From Jim Jarmusch to Franco Maresco, the most anticipated names in competition at Venice

Una scena tratta dal film «La grazia»

Paolo Sorrentino opens the Venice Film Festival with this feature film that director Alberto Barbera has described as 'a film destined to leave its mark for its great originality and strong connection with the present'. The main plot points are as yet mysterious, but in the meantime we can predict that it will not leave us indifferent, as indeed every work by the Neapolitan director who returns here to work with his fetish actor Toni Servillo in the lead role.

«A House of Dynamite»

Eight years after 'Detroit' and a good thirteen years after 'Zero Dark Thirty', Kathryn Bigelow is back behind the camera and this can only be one of the best cinematic news of the year. The American director is aiming for a highly political thriller, written by Noah Oppenheimer, in which we are sure the tension will be very high. In the cast Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson.

Una scena dal film «The Smashing Machine»

The true story of the martial arts fighter Mark Kerr in a film that could make its mark not only in Venice, but also at the forthcoming Academy Awards: Dwayne Johnson looks truly perfect in the role, and the first images of this production hint at a feature film somewhere between 'Raging Bull' and 'The Wrestler'. Directed by the talented Benny Safdie, working solo for the first time without his brother Josh: together they had directed films such as 'Good Time' and 'Rough Diamonds'.

Una scena dal film «Il mago del Cremlino»

It will undoubtedly be one of the most talked-about films of Olivier Assayas' new work, based on the novel of the same name by Giuliano Da Empoli. At the centre is the fictional character of Vadim Baranov (but strongly inspired by the politician Vladislav Surkov) describing his career in 1990s Russia and his role in the rise of Vladimir Putin. The subject matter is incandescent but we are certain that Assayas will know how to handle it, thanks also to the scriptwriting help of Emmanuel Carrère and a cast full of important faces: from Paul Dano to Jude Law (who will play Putin), via Alicia Vikander and Jeffrey Wright.

Un’immagine del film «The Voice of Hind Rajab»

A six-year-old girl is trapped in a car under fire during a shooting in Gaza and begs to be rescued: the synopsis is enough to make us understand the scope of this film, which tells a true story and uses the original audio of the tragic event that took place in January 2024. Directed by Tunisian author Kaouther Ben Hania, who returns to Venice five years after 'The Man Who Sold His Skin'.

«No Other Choise»

The presence of Park Chan-wook at a festival is always an event. The director of 'Oldboy' and 'Lady Vendetta' is often a guarantee of elegant, refined and thought-provoking cinema. In this film, he describes the consequences of the dismissal of a man who finds himself desperately searching for a new job. Expectations are that of being faced with an incisive product capable of powerfully portraying contemporaneity.

Una scena tratta dal film «Orphan»

Hungarian director László Nemes has directed only two feature films in his career: 'Son of Saul' in 2015 and 'Sunset' in 2018. Those who have seen them, however, certainly cannot have forgotten these works with their refined and original style. "Orphan" is set in the second half of the 1950s and is about a young boy trying to survive in an extremely difficult situation.

Una scena tratta dal film «Bugonia»

One name that, due to its media appeal above all, cannot be missing from this overview is that of Yorgos Lanthimos, a Greek director who never leaves one indifferent with his films, always ready to cause discussion and divide critics and audiences. In "Bugonia" he returns to work with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons to create a remake of the South Korean "Save the Green Planet!" of 2003, in which he combines the grotesque register with the sci-fi one.

Una scena tratta dal film «Un film fatto per Bene»

The new film by Franco Maresco, one of the most brilliant authors of contemporary Italian cinema, could have been in any position in this ranking. As is often the case in Maresco's filmography, this new work also starts from an unfinished film that was centred on Carmelo Bene. The film is therefore likely to become a new reflection on the relationship between art and life, imbued with Maresco's style of combining philosophy and sarcasm. Not to be missed.