Venice 2025 lineup is here with Netflix, del Toro, Lanthimos and great new voices

Venice 82 brings together global auteurs, streaming giants, and new voices from Ukraine in a lineup that blends prestige with daring innovation.

The 82nd Venice International Film Festival opens August 27 with Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grazia, a film described only as a love story set somewhere in Italy. As with many of Sorrentino’s works, the surface is simple, but the weight of longing and melancholy beneath is likely to grow with every scene.

The festival’s main Competition features twenty one world premieres. There is no shortage of famous names. Yorgos Lanthimos, Guillermo del Toro, Kathryn Bigelow, Noah Baumbach, and Jim Jarmusch all bring new films. But what makes this year feel especially alive is the range. Streaming giants are back, debut directors are stepping in, and countries often missing from these stages, including Ukraine, are quietly asserting presence.

In Competition: stars return and new countries rise

Lanthimos brings Bugonia, a surreal and strangely comic sci-fi starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, adapted from the Korean film Save the Green Planet.

Guillermo del Toro returns with Frankenstein, a dark Netflix-backed reimagining led by Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi. Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite is set entirely inside the White House during a looming missile strike, with Idris Elba heading a high-pressure ensemble.

Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly follows George Clooney and Adam Sandler across Europe in a melancholic reflection on fame and male vulnerability.

Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother, with Cate Blanchett and Adam Driver, may offer Venice one of its most meditative works.

*Father Mother Sister Brother (2025). Mubi*

Then comes The Smashing Machine, directed by Benny Safdie, in which Dwayne Johnson plays MMA fighter Mark Kerr. The film is raw, jagged, and has already been tipped for awards conversation.

Amid the larger names are two films that stand out for their geopolitical quiet. Isabel Sandoval’s All the Colours of the Sea, a Philippine and Ukrainian co-production, tells a deeply personal story of solitude and desire. Alonso Ruizpalacios’ El Cuadro Roto, also involving Ukraine, weaves fractured memory into a larger canvas of disappearance. In a year with heavyweights, these films speak in subtler registers, and that matters.

Out of Competition: energy, excess, and reflection

Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt, starring Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield, explores gender, power, and academia. Julian Schnabel’s In the Hand of Dante includes Al Pacino, Gal Gadot, and Oscar Isaac in a film about art, obsession, and interpretation. Gus Van Sant’s Dead Man’s Wire is another high-concept thriller with Al Pacino and Colman Domingo.

In documentaries, Werner Herzog presents Ghost Elephants, filmed in Angola. Sofia Coppola turns the camera on longtime collaborator Marc Jacobs in Marc by Sofia. Alexandre O. Philippe examines identity and iconography in Kim Novak’s Vertigo. These are not standard docs. Each director pulls something emotional and disorienting out of their subject.

Orizzonti and Venice Spotlight: edge and invention

The Orizzonti section brings back Willem Dafoe in two leading roles - Late Fame and The Souffleur, both meditations on aging and artistic legacy. Noomi Rapace plays Mother Teresa in Mother, a casting twist that could turn out sincere or subversive.

In the new Venice Spotlight strand, films like Motor City and It Would Be Night in Caracas give genre weight to stories about revenge, collapse, and emotional survival. These are the films that may not win awards but are likely to grow a following long after the festival ends.

Rising themes: power, memory, survival

The Wizard of the Kremlin, directed by Olivier Assayas, places Jude Law in the role of Vladimir Putin. The film explores spin, myth, and the psychology of control. László Nemes returns with Orphan, a postwar story of fatherhood, delusion, and coming of age.

Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab centers on a young girl’s final phone call during an Israeli bombing in Gaza. Shu Qi makes her debut with Girl, a memory piece told through the eyes of two women bound by dreams and maternal repetition.

Venice is no stranger to politics or grief. But this year feels more personal than polemic.

Venice Immersive, Biennale College, and the past restored

Venice Immersive takes over Lazzaretto Vecchio with sixty nine XR projects, judged by a panel led by Eliza McNitt. Expect experimental formats, virtual intimacy, and sensory discomfort.

Venice Classics restores Lolita, Kwaidan, 3:10 to Yuma, Aniki Bóbó, and Vive l’Amour, alongside new docs like Megadoc by Mike Figgis and Nuestra Tierra by Lucrecia Martel.

