The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the "Big Five" International film festivals worldwide, which include the Big Three European Film Festivals, alongside the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada and the Sundance Film Festival in the United States. These festivals are internationally renowned for giving creators the artistic freedom to express themselves through film. In 1951, FIAPF formally accredited the festival.
Abel Ferrara is an American filmmaker, actor, musician, and songwriter. He is best known for the provocative and often controversial content in his movies and his use and redefinition of neo-noir imagery. A long-time independent filmmaker, some of his best known movies include the New York-set, gritty crime thrillers The Driller Killer (1979), Ms .45 (1981), King of New York (1990), Bad Lieutenant (1992), and The Funeral (1996), chronicling violent crime in urban settings with spiritual overtones.
Tessa Lynne Thompson is an American actress. She began her professional acting career with the Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company while studying at Santa Monica College, appearing in productions of The Tempest and Romeo and Juliet. Following her role in Veronica Mars (2005–2006), her breakthrough came with leading roles in Tina Mabry's independent drama film Mississippi Damned (2009) and Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls (2010).
Alessandro Camon is an Academy Award nominated screenwriter and film producer.
Snow in Midsummer is a 2023 historical drama film directed by Chong Keat Aun. A Malaysian, Singaporean and Taiwanese co-production, the film has been selected for the Giornate degli Autori International Competition, a parallel section of the Venice International Film Festival, where it had its global premiere. Snow in Midsummer leads the race for this year’s Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan with nine nominations, including best narrative feature, best director and best supporting actress. The film won the Best Film award in the Young Cinema Competition at the 48th Hong Kong International Film Festival and also received the Uncaged Award for Best Feature Film at the 23rd New York Asian Film Festival.
Joy is a 2018 Austrian drama film directed and written by Sudabeh Mortezai. The plot revolves around Joy, a young Nigerian woman who walks the streets to pay off debts while also supporting her family in Nigeria and her daughter in Vienna.
The Giornate degli Autori or simply the Giornate, formerly also known in English as Venice Days, is an independent section of Venice Film Festival. Anac and 100autori are engaged to support and promote the Giornate. It was founded in 2004 by Giorgio Gosetti.
The Long Walk is a 2019 Laotian drama film directed by Mattie Do, and her third feature film overall. It premiered in the Giornate degli Autori section of the 76th Venice International Film Festival. It also screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.
200 Meters is a 2020 Jordanian-Palestinian adventure drama film written and directed by Ameen Nayfeh in his feature-length debut. The film premiered in the 17th edition of the Giornate degli Autori section at the 77th Venice International Film Festival on 9 September 2020, where it won the BNL People's Choice Audience Award. It was selected as the Jordanian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. It won the IFFI ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Medal at 51st International Film Festival of India in January 2021.
Sudabeh Mortezai, is an Austrian–Iranian filmmaker and producer. She is best known as the director of critically acclaimed films Macondo and Joy, which won several awards at international film festivals.
Dina Amer is an Egyptian-American film director, writer, producer and journalist.
Padre Pio is a 2022 biographical film co-written and directed by Abel Ferrara. It stars Shia LaBeouf as Padre Pio, a Capuchin Franciscan priest who received the stigmata. This historical event is shown in the film. He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church. During its production, as a result of his spiritual experiences, LaBeouf converted to Catholicism.
The Maiden is a 2022 Canadian drama film, written and directed by Graham Foy. The film stars Marcel T. Jiménez as Colton, a teenager coping with his grief after the death of his friend Kyle in an accident, and Hayley Ness as Whitney, a classmate of theirs whose journal Colton finds in the ravine where Kyle died.
Coup! is a 2023 American dark comedy film written and directed by Austin Stark and Joseph Schuman. It stars Peter Sarsgaard, Billy Magnussen, Sarah Gadon, Skye P. Marshall, Faran Tahir, Kristine Nielsen, and Fisher Stevens. Sarsgaard and Magnussen also served as executive producers of the film. It is the first collaboration between writer-director team Austin Stark and Joseph Schuman. Set during the 1918 flu pandemic, the film follows a rebellious servant who leads a revolt against his wealthy employer.
Bye Bye Tiberias is a 2023 documentary film directed by Lina Soualem, written by Soualem and Nadine Naous, in collaboration with Gladys Joujou. It follows Hiam Abbass, who leaves her Palestinian village of Deir Hanna in the Lower Galilee, Israel to pursue her dream of becoming an actress, leaving behind her mother, grandmother, and sisters. Abbass returns to her village, with her daughter, Soulaem, to explore her mother's choices, and family influence. It is a co-production between Palestine, Belgium, France and Qatar.
Chong Keat Aun, is a Malaysian film director and writer. His directorial debut The Story of Southern Islet won the Best New Director, FIPRESCI and NETPAC awards at the 57th Golden Horse Awards. His second feature film, Snow in Midsummer, was selected for Giornate degli Autori at the 80th Venice International Film Festival. The film premiered in September 2023 and received critical acclaims.
Stonewalling is a 2022 Japanese independent drama film written and directed by Huang Ji and Ryuji Otsuka. Although shot in China, the film is classified as a Japanese production. It is the third and final film in a trilogy that includes Egg and Stone (2012) and The Foolish Bird (2017), films which depict young womanhood in contemporary China. The film stars Yao Honggui, who also appeared in the first two films, as a young Chinese woman struggling with an unexpected pregnancy.
The Antique is a 2024 drama film directed by Rusudan Glurjidze. Inspired by the 2006 deportation of Georgians from Russia, the film depicts a Georgian woman who moves in with an old man in Saint Petersburg and is pursued by Russian authorities seeking to deport Georgians from the country. A co-production between Georgia, Switzerland, Finland, and Germany, it is Glurjidze's second feature film, following House of Others (2016).
Manas ('Sisters') is a 2024 Brazilian-Portuguese drama film co-written and directed by Marianna Brennand, in her feature film debut.
