Guillermo del Toro's ‘Frankenstein,' Benny Safdie's ‘The Smashing Machine,' Kathryn Bigelow's ‘A House of Dynamite' Among Stellar Venice Lineup
With its 2025 line-up, announced Tuesday, the Venice Film Festival has (again) taken the award season pole position, with a program packed with a frankly absurd number of must-see movies.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
BBC Studios Unscripted Boss on Tom Hanks, Stanley Tucci Series and the Recipe for U.S. Success
Busan Film Festival to Honor Jafar Panahi as Asian Filmmaker of the Year
'Dune' VFX House DNEG's Immersive Experiences Unit Names NBCU's Jeff Lehman Exec Producer (Exclusive)
Among the hot awards titles heading to the Lido are Benny Safdie's The Smashing Machine, from A24, featuring Dwayne Johnson as two‑time UFC heavyweight champion Mark Kerr and Emily Blunt as his wife Dawn; Luca Guadagnino's #MeToo–inspired thriller After the Hunt, for Amazon MGM Studios, starring Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebiri, will premiere out of competition; and Guillermo del Toro's dark reimagining of Frankenstein, featuring Jacob Elordi, Oscar Isaac and Mia Goth, a Netflix production.
This will mark the Venice festival debut for both Roberts and Johnson.
Netflix, which sat out Vence last year, is back in force for 2025. Alongside Frankenstein, the streamer has Noah Baumbach's comedy‑drama Jay Kelly, co-written with Emily Mortimer, and headlined by George Clooney, premiering in competition, and Kathryn Bigelow's ticking bomb geopolitical thriller A House of Dynamite, starring Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Greta Lee, Gabriel Basso, and Jared Harris.
The Venice line-up is an embarrassment of riches, for award-watchers and regular film fans alike, with the competition selection including the latest from A-list auteurs Park Chan-wook (No Other Choice), François Ozon (L'Etranger), and Laszlo Nemes (Orphan). A year after Brady Corbet's The Brutalist launched in Venice, en route to three Oscar wins, the film's co-writer (and producer) Mona Fastvold arrives in competition with The Testament of Ann Lee, a historical drama musical film starring Lewis Pullman, Amanda Seyfried, and Tim Blake Nelson, that she co-wrote with Corbet.
The Voice of Hind Rajab, the new film from Four Daughters director Kaouther Ben Hania, is certain to be one of the most talked-about films in Venice this year. The film tells the true story of Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old girl who, on January 29, 2024, was trapped in a car on fire in Gaza. She called Red Crescent emergency workers, who kept her on the line while they tried to get an ambulance to her. The Party Film Sales is handling worldwide sales on the film and co-representing North American rights with CAA Media Finance.
Another politically-charged title in competition is Olivier Assayas' The Wizard of the Kremlin, starring Jude Law as Vladimir Putin and Paul Dano as the fictional Kremlin insider Vadim Baranov.
Yorgos Lanthimos, a Venice Golden Lion winner for Poor Things, returns in competition with Bugonia, an adaptation of Jang Joon-Hwan's 2003 South Korean sci-fi film Save the Green Planet!, featuring his frequent collaborator Emma Stone. Focus Features will release the film stateside, with Universal Pictures handling internationally outside of Korea, where CJ ENM will release.
And iconic indie director Jim Jarmusch, a Cannes regular, will bring his latest to the Lido this year, premiering Mubi's Father Mother Sister Brother, a triptych with an all-star ensemble cast including Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver, Indya Moore, Vicky Krieps, Tom Waits, Luka Sabbat, and Charlotte Rampling.
The 82nd Venice competition line-up also includes the latest from A-list auteurs Park Chan-wook (No Other Choice), François Ozon (L'Etranger), and Laszlo Nemes (Orphan)
Italian Oscar-winning Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty) will open this year's festival with La Grazia (Grace), a love story starring his long-time collaborator Toni Servillo. La Grazia, co-starring Diamonds actor Anna Ferzetti, will premiere in competition on Aug. 27. Mubi picked up the film ahead of its Venice bow.
Dog 51, a new action-packed French sci-fi thriller from Bac Nord director Cedric Jimenez will close the festival, out of competition.
