22nd Giornate degli Autori Award Winners

So it is over and winners have been uncover and recognized for the unique qualities that make them go to the top of the best of the world filmmakers. This edition films from Iran, Greece, Italy, Portugal and more countries got honored in this Venice Film Festival autonomous section. Here are some of the reasons why films were highlighted.

Top Award winner: Inside Amir by Amir Azizi
“The film we will honor tonight is a meditation on everyday life. It reminds us of how daily routines, movements, and conversations with friends provide both security and freedom. With a framing that little by little reveals a complex life marked by loss and grief against a backdrop of exile and social upheaval, the film asks fundamental questions about what it means to belong and the existential doubts that follow in the wake of such thoughts. It is a film that takes time to listen, and that shows how unexpected, spontaneous encounters build a rich life. The film’s precise dialogue and staging give a strong sense of presence, and as a viewer you feel a generosity in the way you are invited in among a group of friends and get to take part of both intimate, profound, and trivial conversations. Another thing that gives great pleasure when watching this film is the subtle use of different time periods, often in the same frame, and often during the same bike ride. It is an honor to give the Giornate degli Autori award to Daroon-E Amir (Inside Amir) by Amir Azizi.”  Jury statement.
To check award winners at Giornate degli Autori site go here where are also listed the Collateral Awards films from this autonomous section of the festival won.  If you wish to check other section awards go all winners post here.

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July 25, 2025
Yesterday organizers announced the activities that will take place during the current edition of the Giornate degli Autori. The official selection this year has 10 titles in competition, 1 out of competition, 5 special events and 2 short films; and the Venetian Nights section has 9 titles with Italian major producers.

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.

As organizers say: "All the films presented will be world premieres and together they form a window on the world that will transport audiences to 20 different Countries and cultures that can boast a remarkable variety, to our liking, of styles and film languages; a strong showing for narrative documentaries, and a special attention to such themes as memory, personal history, and cultural alienation – a reflex reaction for artists, in these dramatic times we live in."

The ten films in competition form a political and emotional atlas uniting Lebanon and Greece, Italy and Mexico, Iran and Spain, and a futuristic Kenya with a Russia in the minds of those who have left and never returned. Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud is the President of the Jury with Italian producer Francesca Andreoli, American Moma's Department of Film curator Josh Siegel and French-Palestinian-Algerian filmmaker, actress Lina Soualem, and Tunisian cinematographer Sofian El Pani.

2025 Giornate degli Autori will run from August 27 to September 6.

The Official Selection

Competition
Opening Film: Memory, Vladlena Sandu, France and Netherland WINNER OF PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD
A Sad and Beautiful World, Cyril Aris, Lebanon, United States, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Qatar WINNER OF PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD
Anoche conquisté Tebas (Last Night I Conquered The City of Thebes), Gabriel Azorín, Spain and Portugal
Arkoudotrypa (Bearcave), Stergios Dinopoulos and Krysianna B. Papadakis, Greece WINNER OF EUROPA CINEMA LABEL AWARD
درون امیر Daroon-e Amir (Inside Amir), Amir Arizi, Iran WINNER OF DIRECTOR'S AWARD
La Gioia (Gioia), Nicolangelo Gelormini, Italy
Memory of Princess Mumbi, Damien Hauser, Kenya and Switzerland
Past Future Continuos, Morteza Ahmadvand and Firouzeh Khosrovani, Iran, Norway, Italy (documentary)
Short Summer, Nastia Korkia, Germany, France, and Serbia
Vainilla, Mayra Hermosillo, Mexico

Out of Competition
Closing Film: Come ti muovi, sbagli (Dammed If You Do, Dammed If You Don't), Gianni Di Gregorio, Italy

Special Events
Do You Love Me, Lana Daher, France, Lebanon, Germany and Qatar
Écrire la vie: Annie Ernaux racontée par des lycéennes et des lycéens (Writing Life - Annie Ernaux Through the Eyes of High School Students), Claire Simon, France
Il quieto vivere (I Want Her Dead), Gianluca Matarrese, Italy and Switzerland
Laguna, Sharunas Bartas, Lithuania and France
Qui vit enconre (Who Is Still Alive), Nicolas Wadimoff, Switzerland

Miu Miu Women's Tales - Short Films
#29 Autobiografia di una borsetta, Joanna Hogg, Italy
#30 Fragments for Venus, Alice Diop, USA and France

Venetian Nights
6:06, Tekla Taidelli, Italy and Portugal  WINNER OF THE SIAE CREATIVE TALENT AWARD
Amata (Be Loved), Elisa Amoruso, Italy
Confiteor - Come scoprii che non avrei fatto la rivoluzione (Confession – How I found out I wouldn't make the revolution), Bonifacio Angius, Italy
Dom, Massimiliano Battistella, Italy and Bosnia Herzegovina
Film di Stato (A State Film), Roland Sejko, Italy (documentary)
Indietro così! (Full Speed Backward), Antonio Morabito
Life Beyond the Pine Curtain L'America degli Invisibili (Life Beyond the Pine Curtain: America the Invisible), Giovanni Troilo, Italy
Toni mio padre (Toni, My Father), Anna Negri, Italy
Una Cosa Vicina (A Near Thing), Loris G. Nese, Italy

To check available trailer, film clips, poster and/or film images go MOC here.

To check info about each film go official site here.