From August 27 to September 9, Venice will once again become the epicenter of world cinema. This year's festival program impresses with the scale of names and events. Julia Roberts, Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, and Cate Blanchett are expected on the red carpet, and among the premieres will be del Toro's new "Frankenstein," Lanthimos's "Bugonia," and Sorrentino's drama "Grace," writes UNN with reference to HollywoodReporter.
Details
On Tuesday, as the publication notes, the program for the 2025 Venice Film Festival was announced. The event opens the autumn marathon of premieres and the fight for the "Oscar" with a considerable list of films.
Benny Safdie's A24 drama "The Smashing Machine" is heading to Lido, where Dwayne Johnson will appear for the first time as UFC legend Mark Kerr, with Emily Blunt as his partner.
Out of competition, Luca Guadagnino's thriller "After the Hunt" with Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield will be shown - a film inspired by the #MeToo initiative. Another premiere is at the center - Guillermo del Toro's "Frankenstein" with Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, and Mia Goth.
Netflix returns to participation after last year's hiatus, presenting several films at once: in particular, Noah Baumbach's film "Jay Kelly," co-written with Greta Gerwig and starring George Clooney, as well as Kathryn Bigelow's thriller "Dynamite House," starring Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, and Jared Harris.
Russian films at the festival
Also during the festival, they plan to present Olivier Assayas's film "The Magician of the Kremlin" about Putin, the film "Director's Diary" by Russian director Alexander Sokurov, as well as a joint project of Ukrainian-Russian producer Alexander Rodnyansky and Ukrainian film critic Andriy Alfyorov - "Notes of a Real Criminal."
Competition program
The competition program will impress with the diversity of auteur cinema: new works will be shown by Park Chan-wook ("No Other Choice"), François Ozon ("Stranger"), László Nemes ("Orphan"), and Mona Fastvold, who returns to Lido with the historical musical drama "The Testament of Ann Lee," again collaborating with screenwriter Brady Corbet.
Yorgos Lanthimos will present the film "Bugonia" - an adaptation of the Korean fantasy film "Save the Green Planet!" starring Emma Stone. And Jim Jarmusch, who usually comes to Cannes, will debut in Venice with the film "Father, Mother, Sister, Brother," starring Cate Blanchett and Adam Driver.
Festival opening
The festival will open with the film "Grace" by Italian Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino - a love story starring Toni Servillo, which Mubi has already acquired for international distribution. The event will close with the French science fiction action film "Dog 51" by director Cédric Jimenez. Among other out-of-competition films are Gus Van Sant's return with "Dead Man's Wire," the black comedy "The Last Viking" with Mads Mikkelsen, and Julian Schnabel's "Dante's Hand."
This year, Werner Herzog and actress Kim Novak will receive honorary "Golden Lions." The Venice Classics program will show the documentary "Megadoc" about Francis Ford Coppola's work on the long-awaited "Megalopolis."
Addition
The jury of the competition is headed by two-time Oscar winner Alexander Payne. He will be assisted by directors and actors from Brazil, Iran, France, China, Italy, and Romania. They will determine the winners of the 82nd festival, which will run from August 27 to September 9.