There will be no big global superstars on the opening night of the 2025 Venice Film Festival. Instead, Paolo Sorrentino‘s “La grazia” will give an Italian auteur the spotlight. It’s just the second Italian film to open the festival over the last 15 years, following  Daniele Luchetti‘s “Lacci (The Ties)” during the COVID-affected 2020 edition of the festival.
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Primarily shot in Northern Italy, Sorrentino’s follow-up to the beautiful but disappointingly received “Parthenope” is rumored to follow the final days of an Italian Presidency. Toni Servillo, who starred in Sorrentino’s Oscar-winning “The Great Beauty” and “The Hand of God,” will play the “Presidente.” MUBI secured worldwide rights in February.
Depending on the other Italian films that debut on the Lido, and there will be many, “La grazia” has an excellent shot at being selected as the nation’s submission for the International Feature Film Academy Award. Sorrentino previously represented Italy with the aforementioned “Beauty” and “Hand of God,” which was nominated in 2022. Sorrentino is the only Italian filmmaker to win the category since Roberto Benigni’s “Life is Beautiful” took the statue in 1999.
Sorrentino made his feature directorial debut at Venice in 2021 with “One Man Up.” He mostly pivoted to Cannes before returning to the festival to screen episodes of both seasons of “The Young Pope” and the premiere of “God.”
Other films rumored to debut at Venice this year include Luca Guadagnino’s “After the Hunt,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Bugonia,” Benny Safdie’s “The Smashing Machine,” Alice Winocour’s “Couture,” Noah Baumbach’s “Jay Kelly,” and Jim Jarmusch’s “Father Mother Sister Brother,” among others. The official selection should be announced in a little over two weeks.
As previously revealed, Telluride Film Festival regular Alexander Payne will be skipping the mountains and making his way to Italy as this year’s jury president.
The 82nd Venice Film Festival will run from August 27 – September 6.
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