Gus Van Sant's return to feature films, Dead Man's Wire, starring Bill Skarsgard, will also screen out of competition. Other out-of-competition highlights include Anders Thomas Jensen's Danish dark comedy The Last Viking starring Mads Mikkelsen, Julian Schnabel's long-awaited The Hand of Dante, and Scarlet, the first anime feature in four years from Japanese master Mamoru Hosoda.
Venice has selected four TV series for its small-screen sidebar: Etty, a limited series from Israeli showrunner Hagai Levi (In Treatment, The Affair), loosely based on the diary of Dutch Jewish writer Etty Hillesum, starring Julia Windischbauer and Sebastian Koch, which Studio TF1 is selling worldwide; Portobello, the first Italian original production for HBO Max in which Italian director Marco Bellocchio (The Traitor), follows the true story of the downfall of one of Italy's most beloved TV hosts; Studiocanal's A Prophet – The Series, a TV reboot of Jacques Audiard's classic French prison drama from 2009, directed by Enrico Maria Artale; and Il Mostro (The Monster), a true-life serial-killer drama from Gomorrah series director, Stefano Sollima, made for Netflix.
This year's Golden Lion career achievement honorees are legendary German director Werner Herzog (Fitzcarraldo, Grizzly Man) and Vertigo star Kim Novak.
Venice's Classic sidebar, which includes a selection on documentaries about cinema, this year includes Mike Figgis' Megadoc, a behind-the-scenes look at Francis Ford Coppola's decades-in-the-making Megalopolis.
Two-time Oscar-winner Alexander Payne heads up this year's competition jury as president, and together with international film talents including Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres, Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, French director Stéphane Brizé, Italian director Maura Delpero, Chinese actress Zhao Tao, and Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, will pick the 2025 Golden Lion winner.
The 2025 Venice film festival runs Aug. 27 to Sept. 9.
Opening Film
La Grazia, dir. Paolo Sorrentino (Italy) (In competition)
Closing Film
Dog 51, dir. Cedric Jimenez (France)
Competition
The Wizard of the Kremlin, dir. Olivier Assayas (France)Jay Kelly, dir. Noah Baumbach (USA, UK, Italy)The Voice of Hind Rajab, dir. Kaouther Ben Hania (Tunisia, France)A House of Dynamite, dir. Kathryn Bigelow (USA)Sun Rises on Us All, dir. Cai Shangjun (China)Frankenstein, dir. Guillermo Del Toro (USA)Elisa, dir. Leonardo Di Costanzo (Italy, Switzerland)À pied d'œuvre, dir. Valérie Donzelli (France)Silent Friend, dir. Ildikó Enyedi (Germany, France, Hungary)The Testament of Ann Lee, dir. Mona Fastvold (UK)Father Mother Sister Brother, dir. Jim Jarmusch (USA, Ireland, France)Bugonia, dir. Yorgos Lanthimos (United Kingdom)Duse, dir. Pietro Marcello (Italy)Un film fatto per Bene, dir. Franco Maresco (Italy)Orphan, dir. László Nemes (Hungary, United Kingdom, Germany, France)The Stranger, dir. François Ozon (France)No Other Choice, dir. Park Chan-wook (South Korea)Sotto le nuvole, dir. Gianfranco Rosi (Italy)The Smashing Machine, dir. Benny Safdie (Canada, USA, Japan)Girl, dir. Shu Qi (Taipei)La Grazia, dir. Paolo Sorrentino (Italy)
Out of Competition (Fiction)
Boşluğa xütbə (Sermon to the Void), dir. Hilal Baydarov (Azerbaijan, Mexico, Turkey)L'isola di Andrea, dir. Antonio Capuano (Italy)Il Maestro, dir. Andrea Di Stefano (Italy)After the Hunt, dir. Luca Guadagnino (USA)Hateshinaki Scarlet, dir. Mamoru Hosoda (Japan)The Last Viking, dir. Anders Thomas Jensen (Denmark, Sweden)Chien 51, dir. Cédric Jimenez (France)In the Hand of Dante, dir. Julian Schnabel (USA, Italy)La valle dei sorrisi, dir. Paolo Strippoli (Italy, Slovenia)Dead Man's Wire, dir. Gus Van Sant (USA)Orfeo, dir. Virgilio Villoresi (Italy)
Out of Competition (Non-Fiction)
