The Venice International Film Festival will take place again this year on the Lido di Venezia from August 31 to September 10, 2022. As part of the Biennale of Contemporary Art, the film festival focuses on international cinema in its outstanding diversity. This year's line-up is promising - German films and co-productions are also represented in the various competition sections and side sections. 

The Venice Immersive section will feature the debut film FROM THE MAIN SQUARE (Babelsberg Film University KONRAD WOLF) by Pedro Harres: Encircling a central square, a new town emerges in all its diversity. A crossroad of stories, buildings, hopes, and conflicts. Social ties and cultures take root. People nurture sympathy and care for their equals, but also animosity towards those who are different. It doesn't take long for an "us versus them" atmosphere to take over. FROM THE MAIN SQUARE is an interactive VR experience that invites the viewer to witness the rise and fall of a divided society. A civilization blossoms, with all its contradictions, only to become a danger to itself.

Giuseppe Boccassini’s RAGTAG (DE/FR) will have its world premiere in the Venezia Classici - Documentary On Cinema section. The chronological timeline collage is based on a wide corpus of footage taken from the so-called classic era of American cinema which 1950s French critics labeled film noir. The decoupage-based work covers roughly twenty years, or 310 noir films, spanning from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. 

The Orizzonti competition section will feature the minor German co-productions AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Makbul Mubarak (ID/FR/ DE/ PL/SG/PH/QA, NiKo Film), THE SITTING DUCK by Jean-Paul Salomé (FR/DE, Heimatfilm), VICTIM by Michal Blaško (CZ/SK/DE, Post Republic) and TRENQUE LAUQUEN by Laura Citarella (AR/DE, Grandfilm). THERESE AND ISABELLE by Radley Metzger (FR/US/DE/NL, Berolina Film) will be shown in the Venezia Classici - Restoration section and DARKENING by Ondřej Moravec (CZ/DE, NowHere Media) in the Venice Immersive section. 

In the side section Settimana Della Critica, Alex Schaad will celebrate his film debut with SKIN DEEP (Walker+Worm Film, Donndorffilm). The film deals with the young couple Leyla and Tristan, who seem to be happy on first glance. But when they travel to a mysterious, remote island, a game of identities begins, which changes everything – their perception, their sexuality, their whole “self”. Not only is their relationship in jeopardy, they may never be who they once were again. The section will also feature ANHELL69 by Theo Montoya (CO/RO/FR/DE, Amerikafilm). 

The co-production PADRE PIO by Abel Ferrara (DE/IT, Maze Pictures, Carte Blanche Film) will be screened in the Giornate Degli Autori section and is about Italy's national saint Padre Pio (1887-1968), who was canonized in 2002.