For days now the entire area of the Marconi seafront at the Lido surrounding the Cinema Palace it's cordoned off for the preparatory work of the 82nd Film Festival which will open its doors on August 27th and will continue until September 6th.
Not a Festival but an Exhibition
“Exhibition and I repeat Exhibition – the president of the Biennale is keen to underline, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, in the presentation press conference – Exhibition and not Festival“. In short, a unique place in the world where great masters and young debutants meet, Oscar-nominated works and products of the Biennale College. “The Exhibition, with its surprises and its young talents discovered and rewarded,” says Buttafuoco, “demonstrates that dreams can come true. Being daring leads to cultivating hopes that lead to the prize.” And so they discover themselves. new forms of art where cinema questions dance and music while in 2026 the new headquarters of the historical archive curated by Debora Rossi will be opened at the Arsenale. This will be, says the president of the Biennale, "a true contemporary art workshop, a place of thought and creation that looks to the future, aware of the complexity of the present. In this workshop, a poetics even more aware of a world overwhelmed by its own damage finds expressive strength. Believing in these projects means believing in a fruitful cultivation. It's like planting a tree: by cultivating artists, a forest grows that leads us to have faith in their own shoots.
Julia Roberts, Sorrentino and the big names who will light up the red carpet
But Venice 82 will also be red carpet as the director explains Alberto Barera "Julia Roberts will walk our red carpet for the first time and we welcome her very willingly” says Barbera. She starred in the film 'After The Hunt' by Luca Guadagnino which will be screened at the Lido in the "Out of Competition" section. It deals with a case of sexual assault at an American college. The film stars Roberts, Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri, Chloë Sevigny, and Michael Stuhlbarg. Opening film of the exhibition 'La Grazia' of Paolo Sorrentino, an unconventional love story that everyone, from the director to the producers to Barbera himself, has shrouded in mystery. This will be the first of five films in competition, in addition to 'Elisa – I Wanted to Kill Her' by Leonard DiCostanzo, 'Under the Clouds' by Gianfranco Rossi, 'Duse' of Pietro Marcello and 'A Film Made for Good' by Franco Maresco on the figure of Carmelo Bene, author, among other things, of a touching documentary on Goffredo Fofi, who passed away a few days ago.
Out of competition 'The Master' by Andrea DiStefano which tells the story of the relationship between an incompetent tennis coach (Pierfrancesco Favino) and a talentless teenager (Tiziano Menichelli). 'Andrea's Island' is also out of competition. Anthony Capuano with Teresa Saponangelo and Vinicio Marchioni, 'The Valley of Smiles' by Paolo Strippoli with Michele Riondino, Romana Maggior Vergano, Giulio Feltri and Paolo Pierobon and 'Orpheus' by Virgil Villoresi with Luca Vergoni, Giulia Maenza, and Vinicio Marchioni as well as the documentary 'Ferdinando Scianna – The Photographer of the Shadow' by Roberto Andò.
The 'Portobello' series is also highly anticipated Marco Bellocchio (only the first two episodes will be shown, with Fabrizio Gifuni in the role of Enzo Tortora, and 'The Monster' by Stefano Sollima on the Monster of Florence. For the 'Cinema & Music' subsection, the following will be presented: documentaries dedicated to Nino D'Angelo, Piero Pelù and Francesco De Gregori. Italy is also present in the 'Orizzonti' competition with two films: 'The Abduction of Arabella' by Carolina Cavalli with Benedetta Porcaroli and 'A year of school' by Laura SamaniIn the 'Spotlight' section there is 'Ammazzare stanca', the new film by Daniele Vicari with Gabriel Montesi, Vinicio Marchioni, Selene Caramazza, Andrea Fuorto, Thomas Trabacchi, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio and Rocco Papaleo.
Venice 82: Here are the world premiere films
Also this year the Exhibition offers a series of world premiere films such as “L'Étranger” by Francois Ozon based on the book by Albert Camus, “Bugonia” a science fiction comedy by Yorgos Lanthimos with Emma Stone, “Silent Friend” by Ildiko Enydi, “Father, mother, sister, briother” by Jim Jarmousch with Cate Blancett.
Chaired by the director and American screenwriter Alexander payne, the International jury The Venice 82 cast will also include French director and screenwriter Stéphane Brizé; Italian director and screenwriter Maura Delpero; Romanian director, screenwriter, and producer Cristian Mungiu; Iranian director and writer Mohammad Rasoulof; Brazilian actress, writer, and screenwriter Fernanda Torres; and Chinese actress Zhao Tao.
Two Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement were awarded to the German director Werner Herzog and the American actress Kim NovakAnd at Venice 82 Herzog will also be present with his documentary “Ghost Elephants” filmed in Africa.
In short, yet another proof that, despite the difficulties that the film industry is experiencing, there is still desire to build dreams. “Despite the many who sing the praises of cinema's death and the large quantity of products (hardly definable as 'films') of little or no interest – observes Barbera – , there are many works that testify to the seventh art's inexhaustible capacity to relentlessly fuel our desire for cinema”.