Kabul, Between Prayers, dir. Aboozar Amini (The Netherlands, Belgium)Ferdinando Scianna – Il fotografo dell'ombra, dir. Roberto Andò (Italy)Marc by Sofia, dir. Sofia Coppola (USA)I diari di Angela – Noi due cineasti. Capitolo terzo, dir. Yervant Gianikian, Angela Ricci Lucchi (Italy)Ghost Elephants, dir. Werner Herzog (USA)My Father and Qaddafi, dir. Jihan K (USA, Libya)The Tale of Sylian, dir. Tamara Kotevska (North Macedonia)Nuestra Tierra, dir. Lucrecia Martel (Argentina, USA, Mexico, France, The Netherlands, Denmark)Remake, dir. Ross McElwee (USA)Kim Novak's Vertigo, dir. Alexandre Philippe (USA)Cover-up, dir. Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus (USA)Broken English, dir. Jane Pollard, Iain Forsyth (United Kingdom)Notes of a True Criminal, dir. Alexander Rodnyansky, Andriy Alferov (Ukraine, USA)Director's Diary, dir. Alexandr Sokurov (Russia, Italy)Back Home, dir. Tsai Ming-liang (Taipei)
Out of Competition (Series)
Un prophète – La série, dir. Enrico Maria Artale (France)Portobello, dir. Marco Bellocchio (Italy, France)Etty, dir. Hagai Levi (France, Germany, The Netherlands)Il mostro, dir. Stefano Sollima (Italy)
Out of Competition – Film & Music
Nino. 18 giorni, dir. Toni D'Angelo (Italy)Piero Pelù. Rumore dentro, dir. Francesco Fei (Italy)Newport and The Great Folk Dream, dir. Robert Gordon (USA)Francesco De Gregori Nevergreen, dir. Stefano Pistolini (Italy)
Venice Spotlight
Hijra, dir. Shahad Ameen (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Egypt, United Kingdom)Un cabo suelto (A Loose End), dir. Daniel Hendler (Uruguay, Argentina, Spain)Made in EU, dir. Stephan Komandarev (Bulgaria, Germany, Czech Republic)Motor City, dir. Potsy Ponciroli (USA)It Would Be Night in Caracas, dir. Mariana Rondón, Marité Ugás (Mexico, Venezuela)Silent Rebellion, dir. Marie-Elsa Sgualdo (Switzerland, France, Belgium)Calle Malaga, dir. Maryam Touzani (Morocco, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium)Ammazzare stanca, dir. Daniele Vicari (Italy)
Horizons Competition
Divine Comedy, dir. Ali Asgari (Iran, Italy, France, Germany, Turkey)Hiedra, dir. Ana Cristina Barragan (Ecuador, Mexico, France, Spain)Il rapimento di Arabella, dir. Carolina Cavalli (Italy)Strange River, dir. Jaume Claret Muxart (Spain, Germany)Lost Land, dir. Akio Fujimoto (Japan, France, Malaysia, Germany)Grand Ciel, dir. Akihiro Hata (France, Luxembourg)Rose of Nevada, dir. Mark Jenkin (United Kingdom)Late Fame, dir. Kent Jones (USA)Milk Teeth, dir. Mihai Mincan (Romania, France, Denmark, Greece, Bulgaria)Pin de Fartie, dir. Alejo Moguillansky (Argentina)Father, dir. Tereza Nvotová (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland)En el camino, dir. David Pablos (Mexico, France)Songs of Forgotten Trees, dir. Anuparna Roy (India)Un anno di scuola, dir. Laura Samani (Italy, France)The Souffleur, dir. Gastón Solnicki (Austria, Argentina)Barrio triste, dir. Stillz (Colombia, USA)Mother, dir. Teona Strugar Mitevska (Belgium, North Macedonia, Sweden, Denmark, Bosnia and Herzegovina)Human Resource, dir. Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit (Thailand)Funeral Casino Blues, dir. Roderick Warich (Germany)
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
The 40 Greatest Needle Drops in Film History
The 40 Best Films About the Immigrant Experience
Wes Anderson's Movies Ranked From Worst to Best
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Toronto creator of ‘KPop Demon Hunters' ‘overwhelmed' by film's success
Maggie Kang, the Korean-Canadian writer-director of the animated Netflix film 'KPop Demon Hunters,' says she's 'very proud' to see her musical fantasy resonate globally, especially after feeling like she didn't see much screen representation of Korean culture while growing up in Toronto. (July 29, 2025)
Gizmodo
18 minutes ago
- Gizmodo
Guillermo del Toro's ‘Frankenstein' Looks Absolutely Stunning
