The President of the Biennale, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, and Venice Film Festival’s Artistic Director Alberto Barbera, announced the official line-up for this year's Venice Film Festival on Tuesday, 22 July, 2025. The films for this year's Settimana della Critica had been published the previous day, and the films of the Giornate Degli Autori section were unveiled today (Thursday, 24 July)

Ildikó Enyedi's majority German production SILENT FRIEND will be competing in the main Competition for the Golden Lion alongside 20 other films. The drama is set in the botanical garden of a medieval university town in Germany and revolves around a majestic tree that observes people. The film takes place in three different eras – 1908, 1972 and 2020 – and tells three human stories that have been shaped and changed by the plants surrounding them for more than a hundred years.

Roderick Warich, who had already been in Venice in 2023 as the co-screenwriter of THE UNIVERSAL THEORY, is now returning as a director with FUNERAL CASINO BLUES which will be screening in Orizzonti’s competition section. The drama centres on Jen who has been living in Bangkok. When she suddenly disappears – without any message or a goodbye –, her roommate Pim and the silent bartender Wason follow her trail. A quiet search begins, through nights, memories – and a city that doesn’t miss anybody.

A SOIL A CULTURE A RIVER A PEOPLE will be shown in the competition for short films, Orizzonti – Short Films. Viv Li's film is set in a dystopian future where borders between countries are indefinitely closed. A replica of 1980s Hanover becomes the only way to experience Western culture.

Inspired by Claude Lanzmann's scepticism toward visual representations of historical trauma, HOLOFICTION questions the possibility and implications of depicting the Holocaust in fictional cinema. Michal Kosakowski's experimental film draws on an extensive archive of over 3,000 narrative works and will be screened in Venice Classics – Documentary On Cinema.

The independent section Giornate Degli Autori is presenting SHORT SUMMER bythe director Nastia Korkia about seven-year-old Katya in Russia. The girl spends an eventful last summer in the countryside with her grandparents as they negotiate the end of their relationship.

COTTON QUEEN by Suzannah Mirghani will be shown in the Settimana della Critica. The drama is about young Nafisa, who lives in a Sudanese village that lives from cotton farming. She grows up with the vivid stories of her grandmother Al-Sit, a strong matriarch who once courageously fought against the British colonizers. But when a young businessman from abroad arrives with big promises, a development plan and genetically modified cotton, the village's balance is shaken and Nafisa is caught in the middle.

Venice Immersive is entirely dedicated to the immersive arts and media and includes all forms of creative XR expression: immersive videos, virtual and mixed reality, virtual worlds and immersive installations. This year will see a total of 69 projects being presented from 27 countries, including the majority German production REFLECTIONS OF LITTLE RED DOT by Chloé Lee, an open mixed-reality documentary showing the rapidly developing landscape of Singapore through the personal stories of young and old Singaporeans.

The 12th edition of the Venice Gap Financing Market, which is organised as part of the Venice Production Bridge, has selected 40 feature film and documentary projects and 14 immersive projects this year. In addition, there will be presentations of 10 immersive and 3 feature film projects developed during the Biennale College Cinema workshops.

The three-day Venice Gap-Financing Market will showcase projects from around the world that are in the final stages of development and financing. The selection includes three German productions: ATHOS 264 by David Wnendt, CALL ME QUEEN by Emily Atef, and SAVE OUR SOULS by Jonas Steinacker. The Market will organise one-to-one meetings between the teams (producers and directors) behind the projects and key industry decision-makers. WHAT THE FOX by Sina Ataeian Dena is a fourth production selected for Biennale College Cinema - Immersive Projects.

The international jury for the Venezia 82 Competition will be presided over by the US director Alexander Payne and consists of the French writer-director Stéphane Brizé, the Italian writer-director Maura Delpero, the Romanian writer-director-producer Cristian Mungiu, the Iranian writer-director Mohammad Rasoulof, the Brazilian actress and screenwriter Fernanda Torres, and the Chinese actress Zhao Tao.

The German filmmaker Werner Herzog is to receive a particular honour. The Venice Film Festival will be awarding the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to the German cult director who is known for such films as AGUIRRE, WRATH OF GOD, FITZCARRALDO and NOSFERATU. In addition, his new documentary GHOST ELEPHANTS, an American production, will be shown in the Out of Competition – Non-Fiction section. Shot in Angola, the documentary, follows a herd of mythical elephants in southern Africa.

An overview of all of the German productions and co-productions screening in Venice:

Competition
SILENT FRIEND by Ildikó Enyedi (DE/HU/FR, Pandora Film)
ORPHAN by László Nemesz (HU/UK/FR/DE, Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion)

Out of Competition – Series
ETTY by Hagai Levi (FR/NL/DE, Komplizen Serien)

Orizzonti
FUNERAL CASINO BLUES by Roderick Warich (The Barricades)
STRANGE RIVER by Jaume Claret Muxart (ES/DE, Schuldenberg Films)
DIVINE COMEDY by Ali Asgari (IRN/IT/FR/DE/TUR, Studio Zentral)
LOST LAND by Akio Fujimoto (JPN/FR/MYS/DE, Scarlet Visions)

Orizzonti Short Films – In Competition
YOU JIAN CHUI YAN (A SOIL A CULTURE A RIVER A PEOPLE) by Viv Li (DE/BE/CN, Angst & Bange Film)

Venice Classics – Documentary on Cinema
HOLOFICTION by Michal Kosakowski (DE/AT, Kosakowski Film)

Venice Spotlight
CALLE MALAGA by Maryam Touzani (MAR/FR/ESP/DE/BEL, One Two Films)
MADE IN EU by Stephan Komandarev (BUL/DE/CZE, 42film)

Giornate degli Autori
SHORT SUMMER (EIN KURZER SOMMER) by Nastia Korkia (DE/FR/RS, Tamtam Film)
A SAD AND BEAUTIFUL WORLD by Cyril Aris (LBN/US/DE/SAU/QAT, Reynard Films)

Settimana della Critica
COTTON QUEEN by Suzannah Mirghani (DE/FR, Strange Bird)

Venice Immersive – In Competition
LA TRISTE HISTOIRE DE LA PETITE SOURIS QUI VOULAIT ABSOLUMENT DEVENIR QUEL QU’UN (THE SAD STORY OF THE LITTLE MOUSE WHO WANTED TO BECOME SOMEBODY) by Nicolas Bourniquel (FR/DE/BE, Reynard Films)
THE CLOUDS ARE TWO THOUSAND METERS UP by Singing Chen (TW/DE, Reynard Films)
DARK ROOMS by Mads Damsbo, Anne Sofie Steen Sverdrup (DK/DE/TW, Nowhere Media)
REFLECTIONS OF LITTLE RED DOT by Chloé Lee (DE/US, Present Futures)
EDDIE AND I by Maya Shekel (IL/DE/FR, Reynard Films)

Biennale College Cinema - Immersive - Out of Competition
OUT OF NOWHERE by Kris Hofmann, Andreas Wuthe (AT/DE, spec.Studio)

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VENICE PRODUCTION BRIDGE

Gap-Financing Market
ATHOS 264 by David Wnendt (Seven Elephants, Constantin Film Produktion)
CALL ME QUEEN by Emily Atef (DE/FR, Ringel Film)
SAVE OUR SOULS by Jonas Steinacker (DE/FR, Lichtschloss Filmproduktion)
HEIRLOOM by Upamanyu Bhattacharyya (IN/DE, Fabian&Fred) 

Biennale College Cinema - Immersive Projects
WHAT THE FOX by Sina Ataeian Dena (JYOTI Film)