In May, Cannes gifted Jafar Panahi‘s Palme d’Or winner “It Was Just An Accident,” Richard Linkletter’s “Nouvelle Vague,” and Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value,” among other celebrated new films. Now, the cinephile world sets its sights on the Lido, where the 2025 Venice Film Festival is ready to add some major star power and visionary auteurs to your end-of-year (or early 2026) screening list. Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera revealed a majority of the festival’s lineup this morning, and as expected, Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Bulgonia” with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemmons; Luca Guadagnino’s “After the Hunt,” with Julia Roberts and Ayo Edebiri; Noah Baumbach’s “Jay Kelly,” starring George Clooney; Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” with Jacob Elordi and Oscar Isaac; Kathryn Bigelow’s “A House of Dynamite” with Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, and Gabriel Basso; and Benny Safdie’s “The Smashing Machine,” starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, were included.
READ MORE: “Christy,” “Good Fortune,’ “Bad Apples,” “Poetic License,” “Couture” Among New 2025 Toronto International Film Festival World Premieres
Other notable films debuting at Venice include Jim Jarmusch’s “Father Mother Sister Brother” with Cate Blanchett and Vicky Krieps; Maryam Touzani’s “Calle Malaga” with Carmen Maura; Gus Van Sant’s “Dead Man’s Wire” with Bill Skarsgard, Colman Domingo. and Al Pacino; Mark Jenkins’ “Rose of Nevada” starring George MacKay and Callum Turner; Mona Fastvold’s “The Testament of Ann Lee” with Amanda Seyfried and Thomasin McKenzie, and Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice.”
This year’s Venice Film Festival competition jury is headed by Alexander Payne. The jury consists of Stéphane Brizé, Maura Delpero, Cristian Mungiu, Mohammad Rasoulof, Fernanda Torres, and Zhao Tao. Five of the last eight Golden Lion winners were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. In a surprise, last year’s winner, Pedro Almodovar’s “The Room Next Door,” starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, was snubbed by Oscar voters. That being said, two competition titles, Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” and Walter Salles’ “I’m Still Here,” made the Best Picture ten.
Notably, “How to Shoot A Ghost,” a 27-minute short film by Charlie Kaufman starring Jessie Buckley and Josef Akkiki will screen will screen in the Out of Competition – Shorts section. Additionally, Sofia Coppola will debut her documentary about fashion designer Marc Jacobs, “Marc by Sofia,” and Werner Herzog will be on hand to premier his now doc, “Ghost Elephants,” at the Venice Film Festival.
Moreover, three films that were expected to be included in competition will, instead, screen out of competition: Guadagino’s “After the Hunt,” Van Sant’s “Dead Man’s Wire,” and Julian Schnabel’s “In The Hand of Dante.”
And, yes, Netflix has three films debuting at the festival.
The complete list of this year’s feature selections is as follows:
COMPETITION
La Grazia
Paolo Sorrentino
*opening night
The Wizard of the Kremlin
Olivier Assayas
*starring Paula Dano, Jude Law, Alicia Vikander, Tom Sturridge, Jeffrey Wright
Jay Kelley
Noah Baumbach (co-written by Emily Mortimer)
*starring George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Billy Crudup
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Kaouther Ben Hania
A House of Dynamite
Kathryn Bigelow
*starring Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Gabriel Basso, Jared Harris, Tracy Letts, Anthony Ramos, Moses Ingram, Greta Lee, Jason Clarke, Jonah Hauer-King
Ri Gua Zhong Tian (The Sun Rises On Us All)
Cia Shangjun
Frankenstein
Guillermo del Toro
*starring Osar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Christoph Waltz, Mia Goth, Felix Kammerer, Charles Dance, David Bradley, Lars Mikkelsen, Christian Convery
Elisa
Leonardo Di Costanzo
A Pied D’Oeuvre
Valerie Donzelli
Silent Friend
Ildiko Enyedi
*starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Lea Seydoux, Luna Wedler
The Testament of Ann Lee
Mona Fatvold (co-written by Bradley Corbet)
*starring Amanda Seyfried, Thomasin McKenzie, Lewis Pullman, Tim Blake Nelson, Christopher Abbott, Stacy Martin
Father Mother Sister Brother
Jim Jarmusch
*starring Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Indya Moore
Bugonia
Yorgos Lanthimos
*starring Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Stravos Halkias, Alicia Silverstone
Duse
Pietro Marcello
Un Film Fatto Per Bene
Franco Maresco
Orphan
Laslo Nemes
Eojjeol Suga Eopda (No Other Choice)
Park Chan-Wook
Sotto Le Nuvole
Gianfranco Rosi
The Smashing Machine
Benny Safdie
*starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt
Nuhai (Girl)
Shu Qi
SPOTLIGHT
Hijra
Shahad Ameen
Un Cabo Suelto
Daniel Hendler
Made In Eu
Stephan Komandarev
Motor City
Potsy Ponciroli
La Hija de la Espanola
Mariana Rondon, Marite Ugas
A Bras-le-Corps
Marie-Elsa Sgualdo
Calle Malaga
Maryam Touzani
Ammazzare Stanca
Daniele Vicari
ORIZZONTI
Mother
Teona Strugar Mitevska
*starring Noomi Rapace
Komedie Elahi (Divine Comedy)
Ali Asgari
Heidra
Ana Cristina Barragan
*first Ecuadorian film at Venice
Il Rapimento di Arabella
Crolina Cavalli
Estrany Riu (Strange River)
Juame Claret Muxart
Hara Watan (Lost Land)
Akio Fujimoto
Grand Ciel
Akihiro Hata
Rose of Nevada
Mark Jenkin
*starring George MacKay, Callum Turner
Late Fame
Kent Jones
*starring Willem Dafoe and Greta Lee
Dinti de Lapate (Milk Teeth)
Mihai Mincan
Pin de Fartie
Alejo Moguillansky
Otec (Father)
Tereza Nvotova
En El Camino
David Pablos
Songs of Forgotten Trees
Anuparna Roy
Un Anno di Scuola
Laura Samani
The Souffleur
Gaston Solnicki
*starring Willem Dafoe, Lilly Linder
Barrio Triste
Stillz
*featuring Bad Bunny
Human Resource
Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit
Funeral Casino Blues
Roderick Warich
OUT OF COMPETITION – SERIES
Portobello (Ep. 1-2)
Marco Bellocchio
*will debut on HBO Max in 2026
Un Prophete (Ep. 1-8)
Enrico Maria Artale
Etty (Ep. 1-6)
Hagai Levi
Il Mostro (Ep. 1-4)
Stefano Sollima
OUT OF COMPETITION – FILM & MUSIC
Nino. 18 Giorni
Toni D’Angelo
Piero Pelu. Rumore Dentro
Francesco Fei
Newport and the Great Folk Dream
Robert Gordon
Francesco de Gregori Nevergreen
Stefano Pistolini
OUT OF COMPETITION – NON FICTION
Kabul, Between Prayers
Aboozar Amini
Ferdinado Scianna – Il otografo Dell’ombra
Roberto Ando
Marc by Sofia
Sofia Coppola
*documentary on Marc Jacobs
I Diari Di Angela – Noi Due Cinesti. Capitolo Terzo
Yervant Gianikian, Angela Ricci Lucchi
Ghost Elephants
Werner Herzog
Baba Wa Al-Qadhaffi (My Father and Qaddafi)
Jihan K
The Tale of Sylian
Tamara Kotevska
Nuestra Tierra
Lucrecia Martel
Remake
Ross McElwee
Kim Novak’s Vertigo
Alexandre Philippe
Cover-Up
Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus
Broken English
Jane Pollard, Iain Forsyth
*documentary on Marianne Faithfull featuring Tilda Swinton and George MacKay
Zapiski Nastoyashego Prestupnika (Notes on a True Criminal)
Alexander Rodnyansky, Andriy Alferov
Director’s Diary
Alexsandr Sokurov
Hui Jia (Back Home)
Tsai Ming-liang
OUT OF COMPETITION – FICTION
Chien 51
Cedric Jimenez
*closing night film starring Gilles Lellouche, Adele Exarchopoulos, Louis Garrel
Bosluga Xutbe (Sermon to the Void)
Hilal Baydarov
L’Isola di Andrea
Antonio Capuano
Il Maestro
Andrea Di Stefano
After The Hunt
Luca Guadagnino
*starring Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg, Chloe Sevigny
Hateshinaki Scarlet
Mamoru Hosoda
Den Sidste Viking (The Last Viking)
Andres Thomas Jensen
*starring Mads Mikkelsen
In the Hand of Dante
Julian Schnabel
*starring Oscar Isaac, Gal Gadot, Gerard Butler, Al Pacino, John Malkovich, Martin Scorsese, Jason Momoa
La Valle Dei Sorrisi
Paolo Strippoli
Dead Man’s Wire
Gus Van Sant
*starring Bill Skarsgard, Dacre Montgomery, Colman Domingo, Cary Elwes, Myha’la, Al Pacino
Orfeo
Virgilio Villoresi
The 2025 Venice International Film Festival runs from August 27 to September 9. Look for complete coverage from the Lido on The Playlist.
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