The Biennale College Cinema, often the quiet soul of the festival, supports four microbudget world premieres from Italy, Lebanon, Taiwan, and Brazil. These films may be small, but this is where you often find the future.

Full Film Index – Venice 82nd Official Selection

In Competition

A House of Dynamite – Kathryn Bigelow. Starring Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson
All the Colours of the Sea – Isabel Sandoval
À pied d’œuvre – Valérie Donzelli
Bugonia – Yorgos Lanthimos. Starring Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons
Duse – Pietro Marcello. Starring Noémie Merlant
El Cuadro Roto – Alonso Ruizpalacios
Elisa – Leonardo Di Costanzo. Starring Valeria Golino
Father Mother Sister Brother – Jim Jarmusch. Starring Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver, Charlotte Rampling
Frankenstein – Guillermo del Toro. Starring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz
Girl – Shu Qi
Jay Kelly – Noah Baumbach. Starring George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern
L’Étranger – François Ozon. Starring Denis Lavant
La Grazia – Paolo Sorrentino. Starring Toni Servillo
Orphan – László Nemes
Silent Friend – Milko Lazarov. Starring Léa Seydoux, Tony Leung Chiu-wai
Sun Rises on Us All – Shangjun Cai
The Echo Chamber – Majid Majidi
The Smashing Machine – Benny Safdie. Starring Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt
The Testament of Ann Lee – Mona Fastvold. Starring Amanda Seyfried, Christopher Abbott
The Voice of Hind Rajab – Kaouther Ben Hania
The Wizard of the Kremlin – Olivier Assayas. Starring Jude Law, Paul Dano

Out of Competition

After the Hunt – Luca Guadagnino. Starring Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri
In the Hand of Dante – Julian Schnabel. Starring Al Pacino, Gal Gadot, Oscar Isaac
Dead Man’s Wire – Gus Van Sant. Starring Al Pacino, Bill Skarsgård, Colman Domingo
Ghost Elephants – Werner Herzog
Marc by Sofia – Sofia Coppola
Kim Novak’s Vertigo – Alexandre O. Philippe
Cover-Up – Laura Poitras
Back Home – Tsai Ming-liang
Director’s Diary – Aleksandr Sokurov
The Tale of Sylian – Tamara Kotevska
Un film fatto per Bene – Andrea Occhipinti
Sotto le nuvole – Gianfranco Rosi
My Tennis Maestro
Scarlet – Mamoru Hosoda
Dog 51 – Starring Adèle Exarchopoulos
The Monster of Florence
A Prophet

Orizzonti Feature Films

Mother – Starring Noomi Rapace
Late Fame – Kent Jones. Starring Willem Dafoe, Greta Lee
The Souffleur – Gastón Solnicki. Starring Willem Dafoe
Il rapimento di Arabella – Stefano Cipani
Un anno di scuola – Daniela Persico
The Kidnapping of Arabella – Starring Chris Pine

Orizzonti Short Films

Norheimsund – Ana Alpizar
Merrimundi – Niles Atallah
The Lifeline – Hugo Becker
I Hear It Still – Constance Bonnot
Kushta Mayn, My Constantinople – Nicolò Folin
Praying Mantis – Joe Hsieh and Yonfan
A Soil A Culture A River A People – Viv Li
Saint Simeon – Olubunmi Ogunsola
Coyotes – Said Zagha
Unavailable (Nedostupni) – Kyrylo Zemlyanyi
The Curfew – Shehrezad Maher
The Origin of the World – Jazmín López
Lion Rock – Nick Mayow and Prisca Bouchet
Without Kelly – Lovisa Sirén

Out of Competition Short
Rukeli – Alessandro Rak

Venice Spotlight

Motor City – Potsy Ponciroli. Starring Shailene Woodley, Ben Foster
It Would Be Night in Caracas – Mariana Rondón and Marité Ugas. Starring Edgar Ramírez, Natalia Reyes
Calle Malaga – Produced by Sol Bondy
Rose of Nevada – Mark Jenkin. Starring George MacKay, Callum Turner
My Tennis Maestro