When Guillermo del Toro finally got the chance to make his dream project, an adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, you just knew it was going to be beautiful. Del Toro's films are known for a lot of things, and sumptuous production design and costumes are right near the top of the list. So, it almost goes without saying that a group of new images from the film are stunning, but these almost go beyond that. First revealed in an article by Vanity Fair and then released by Netflix, 10 new images from Frankenstein show characters, scenes, and interpretations that were previously kept secret. Here they are, all at once, and we can discuss a few of them in more detail below. Clearly, we could write tomes on the beauty of each of these images. The costumes, the sets, the locations. Each one is also framed in an interesting way that helps tell a story. But, we won't do that. What we will do, though, is fill in a few questions about who's who in these photos. Del Toro himself is just in that first image, along with Oscar Isaac as Dr. Victor Frankenstein. We see Victor in his lab in a later photo, too. The photo on the steps is of Victor as a child with his mother, and a little later, you see Victor again (played at a younger age by Christian Convery) with his father, played by Charles Dance. The photo of someone holding a photo is, indeed, Elordi's monster, who we see covered in a cloak further down. Mia Goth plays Elizabeth, Victor's soon-to-be sister-in-law, who both he and the monster become infatuated with. The second photo of Goth is with her fiancé, Victor's brother William Frankenstein, played by Felix Kammerer. That leaves the man in the top hat, an arms dealer played by Christoph Waltz, and that mysterious photo among the flowers. That's Sofia Galasso and David Bradley as a little girl and a blind man who are in the original book. What does it all mean? We'll find out in November when Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein comes to Netflix. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Forbes
19 minutes ago
- Forbes
‘Untamed' Dethroned In Netflix's Top 10 List By A New Show
Untamed After almost two weeks planted on top of Netflix's top 10 list, the Eric Bana mystery series Untamed has finally fallen to a new show. Well, technically two shows, but I'm only going to count one of them. Yes, as of Tuesday morning, WWE Monday Night RAW is the #1 show on the service, but Untamed is now actually down to #3, also having been passed up by The Hunting Wives. That had been hanging around #2 for a while, but now that Untamed has been out this long and interest in The Hunting Wives hasn't waned, that's enough to get it to the top. The Hunting Wives was first released just over a week ago on July 21. There has been no real movement about making Untamed more than a self-contained miniseries, even if those involved with the show say they're open to it. With that level of performance, it's certainly not impossible, though the last time we were talking about this with the same showrunner, it was about his American Primeval miniseries. That performed great, but there has been no announced sequel or prequel. Top 10 The Hunting Wives? It's not listed as a Limited Series, but it sort of should be, given that it's based on a book by May Cobb that does not have a sequel. The end of the show, however, seems to indicate that a second season is likely the goal, and once again, we have a showrunner teasing the possibility, and star Brittany Snow saying things like: 'I think the end is really interesting and I know that we would deal with it in Season 2. There are a lot of questions that didn't get answered because Rebecca wants to answer them in the next season if we get one.' Given its performance, The Hunting Wives does seem like a show that will end up getting a second season renewal, even if it does take weeks or months, as can happen with Netflix frequently. Unless a show rockets to huge numbers, it usually takes a long while to see a greenlight, even if it does feel fairly obvious that it's coming. The rest of the list has a number of licensed series that are doing well, including The Lazarus Project (with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, no less), High Town and Sullivan's Crossing. I also noted yesterday that the 2020 documentary, Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, has resurfaced due to all the recent Epstein news during the Trump administration. I will be curious to see how long The Hunting Wives stays on top, but Wednesday season 2 looms… Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
