The Venice Film Festival opens its 82nd edition with a bold mix of Hollywood glamour, political storytelling, and cinematic experiments, promising surprises and Oscar buzz as directors and stars gather on the Lido from August 27.
The 82nd Venice Film Festival lifts its curtains this Wednesday, turning the Lido into a magnet for cinema’s brightest talents and boldest ideas. Over eleven days, twenty-one films will compete for the Golden Lion, while dozens of world premieres, documentaries, and out-of-competition works will chart new creative territory.
This year’s competition promises a rich blend of politics, spectacle, and intimate drama. Among the most anticipated is The Wizard of the Kremlin, Olivier Assayas’s adaptation of a best-selling novel about Vladimir Putin’s rise to power, with Jude Law portraying the Russian leader. Political tension also drives Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite, her first film since 2017, in which White House officials confront a missile and nuclear crisis.
Wrestling Rings, Sects, and Literary Ghosts
Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine casts Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as an aging wrestler in what could be one of his most personal roles, alongside Emily Blunt. Another anticipated entry is Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab, and Mona Fastvold’s The Testament of Ann Lee, a musical exploration of a religious sect in America.
Guillermo del Toro returns to Venice with Frankenstein, a lavish reimagining of Mary Shelley’s classic starring Oscar Isaac, who also headlines Julian Schnabel’s In the Hand of Dante. Isaac is joined there by Al Pacino and John Malkovich, making it one of the festival’s starriest ensembles.
Other major contenders include Noah Baumbach’s satirical Jay Kelly, co-written with Greta Gerwig and starring George Clooney as an actor in crisis, and Yorgos Lanthimos’s Bugonia, a sci-fi comedy with Emma Stone about a corporate executive mistaken for an alien. South Korean auteur Park Chan-wook returns after twenty years with No Other Choice, while François Ozon tackles Camus’s The Stranger in stark black-and-white.
Big Names, Bold Themes
Beyond the main competition, Venice will welcome Julia Roberts for her festival debut in Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt, a drama about cancel culture and sexual assault at a prestigious American university. Gus Van Sant presents Dead Man’s Wire, based on a real hostage crisis, while Taiwanese star Shu Qi steps behind the camera for Nuhai (Girl), a generational family story.
French and Japanese cinema also make their mark with thrillers like Chien 51 and Mamoru Hosoda’s animated Scarlet.
Documentaries will also have their moment. Werner Herzog explores Angola’s mythical herds in Ghost Elephants. Laura Poitras profiles veteran journalist Seymour Hersh, following her 2022 Venice triumph. Sofia Coppola offers an intimate portrait of designer Marc Jacobs, while Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth honor the late Marianne Faithfull. Alexander Sokurov challenges audiences with Director’s Diary, a five-hour reflection on Soviet history.
A Launchpad for Oscars
Venice has long been a bellwether for awards season, with recent Golden Lion winners Nomad Land and Joker going on to Academy Award success. This year’s jury is led by two-time Oscar winner Alexander Payne, whose task is to select the best film on September 6.
Netflix, hoping to turn festival prestige into Oscar recognition, is fielding three contenders: Frankenstein, A House of Dynamite, and Jay Kelly. Artistic Director Alberto Barbera notes one challenge: the films are getting longer, with runtimes averaging two hours and fifteen minutes.
But length will not deter audiences. With names like Roberts, Clooney, Stone, Law, and Isaac stepping onto Venice’s storied red carpet, the world’s oldest film festival remains a thrilling mix of tradition, innovation, and cinematic ambition.
Comments