Venice Critics’ Week, the Venice Film Festival sidebar dedicated to first-time filmmakers, unveiled the selection of seven competition features and two out-of-competition titles for its 39th edition, which runs Aug. 28-Sept. 7.
Among the more timely entries is Homegrown from U.S. director Michael Premo. The documentary follows three far-right activists as they campaign for Donald Trump during the tumultuous 2020 election.
U.S-French filmmaker Alexandra Simpson makes her Venice debut with No Sleep Till, a drama set against the backdrop of a Florida coastal town in the lead-up to a hurricane. Other Venice Critics’ Week competition highlights include Paul & Paulette Take A Bath, from UK-French director Jethro Massey, about an American photographer and a French girl who bond over a dark game involving the reenactment of notorious crimes at their original locations; Anywhere Anytime, from Iranian-Italian director Milad Tangshir, a modern-day immigrant story inspired by Italian neorealist classic Bicycle Thieves; and Don’t Cry Butterfly, a female-focused drama from Vietnamese filmmaker Dương Diệu Linh, about a woman who enlists a spell master to win back her unfaithful husband after discovering his infidelity on live television.
Venice Critics’ Week will kick off with the out-of-competition screening of French director Aude Léa Rapin’s Planet B, a cyberpunk sci-fi film featuring Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue Is the Warmest Color), and close with Lawrence Valin’s Little Jaffna, a drama set in Paris’ Tamil community.
Critics’ Week artistic director Beatrice Fiorentino noted that this year’s selection addresses current global uncertainties. “We cannot avert our eyes from the images of the present,” Fiorentino said.
Competing films are eligible for several awards, including the €10,000 ($10,890) Grand Prize. The Venice Film Festival will unveil its main lineup on Tuesday, July 23. The 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival runs from Aug. 28 to Sept. 7.
Check out the fill Venice Critics’ Week lineup below.
Opening Film (Out of Competition)
Planet B
Dir. Aude Léa Rapin
France, Belgium
Competition
Anywhere Anytime
Dir. Milad Tangshir
Italy
Don’t Cry, Butterfly
Dir, Dương Diệu Linh
Vietnam, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia
Homegrown
Dir. Michael Premo
United States
No Sleep Till
Dir. Alexandra Simpson
United States, Switzerland
Paul & Paulette Take A Bath
Dir. Jethro Massey
United Kingdom
Peacock
Dir. Bernhard Wenger
Austria, Germany
Perfumed With Mint
Dir. Muhammed Hamdy
Egypt, France, Tunisia
Closing Film (Out of Competition)
Little Jaffna
Dir. Lawrence Valin
France
