Nights plus two events and a new sidebar of Giornate for words and images named Confronti. The new sidebar of Giornate for words and images, named Confronti, looks at themes, stories and films that draw us into the past and the future of the world we live in.

As industry press is already highlighting with their news headers, the section has many films by female directors (in BLUE) with 13 in the Official Selection (5 in competition and 8 out of competition events) and 5 in Venetian Nights. As always there are 10 films in competition and 50% directed by women is quite an achievement and perhaps a record for any ot the three major film festivals in the world.

For the very first time there is a film from Dominican Republic and 27 countries in total are represented in the selection that comes from 1, 250 films viewed by Giornate in 2024.

“Our lineup is rigorous, lean, and stylistically eclectic,” explains Gaia Furrer, Artistic Director, “one that puts stories about people front and center: their encounters, relations, breakups, and losses. It features places and environments the majesty of which (from the Swiss Alps and the Mongolian steppes to the dunes of Colombia and tropical islands) often dominates human affairs. There are stories and reports of a world on fire, from Russia or Georgia to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and from Sudan to Ukraine and the Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut. Stories of struggling with authority without neglecting the everyday foibles of individuals who continue to love, fight, fall in love, and drift apart. I feel I should point out the record number of women directors, sixteen in all, out of a total of twenty-five titles (as well as the women auteurs of Miu Miu Women’s Tales). Mainly because many of them made difficult films under trying circumstances in which gender is still a barrier.”

The Official Selection

Competition

Alpha, Jan-Willem Van Ewijk, Slovenia, Switzerland and Netherlands
Antikvariati (The Antique), Rusudan Glurjidze, Georgia, Russia, Cyprus and Croatia
Boomerang, Shahab Fotouhi, Germany and Iran
Manas (Sisters), Marianna Brennand Fortes, Brazil
Sanatorium Under The Sign of The Hourglass, Quay Brothers, UK
Selon Joy (The Book of Joy), Camille Lugan, France
Sugar Island, Johanné Gómez Terrero, Spain and Dominican Republic
Super Happy Forever, Kohei Igarashi, Japan
Taxi Monamour, Ciro De Caro, Italy
To Kill a Mongolian Horse, Jiang Xiaoxuan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and USA

Out of Competition
Opening Film: Coppia Aperta Quasi Spalancata (Open Couple), Federica Di Giacomo, Italy
Closing Film: Basileia, Isabella Torre, Denmark, Sweden and Italy

Special Events
Alma del Desierto (Soul of the Desert), Monica Taboada-Tapia, Colombia (documentary)
Mogućnost raja (Possibility of Paradise), Mladen Kovačević, Serbia (documentary)
Peaches Goes Bananas, Marie Losier, Belgium and France (documentary)
Soudan, souviens-toi (Sudan, Remember Us), Hind Meddeb, France, Qatar and Tunisia (documentary)

Short Films
Kora, Cláudia Varejão, Portugal, 28'
Women Tales Project Short Films
I Am the Beauty of Your Beauty, I Am the Fear of Your Fear, Chui Mui Tan, Malayasia and Italy, 21'
The Miu Miu Affaire, Laura Citarella, Argentina

Venetian Nights

A Man Fell, Giovanni C. Lorusso,  Lebanon, France and Italy (documentary)
Bosco Grande, Giuseppe Schillaci, France and Italy (documentary)
Desert Suite, Fabrizio Ferraro, Italy
L'Occhio della Gallina (The Eye of The Hen), Antonietta De Lillo, Italy
Quasi A Casa, Carolina Pavone, Italy
La Scommessa Una Notte in Corsia (High Stakes A Night in The Ward), Giovanni Dota, Italy
Sempre, Luciana Fina, Portugal
Tenga Duro Signorina! Isabella Ducrot Unlimited (Hold On Miss! Isabella Ducrot Unlimited), Monica Lisa Stambrini, Italy
Vakhim, Francesca Pirani, Italy (documentary)

To check info about each film go to official site here.

To check available posters go pinterest here.

La Giornate will run from August 28 to September 9, 2024 and will continue to award three jury prizes for feature films and one audience award.