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La Biennale di Venezia

82nd Venice Film Festival

La Biennale di Venezia

where:Venice (Italy)
when:August 27th - September 6th, 2025
address:Sede permanente / Winter Office
Ca' Giustinian, San Marco 1364/A
IT-30124 Venezia Giugno/June - Settembre/September
Palazzo del Cinema
Lungomare Marconi
IT-30126 Lido di Venezia
tel:+39 041 5218711 (inverno/winter)
+39 041 5218878 (estate/summer)
fax:+39 041 5218854 (inverno/winter)
+39 041 5218854 (estate/summer)
email:cinema@labiennale.org
website:www.labiennale.org/
deadline:* Biennale: June 13th, 2025
* Giornate degli Autori: June 16th, 2025
* Critics' Week: June 20th, 2025
entry form:La Biennale: online Submission
Critics' Week: online Submission
Giornate degli Autori: online Submission


The aim of the Festival is to raise awareness and promote international cinema in all its forms as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and dialogue. In addition to the sections mentioned below, the Festival also organises retrospectives and tributes to major figures as a contribution towards a better understanding of the history of cinema.
* Venezia 80
An international competition comprising a maximum of 20 feature-length films, presented as world premieres.
* Out of Competition
Some of the most important works of the year will be presented in the non-competing section, for a maximum of 18 films; to these will be added the films produced within the Biennale College-Cinema program. They may include the works of established authors who have participated in Competition in previous editions of the Venice Film Festival, documentaries or films in which the spectacular dimension is accompanied by forms of expressive or narrative originality. Some films Out of Competition may be screened during the Midnight time slot, if their characteristics make them particularly suitable for showing at this time of night. Only feature films presented as world premieres at the Venice Film Festival will be admitted to the selection.
* Orizzonti
An international competition reserved for a maximum of 18 films, dedicated to films that represent the latest aesthetic and expressive trends in international cinema, with special attention to debut films, young talents who are not yet firmly established, indie features and lesser-known cinema, as well as works that address specific genres and current production, with the aim of innovating and demonstrating creative originality. The Orizzonti section features a selection of competing short films lasting a maximum of 20 minutes, selected on the basis of criteria such as quality and originality of language and expression. Only feature-length and short films presented as world premieres at the Venice Film Festival will be admitted to the selection.
* Venice Classics
This section features the world premiere screenings of a selection of the finest restorations of classic films carried out over the past year by film libraries, cultural institutions and productions around the world, committed to the preservation and cultivation of the cinematographic heritage and the rediscovery of neglected or undervalued works of the past. The section may be completed with the presentation of documentaries about cinema or individual authors of yesteryear or today, that can offer innovative elements for historical and critical assessment.
* Spotlight
This non-competitive section – but eventually with the possibility of assigning an Audience Award - features a selection of a maximum of 10 works of different genres, lengths and targets, provided their length is more than 60 minutes. The section may include art-house and genre movies, experimental and artists’ films, TV series and crossover productions, which may be preceded or accompanied by public encounters and conversations with the directors, actors and personalities from the world of art and culture.
* Venice Immersive
The title of Venice VR Expanded is changed to Venice Immersive to embrace the growth of immersive media beyond Virtual Reality technologies to include all XR means of creative expression.
Venice Immersive will be held in presence on the Isle of Lazzaretto Vecchio (Venice Immersive Island), and present in competition a maximum of 30 Immersive Media Projects as world-premieres or international premieres. 360 videos, 3 DOF and 6 DOF interactive XR works, of any length, including installations and virtual worlds are eligible. A maximum of 10 projects will be presented Out of Competition in the section “Best of Immersive” by invitation of the Direction only, chosen among the best works that have been released or premiered elsewhere during the past 12 months since the last edition of the Venice International Film Festival The works of the teams participating in the sixth edition of the Biennale College Cinema-VR will be also presented as part of the official selection.

During the festival also take place:
the 20th Giornate degli Autori, promoted by the Italian associations of filmmakers (Anac and 100autori) as is the Quinzaine in Cannes. The section offers the Giornate degli Autori Award, granting 20.000 Euro and the BNL People's Choice Award. European films compete for the "Label Europa Cinemas" award (exclusive for Giornate's program) while first feature films compete for the Lion of the Future - "Luigi De Laurentiis" award, together with the other debut films of the Festival.
The 38th Settimana Internazionale della Critica (SIC) - International Film Critics Week, promoted, organized and managed by the National Union of Film Critics “Sindacato Nazionale Critici Cinematografici Italiani” (SNCCI), devoted to first films, that therefore compete for the Lion of the Future. In addition to this, seven films in competition are eligible for the “Venice Critics’ Week Audience Award” consisting of 5.000 Euro.

Important: as in Cannes, each event is autonomous and teherefore submission to Biennale, Critics Week and Giornate degli Autori must be done separately.

  • participations
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015

  • Les 3 boutons by Agnès Varda: Giornate degli Autori - Women's Tales

  • Alfredo Bini, the unexpected guest by Simone Isola: Venezia Classici

  • Anna by Giuseppe Gaudino: Venezia 72 - Coppa Volpi for the Best Actress (Valeria Golino)

  • Arianna by Carlo Lavagna: Giornate degli Autori - Official Selection - Prize Nuovo Imaie Talent Award (Ondina Quadri), Prize Laguna Sud, FEDEORA Award for the Best Young Actress

  • Banat by Adriano Valerio: Settimana Internazionale della Critica

  • Bangland by Lorenzo Berghella: Giornate degli Autori - Special Events - SIAE Award to a New Director

  • A bigger splash by Luca Guadagnino: Venezia 72

  • Blanka by Kohki Hasei: Biennale College - Cinema

  • Blood of my Blood by Marco Bellocchio: Venezia 72 - FIPRESCI Prize

  • Burning Love by Alberto Caviglia: Orizzonti

  • De Djess by Alice Rohrwacher: Giornate degli Autori - Womens' Tales

  • Dietro gli occhiali bianchi by Valerio Ruiz: Venezia Classici

  • Don't be Bad by Claudio Caligari: Fuori Concorso - Prize Francesco Pasinetti, Prize Nuovo Imaie Talent Award (Alessandro Borghi)

  • Dreams of the Salt Lake by Andrea Segre: Giornate degli Autori - Special Events

  • First Light by Vincenzo Marra: Giornate degli Autori - Official Selection - Special Pasinetti Prize

  • Harry's Bar by Carlotta Cerquetti: Giornate degli Autori - Special Events

  • Italian gangsters by Renato De Maria: Orizzonti

  • L'esercito più piccolo del mondo by Gianfranco Pannone: Fuori Concorso

  • Long Live the Bride by Ascanio Celestini: Giornate degli Autori - Official Selection

  • Mediterranea by Jonas Carpignano: Giornate degli Autori - Lux Prize

  • Milano 2015 by Elio, Roberto Bolle, Silvio Soldini, Walter Veltroni, Cristiana Capotondi, Giorgio Diritti: Giornate degli Autori - Special Events

  • Napoli Jungle by Antonio Capuano: Settimana Internazionale della Critica - Special Event

  • Il paese dove gli alberi volano by Davide Barletti, Jacopo Quadri: Giornate degli Autori - Special Events

  • River Memories by Gianluca De Serio, Massimiliano De Serio: Fuori Concorso

  • Gli uomini di questa città non li conosco by Franco Maresco: Fuori Concorso

  • Viva Ingrid! by Alessandro Rossellini: Giornate degli Autori - Special Events

  • The Wait by Piero Messina: Venezia 72

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